12 Yorktown/Somers Nonprofits To Support This Holiday Season

YORKTOWN/SOMERS, NY — If you’re like many of your Yorktown/Somers neighbors, you may spend a good part of the holiday season with your credit card in hand buying gifts for family and friends. Coming up soon is a chance to give back to the local community.

Giving Tuesday, which in 2024 falls on Dec. 3, is a day dedicated to supporting nonprofit and community groups. Since 2012, nonprofits worldwide have used the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to galvanize fundraising, rally volunteers and add momentum to their causes.

Maintaining funding is a constant challenge for many nonprofits that fill gaps and meet other needs in Yorktown/Somers.

Here are 12 local nonprofits to consider getting behind on Giving Tuesday:

• Croton-Harmon Educational Foundation: "For twenty years, CHEF has seeded innovative and creative initiatives that have lasting value across the Croton Harmon School District."
• Foundation for Excellence in Yorktown Education: "founded in 1993 to award grants to educators for developing timely, innovative & creative projects."
• The Friends of Hilltop Hanover Farm (Yorktown Heights): "dedicated to the development and advancement of sustainable agriculture, environmental stewardship, community education, and accessible food systems for all."
• Friends of the Hart Library: "operate year round to help enrich the Library’s collection, and to provide hands and voice in support of the Library’s work for the community."
• Guiding Eyes for the Blind (Yorktown Heights): "provides guide dogs to people with vision loss. We are passionate about connecting exceptional dogs with individuals for greater independence."
• Lakeland Education Foundation: "seeks to provide opportunities for the students and staff of Lakeland to expand learning opportunities, to maximize the potential of each student, and to augment the fine work that is already underway in the Lakeland Schools."
• My Brother Vinny (Yorktown Heights): "We provide furniture and housewares to formerly homeless US Veterans, outreach groups, shelters and families throughout the Hudson Valley Region, and NYC. We run an annual My Brother Vinny Walk and help local animal shelters and rescue groups in the aid and support of animal welfare. We establish and implement community-based events geared towards improving the enjoyment of life, happiness, and health of the emotionally, physically, and intellectually disabled."
• Ossining Matters Educational Foundation: "to support and enrich the learning opportunities for all children in the Ossining School District."
• Somers Education Foundation: "supports Somers schools by raising funds for specific student and teacher-initiated projects that enrich the educational experience and are not funded by the district’s budget."
• Somers Library Foundation: "raises funds to support projects that beautify, modernize and enrich the offerings and capabilities of the Somers Library, our community’s intellectual and cultural center."
• Yorktown Love in Action (Yorktown Heights): "We serve Westchester and Putnam county communities by helping individuals and families that have fallen on hard times. When someone’s in need due to unforeseen hardship, we provide them with the goods we receive through our generous local donations and monthly monetary supporters."
• YMCA of Central & Northern Westchester (White Plains hq, Yorktown Heights, Putnam Valley): "As a non-facility YMCA, we are uniquely positioned to serve our region, offering a wide range of programs in schools and community spaces throughout Westchester and Putnam Counties. Our programs create opportunities for children to discover their potential while enjoying a blend of fun and learning."

Here are other nonprofits in Westchester County:

• 100 Hispanic Women of Westchester
• 914 Cares (Armonk)
• Bedford Playhouse Clive Davis Arts Center
• Better Estrogen Health Foundation (Mamaroneck)
• Bundles of Joy (Bronxville)
• Cancer Support Team (Purchase)
• Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts (Katonah)
• Child Care Council of Westchester (Scarsdale)
• Children's Hope Chest (Purchase)
• Clay Art Center (Port Chester)
• Community Resource Center (Mamaroneck)
• CURE- The Coalition for Understanding Racism through Education (Larchmont/Mamaroneck)
• Emelin Theatre (Mamaroneck)
• Family Ties of Westchester (White Plains)
• Feeding Westchester (Elmsford)
• Friends of the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center
• The Friends of the Rye Nature Center (Rye)
• Friends of the Weinberg Nature Center(Scarsdale)
• Fuller Center for Housing of Greater New York City (New Rochelle)
• Gigi's Playhouse (Ardsley)
• Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson (Pleasantville)
• Girls Inc. of Westchester County (White Plains)
• Greater Mental Health of New York (Westchester/Rockland)
• Greenburgh Nature Center (Scarsdale)
• Gullotta House (Briarcliff Manor)
• Hope Community Services (New Rochelle)
• Hope's Door (Hawthorne)
• Housing Action Council (Tarrytown)
• Hudson Valley Justice Center (White Plains, Newburgh, Yonkers, Poughkeepsie)
• Impact100 Westchester, Inc.
• Jacob Burns Film Center (Pleasantville)
• Jay Heritage Center (Rye)
• Latino U College Access (White Plains)
• Legal Services of the Hudson Valley (White Plains)
• Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (Rye Brook)
• Manhattanville College (Harrison)
• My Sisters' Place (White Plains)
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (Elmsford)
• New York Blood Center (Rye campus)
• One World Girl, Inc. (Rye Brook)
• Pace Women's Justice Center (White Plains)
• Pediatric Cancer Foundation (Purchase)
• Peekskill Arts Alliance
• The Picture House (Pelham, Bronxville)
• Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, Inc. (Elmsford)
• Pleasantville Cottage Campus
• Purchase College Foundation
• Riverkeeper (Ossining)
• Ronald McDonald House of the Greater Hudson Valley (Valhalla)
• Sarah Lawrence College
• ShareLove.Fund (Rye)
• The Sharing Shelf (Port Chester)
• STEM Alliance of Larchmont-Mamaroneck, Inc.
• Tuckahoe Beautification Association
• Sister to Sister International (Yonkers)
• Sustainable Westchester (Mount Kisco)
• The Trip Foundation (New Rochelle)
• UNA-USA Westchester (Hastings-on-Hudson)
• United Community Center of Westchester, Inc. (New Rochelle)
• United Hebrew of New Rochelle
• United Way of Westchester and Putnam (White Plains)
• Volunteer New York! (Tarrytown) (serves Westchester, Rockland, Putnam)
• WCLA - Choice Matters (White Plains)
• Westchester Children's Association (White Plains)
• Westchester Children's Museum (Rye)
• Westchester Community Health Center (Mount Vernon)
• Westchester Jewish Community Services (White Plains)
• Westchester Land Trust (Bedford Hills)
• WJCS Center Lane (White Plains)
• Westchester Library System (Elmsford)
• Westchester Youth Alliance (Chappaqua)
• Westhab, Inc. (Yonkers)
• Women's Enterprise Development Center (White Plains)
• Women United of Westchester Social Club Inc. (Elmsford)