From the moment you open the door of the Little Shop of Kindness or “The Little Shop of Kindness”, it seems that you arrive at a boutique, where you can find everything from shoes, clothes, toys and books and completely free for new residents and lighten their life a little. new life here.
This Ecuadorian mother, who arrived in the city just two months ago with her month-old son, with nothing, found out about the existence of the place through another immigrant.
Pamela Bautista is a recently arrived immigrant and maintains:
“He told me about this place because we didn’t have clothes, it’s nice because it’s like you buy, from there you choose, seeing, it’s well organized, very clean.”
We accompanied her on a tour, and she found what was necessary for her little one.
“I liked it and I thank them because they still give us clothes and they even give my son milk, diapers and all that,” adds Bautista.
The store is part of the ‘Team TLC NYC’ group who, until recently, received thousands of immigrants who arrived at the Port Authority with nothing, but were forced to look for a new space and fortunately found it, at 12 West street 40, across from Bryant Park. All thanks to the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
It is a welcoming place, and the idea is to make them not feel humiliated and instead treated with dignity, as its director Ilze Thielmann, director of Little Shop of Kindness, tells us.
“Obviously, we need to provide them with basic necessities and many other organizations do, but what makes us different is that we treat them in the most dignified, normal way, we want them to feel like they are in a normal situation shopping in a nice boutique,” he says.
There are many volunteers who speak Spanish, and one of them tells us that being bilingual helps a lot, as it gives them a sense of relief, to be able to find someone who speaks to them in their mother tongue.
“I know a lot of people are talking about the immigrant crisis, but it feels great to be able to do something to help and not just hear about it on TV,” explains Little Shop of Kindness volunteer Cammyla Villegas.
Also, everyone agrees that things as simple as a pair of shoes or a toy make a big difference.
They serve a little more than 150 families per day, and as requirements to enter is to wait for your turn, and while you wait, they offer other services such as help with health insurance, and food.
Claudia Horta, Colombian immigrant says:
“It is a comfortable place, it is as if you were shopping and it is cozy, I have found what I need and it is a great help for the children.”
It is open from Tuesday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and you can come on Mondays between 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. to drop off donations, but it can also be arranged in advance outside of those hours by sending an email to teamtlcnyc@gmail.com.
2023-09-04 16:27:00
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