What do you get when you cross caring New Yorkers with Amazon?

That's a hard question.  So, let's make it a multiple choice.

          A.  Happy children

          B.  Warm adults

          C.  Warm children

          D.  All of the above

The correct answer is D.  All of the above.

We have already shared our initial experiences with the amazing organization New York Cares, which partners thousands of caring New Yorkers with community groups to help make New York a better place.  

Recently, we learned that New York Cares partners with Amazon to deliver quality, low-cost toys and coats to NYC's neediest. 

First, the toys.  The Winter Wishes program provides gifts to 40,000 New Yorkers every year--young children, teens, special adults and seniors.  

For young children, toys fill the list.  Most are purchased in the store and sent to neighborhood organizations, usually a school.  This is where the good people at Amazon have stepped in to simplify the process. Some the requested items are loaded into an online Wish List at Amazon.com.  Next, wish granters order and pay for the gifts online.  Then, Amazon delivers the gifts directly to the neighborhood organization for eventual delivery to each child.  What could be simpler?  

We took advantage of the opportunity and went a little overboard.  Because of generous pricing, we increased the quantities of items we ordered. 

 

Kudos to the innovative people at New York Cares and the good people at Amazon and Amazon sellers.  

Let's not forget that New York winters can be very cold.  Last year, winter was one of the coldest in recent memory, with average daily highs and lows of 35°F and 20°F.  That's cold, especially if we remember that in New York many adults and children in need are homeless and hungry.  To protect New Yorkers in need, New York Cares runs an annual coat drive.  This year's goal is 100,000 coats.

Adults and children receive new and used coats to stay warm.  In addition to collecting direct donations, caring New Yorkers also use Amazon to purchase low-priced coats from an online Wish List.  Once ordered, Amazon ships the coats directly to the New York Cares warehouse for distribution to New York's neediest.  The pricing was so favorable, we ordered several.

More kudos to the good people at New York Cares, Amazon and Amazon sellers.

What we like about this program is that smart, caring people are adapting existing technology and infrastructure to meet pressing needs in our communities.  We suspect that the ease of ordering, favorable pricing and low-cost delivery result in many more gifts and coats being delivered.  The outcome is happy, warm children and adults.  Priceless.

P.S.  For those of you wondering:  No, the book Fifty Shades of Grey was not included on the wish list.