A local civic group is reaching out to the community for help.
The Association of Informed Voices, a fixture in Canarsie for nearly a decade, will be holding a fundraising meal on Saturday, November 14, at the Empire Buffet Restaurant, 161040 Cross Bay Boulevard, in Howard Beach.
The purpose of the event is to raise money to enable the group to continue to help people in need around the community, said Wanda Ihrig, the group’s founder, as well as to continue to run a variety of programs, including Canarsie-based youth and basketball programs, and the senior program and outreach office in Dyker Heights.
“It’s the things we do in the community,” Ihrig stressed. “We give out turkeys at the holidays, now through January. We have other programs we run to help seniors and any of the families in need,” such as distributing box lunches, toiletries and school supplies to them.
“When you do this kind of thing, you need to get the money from somewhere, and like every other civic, our dues have fallen off,” Ihrig went on. “We’ve always operated on, I’m not going to say a shoestring, but a spiderweb, and things keep getting tougher and tougher.”
This is the first time in the group’s 10-year history that it has mounted a fundraiser, she added.
“We do a lot of good work,” Ihrig noted, “but you are only as strong as the funding you can get.”
Tickets to the event cost $30 a piece, and must be purchased by November 7th. To reserve tickets, call 718-877-9100.
“I’d encourage anyone who would like to make any kind of contribution to the youth or seniors or families in need, to please take part in this,” Ihrig concluded. “It will be well worth it for anyone that does come.”