Serve YOUR City Volunteer Week
Our annual Serve YOUR City Volunteer Week is a week-long series of events that take place 3 times per day, 5 days of the week (15 total activities). Examples of these activities are shown below and include activities and events of service, socializing, learning and acts of generosity, aimed to help people in need in Paris, expand our multicultural volunteer base, and show appreciation for our great city.
We also use this week an an opportunity to build our association through donations. Each donation will go towards the purchase of more food for our volunteers who prepare and deliver the food to the homeless and refugees in the streets of Paris, 5 days per week. Your donation will also go towards paying for instructor expenses and renting space for our Refugee Training Programs which connects volunteers with refugees by training refugees how to find work, how to integrate with the French culture, how to speak the English and French language, and how to help refugees and those who live in the impoverished neighborhoods of Paris be positive and optimistic.
The week long event takes place each year in the month of June. In 2019, Serve YOUR City week ran from June 24 to June 29. (New dates for our 2020 Serve YOUR City Week will be announced soon). The event was a tremendous success, with over 400 participants throughout the week. You can read more about the results of the 2019 event in the volunteer appreciation letter.
Serve YOUR City Volunteer Week is an opportunity to meet and socialize with our other English speaking expat volunteers, and at the same time, support our great city. Our team must begin organizing the event up to a year in advance, so we are currently looking for volunteers and donations to help us prepare for next year’s Serve YOUR City Volunteer Week. Register and join us!
What is Serve YOUR City Volunteer Week?
A week of fundraising and service activities for our network of volunteers and our partners put on by Serve the City Paris.
Serve the City Paris has organized a week of activities for our 1,000+ multicultural volunteers in Paris. There will be service activities, learning opportunities, entertainment and acts of generosity scheduled every morning, afternoon, and evening during the week. We invite you to join by registering for as many activities as you would like to participate in. Meet our community, meet new friends, and have a positive impact on our wonderful city!
Examples of the 2019 Serve YOUR City Volunteer Week activities that ran between June 24-29 are provided below.
Our Week of Exciting Activities!
“Technology and Its Role in Social Action” Panel, Q&A, and Social & Networking Happy Hour
Come join us at the L’Arche MakeSence and Wecandoo space (loft under the train tracks) to hear a panel discussion and Q&A on “Technology and Its Role in Social Action”. We have organized this grand event for our volunteers, partners, and donors to be held on Wednesday, June 26th from 19:00 – 22:00.
We have a diverse group of panel speakers including founders of NGOs, an investment banker who’s firm specifically invests in NGO’s, and an executive from a major French bank who invests in innovative NGO’s and startups. The speakers will share their experiences in utilizing technology as a mechanism to generate social change in their respective field. The moderator for the event is Genie Godula, an international newscaster from the France24 news channel.
After the discussion, we will offer an interactive Q&A with the audience during which audience members can submit their questions via an interactive phone application. The panel and discussion will be followed by a social and networking cocktail event.
We are still offering seats for this event and taking corporate sponsors. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please contact info@servethecity.paris
Master Dance Class with Barima Osei
On June 25 from 14:00 – 16:00, Barima Osei will be teaching a hip hop dance class to our volunteers and donors. We encourage all ages to sign up for the dance class to socialize with others and burn some calories! (The master dance class will also be a preparation for our ‘flash-mob’ surprise appearance at our picnic and football tournament on Saturday)
Take the master class and then go to the link below where there is a video of Barima and his choreographed steps of the dance routine, so that you can even practice the routine at home!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zw2age2ubclkz9z/VID_20190422_174555.mp4?dl=0
When you come to Barima’s class, you will find out about the surprise dance event later in the week…. 🙂
Film Night with Lost in Frenchlation
On June 24 from 19h – 22h, Serve Your City Paris and Lost in Frenchlation will be showing the film, L’Epoque, by Matthieu Bareyre at Luminor (20 Rue du Temple, 75004 Paris). The film is in French with English subtitles.
Here is a link to a trailer and description of the film: http://www.allocine.fr/video/player_gen_cmedia=19583092&cfilm=262956.html
We will be serving drinks and snacks starting at 19h and the screening of the film will start at 20h. After the film, there will be a Q&A with the film crew!
Pub Quiz
On June 25 from 18h – 20h, we will be holding a notorious “Pub Quiz” at Ha’Penny Bridge Pub, 153 Rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris.
The Pub Quiz concept was established in the UK in the 1970s and quickly became a big part of British culture. The Great British Pub Quiz challenge is an annual event. In continental Europe, pub quizzes are a staple event in Irish pubs. Attendees are divided into groups and each group answers trivia questions read out loud by the quiz master, all while drinking a refreshing beer or any drink of choice.
If you have never participated in a city ‘Pub Quiz’, now is your chance. Whether you have a thing for trivia and games, fellow English speaking participants will be there to support you! (No one under 18 years of age please).
Integration Workshop
Juan Marcos is a social scientist with a background in psychology, sociology, philosophy and now a consultant working with companies on the subject of Diversity Management. Juan was Executive Director of Elan Intercultural and le ‘Chef de pole migration et integration’, at Les Grands Voisins in Paris.
Juan and Serve the City Paris are offering an Integration Workshop called “Best Practices For Living in an Intercultural Society” during STCP’s Serve YOUR City Volunteer Week. The workshop aims at raising awareness on how culture influences our everyday relationships, and how diversity can be used as an asset in a multicultural environment.
During our workshop, we’ll learn how specific intercultural approaches can be used as tools to help us better integrate in society and influence positive behavior in a multicultural setting. In order to do this, we will analyze the notions of diversity, universalism and cultural relativism. Juan will introduce his ‘cross-cultural competences framework’ that will help us foster social engagement in a positive manner.
Football Tournament & Picnic with Kabubu
On Saturday June 29, we will be having a football tournament and picnic with one of our partner organizations, Kabubu at Stade des Fillettes (address located below).
Kabubu a non-profit association and long time partner of Serve the City Paris, who creates social bonds between people through sports, promoting the inclusion of refugees through the unifying values of sport.
During our event, we will be holding a friendly football tournament for players of all ages. You can come as a team or join another team. The purpose is to promote integration between refugees and non-refugees through football and the picnic. Sandwiches and soft drinks will be provided by Serve the City Paris, but we also welcome those who would like to contribute by bringing food/drink to our potluck. We also encourage participants to bring sports clothing to donate to the refugees. Feel free to bring a friend to the field too, there is plenty of space for a picnic and games!
Social, Song, & Spritz Concert Series
Come join us on Friday, June 28th to socialize, watch live musical performances, dance, eat, and drink to celebrate the wonderful activities and service performed by Serve the City Paris volunteers throughout the week.
The concert will be held in a private, outdoor courtyard (or in a theater room if the weather is not agreeable), just in front of the Seine (see address below).
We will have pre-arranged bands playing Jazz, hip-hop and rock and roll. There will also be time for those who wish to perform during our open mic-night portion of the evening.
Chili-dogs, coleslaw, ice cream sundaes and brownies will be offered, along with a selection of wine, beer and a special summer cocktail.
All volunteers, partners, donators, and participants of the Serve YOUR City Volunteer Week are invited to attend this event. Come celebrate after a week of providing great service to our city.
Food Distribution & Preparation
Join us on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday at La Caféothèque from 9h-11h to distribute surplus food from our partner Prêt a Manger to people in need on the streets of Paris. We will also be making extra food, and will be handing out coffee and tea.
On Thursday, our partner “Co-Happening” will be a sponsor to do a group activity over coffee, and to help and deliver the sandwiches.
On Friday and Saturday, in addition to distributing sandwiches, we will also be making sandwiches for our football tournament and picnic with Kabubu on Saturday!
We welcome anyone who would like to bring their own food or drink to distribute as well! The more the merrier!
Soup Kitchen with S.A.J.E.
Join us on Wednesday, June 26th from 13h-16h for a Soup Kitchen with S.A.J.E. (Soutien et Accompagnement des Jeunes en Exil). We will be contributing and distributing food to the young people they serve three days a week!
The S.A.J.E. Soup Kitchen point is set up at 53 rue de la Fontaine au Roi, 75011, Paris.
We hope to see you there!
Book Drive
Come deliver books you have already read, no longer want, or simply want to donate! We will be distributing these books during our morning food distributions to people in need who would like a book. We will take donations of books in good condition and in any language. You can bring your books to our food distribution that morning for our leaders to take to our office, or you can stop by our office to drop them off as well. We will be at the office from 11 – 13:30 collecting books.
Serve Your City Week Information
Meeting Points:
- All Food Distribution & Preparation events (25 – 29 June, 9h-11h): Meet at La Caféothèque, 52 Rue de l’Hôtel de ville, 75004 Paris
- Film Night: (Monday, 24 June. 19h-22h): Film Night with Lost in Frenchlation at Luminor, 20 Rue du Temple, 75004 Paris
- Master Dance Class (Tuesday 25 June. 14-16h): Studio Bleu at 7 rue des Petites Écuries – 75010 Paris
- Pub Quiz (Tuesday, 25 June. 18h-20h): at Ha’Penny Bridge Pub, 153 Rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris
- Soup Kitchen (Wednesday, 26 June. 13h-16h) with S.A.J.E. at 53 rue de la Fontaine au Roi, 75011 Paris
- Panel Discussion & Networking Event (Wednesday night, June 26, 19h-22): L’Arche Makesense & WeCanDoo, 5 Avenue Daumesnil, 75012 Paris
- Integration Workshop (Thursday night, 27 June, 19h-21h): American Church in Paris, 65 Quai d’Orsay, 75007 Paris
- Book Drive: (Thursday afternoon, 28 June, 11h-13:30): Serve The City Headquarters Office, 7 rue Cochin, Paris 75005.
- Social, Song, & Spritz Concert Series (Friday 28 June, 19:30-22:30): At the American Community Center and Church in Paris, 65 Quai d’Orsay, 75007 Paris
- Football Tournament & Picnic (Saturday 29 June, 14h-18h): at Stade des Fillettes, 54 Boulevard Ney, 75018 Paris
