City Harvest — a rescue organization dedicated to feeding New York City’s hungry — recently announced that hungry New Yorkers visited its network of soup kitchens and food pantries over 400,000 more times in the third quarter of this year compared to the third quarter of 2008. In data from 390 programs, City Harvest found that Brooklyn saw the largest increase with 27 percent more emergency food program visits overall. In times like these, it’s important for those more fortunate to give back to the communities we live in. To donate to City Harvest, visit www.cityharvest.org. Here are some more suggestions on ways to help:

New York Cares
New York Cares connects volunteers with organizations year round. But this holiday season you can help out with the “Winter Wishes for Kids and Families� campaign, by providing a gift for a child who might not otherwise receive one. Visit www.newyorkcares.org to answer a request for a child, a teen or a family, as an individual or as a team. New York Cares also holds an annual coat drive every December; visit the organization’s web site for more information.

Community Board 7’s Thanksgiving Food Drive
CB 7 is accepting donations of canned goods and non-perishable items, such as boxed cereals, cookies, cake mix, canned/bagged coffee, rice, pasta, baby food, juices, water, sweets, etc. Donations will benefit the food pantries serving the CB 7 District. Bring your donations to the office at 4201 Fourth Ave. no later than Friday, Nov. 20. If you wish to make a monetary donation, please call the office at (718) 854-0003 or e-mail communityboard7@ yahoo.com for further information. Board 7 is also holding a holiday gift drive, accepting donations of unwrapped new toys and clothing for girls and boys (infant to age 12) through December 18.

First Presbyterian Church
First Presbyterian Church at 124 Henry St. in Brooklyn Heights will be holding a holiday food drive in collaboration with St. Ann’s School on Friday, Nov. 20. The church will also be the collection site for the fourth annual blanket drive spearheaded by St. Edmund Prep student Christina Adorno. Adorno collects blankets and monetary donations for blankets, which she then gives to the homeless in Harlem.

St. John’s Bread and Life
This Brooklyn-based organization brings food to the poor, offers nutrition counseling, medical support and a legal clinic. The organization accepts volunteers and donations of food and money year round. Visit www.breadandlife.org for an abundance of opportunities.

Food Bank for New York City
The Food Bank fights food poverty in New York City. Every $1 you donate to this organization can help provide five meals for New Yorkers in need. You can also donate food or volunteer in any number of ways — from serving meals to staffing public awareness and fundraising events. Visit www.foodbanknyc.org for more information.

Heights and Hills Thanksgiving Dinner
This annual Thanksgiving dinner for senior citizens is a community effort co-sponsored by Heights and Hills, Grace Church and Cobble Hill Health Center, held at Grace Church on Thanksgiving Day. The Thanksgiving Dinner is open to senior citizens, regardless of economic status. Meals are also delivered to about 75 neighborhood seniors who are too frail to get out and join the festivities. Volunteers are needed on Thanksgiving Day between 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. to help with delivering meals to the homebound, seating and serving the guests, cleaning up and socializing with guests. Volunteers are also needed to bake and bring pies to Grace Church on or before Thanksgiving Day. Call (718) 596-8789 to sign up or for further information.

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church is holding a pre-Thanksgiving Food Drive for Brooklyn’s less fortunate families. Non-perishable (canned and dry) foods will be accepted at a table in the rear of the church sanctuary through Sunday, Nov. 22.

Score! Pop-Up Swap
On Nov. 21, 3rd Ward design center in Bushwick will be the setting for a massive free exchange. For $3 at the door, bring your old records, clothes, accessories, housewares, art supplies, books and DVDs, and score some new treasures. Drop your stuff at the donation table, where it is sorted, and browse various departments of free items. Leftover items are donated to charity. Proceeds from the cover charge and sales of $5 Score! tote bags support City Harvest.

And here’s how others are helping:

Borough President’s Office
This year, Borough President Marty Markowitz will continue his ongoing tradition of distributing turkeys and other trimmings to various Brooklyn community groups, who give them to the homeless or less fortunate. Last year, Markowitz handed out 1,000 turkeys and seven tons of trimmings, which includes apples, collard greens, baking potatoes and sweet potatoes. This year’s festivities will take place at Borough Hall on Nov. 23 at 11 a.m.

Xaverian High School
Since 1998, students, alumni, faculty and parents of Xaverian High School in Bay Ridge get together on Thanksgiving morning and serve a turkey dinner to over 400 senior citizens or members of the community who don’t have the means to provide their own Thanksgiving meals. Around 120 students participate in the event, allowing them “to give back to the community and follow the mission of the Xaverian brothers who founded the school,� said Rob Oliva, director of Alumni at the school.

Fontbonne Hall
For the Thanksgiving holidays, the students at Fontbonne Hall put together 25 baskets of food to feed families of six. Homerooms compile and decorate their own baskets, which are collected by alumnus Christine Maxwell, who graduated in 1988. She then delivers the baskets to needy families. The Religious Activities committee at Fontbonne also collects food from the students to donate to the food pantry at Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Compiled by Sarah Tobol
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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