Upcoming Community Events & Resources

lenox hill neighborhood house farmstand

When: Fridays, 11:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Where: East 70th St. and First Ave. outside of the Center @ Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

Our Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Farmstand provides local, farm fresh produce on Fridays, year-round in front of the Center @ Lenox Hill Neighborhood House at First Avenue and East 70th Street. The Farmstand is operated by our partner GrowNYC. Click here for more information.

Past Community Events & Resources

Annual Thanksgiving Dinner Dance for Older Adults

When: November 20, 2023
Where: Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

On November 20, 2023, we welcomed hundreds of older adult neighbors to celebrate the spirit of gratitude with a fabulous farm-to-table Thanksgiving feast prepared by our chefs, followed by live music and dancing, at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House’s annual Thanksgiving Dinner Dance. The Neighborhood House has organized this beloved celebration for decades—and this year was yet another resounding success.

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House was joined by elected officials U.S. Representative Jerry Nadler, State Senator Liz Krueger, Assemblymember Alex Bores, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and Councilmember Keith Powers. Pianist Alexandra Frederick and The Love Revival Orchestra played live music for attendees, and Pastor Jared R. Stahler of Saint Peter’s Church led the Thanksgiving blessing. We are grateful to our wonderful volunteers and staff, along with Driscoll Foods for their generous in-kind donations, as well as our leadership supporters for their gracious partnership and generous support. The event sponsors included Allen R. Adler & Frances Beatty (Champion Sponsor); eScript360 (Celebration Sponsor); Gracie Square Hospital (Dinner Sponsor); and Renée Landegger, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Tech:NYC (Community Partner Sponsors).

Photos by Mia Isabella Photography / Michael Russell

Honoring Native Americans During Thanksgiving

November is National Native American Heritage Month. As we navigate the complicated reality of celebrating Thanksgiving with our loved ones and acknowledging the painful connection the holiday has to Native communities, we offer a few ways to honor Native Americans this month and over the holiday. Click here to learn more.

Ways to Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month 2023

When: September 15 - October 15

National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed each year from September 15 to October 15. At the Neighborhood House, we honor National Hispanic Heritage Month by celebrating the diversity of our community, amplifying voices of Hispanic and Latinx people and creating opportunities for ongoing collective learning. Click here for a few ways to honor and celebrate the month.

Honoring and Celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2023

When: Monday, October 9, 2023

On October 9, 2023, we at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House commemorated Indigenous Peoples’ Day as an important opportunity to recognize the violent history of genocide and continued displacement of Native communities. We honor the first inhabitants and acknowledge that the land on which Lenox Hill Neighborhood House stands is Lenapehoking, the original ancestral land of the Lenape People. A starting point in understanding is to “unlearn” misrepresented histories and harmful narratives that contribute to the present-day structural racism faced by Indigenous communities, and to “relearn” the history of the land we inhabit. Click here to learn more.

4 Healthy Summer Recipes

Need recipe inspiration for your next summer get-together? Click here to check out our round-up of nutritious and delicious summer recipes, curated by our fantastic Chefs!

Recipes include:

• Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese

• Healthy Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies

• Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

• Barley, Corn and Black Bean Salad

Women’s Equality Day 2023

When: August 26, 2023

On August 26, 2023 we commemorated Women’s Equality Day—a day to recognize the 103rd anniversary of the 19th Amendment, solidifying the right to vote for millions of women. Though an important milestone in history, the 19th Amendment did not secure universal suffrage, as millions more women of color were excluded. In recognition of Women’s Equality Day and the continued fight for women’s rights, click here for six historical facts about women’s suffrage.

Juneteenth Resource Guide 2023

When: June 19, 2023

In 2021, Juneteenth became a federal holiday, but it has been long celebrated in Texas. In honor of Juneteenth, we created a resource guide to further your learning of Black history and to center and amplify Black stories and voices during this holiday. Click here to view the resource guide.

Meredith Willson’s The Music Man SR.

When: Friday, June 9, 2023 through Sunday, June 11, 2023
Where: Brooke Astor Auditorium at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

The Older Adult Centers at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House were proud to debut Meredith Willson’s The Music Man SR. at our Brooke Astor Auditorium at three stellar, sold-out performances. This heartwarming production captivated audiences with our members’ talented singing and acting, as well as stunning costumes fitting the early 1900s setting. The musical, adapted for older adults from the Broadway classic The Music Man, is about a con man in a quaint Midwestern town in the 1910s whose plans to swindle locals are disrupted when he falls for a local librarian. Through our Intergenerational Art Project in collaboration with our Visual and Performing Arts team, older adults and neighborhood youth brought the Broadway classic to life with handmade props and a mural backdrop. The enriching performances sparked the discovery of new talents and rekindled the love for performing for so many of our older adult members and our greater Neighborhood House community.

(The Music Man SR. is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com)

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House First Avenue Festival

When: June 3, 2023
Where: First Avenue between East 72nd and East 79th Streets

Our Neighborhood House community had a wonderful Saturday celebrating the summer season and connecting with neighbors at the annual Lenox Hill Neighborhood House First Avenue Festival. We are the proud longstanding nonprofit sponsor of this family-friendly festival. We hosted a full line-up of performances led by our Visual & Performing Arts team, Older Adult Center members and community partners; watercolor painting stations with our Visual Arts Teachers; and a community boxing activity led by our Fitness Instructor and more.

Annual Thanksgiving Dinner Dance for Older Adults

When: November 21, 2022
Where: Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

We were honored to welcome hundreds of older adult clients to our annual Thanksgiving Dinner Dance, one of our most beloved Neighborhood House traditions. Guests enjoyed a farm-to-table Thanksgiving feast—roast turkey breast with garlic and sage gravy, house-made cranberry sauce, cornbread stuffing, green beans with caramelized onions and mushrooms, sweet potatoes with ginger and house-made pumpkin tiramisu for dessert—prepared by our fabulous chefs. After the meal, clients, volunteers and staff danced the night away to live music from the Sami Stevens Band. This magnificent and memorable evening of food, fellowship and entertainment always serves as a special kickoff to the holiday season as we celebrate together as a community.

Four Ways to Honor Indigenous People in New York

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House aims to ensure that our honoring of the Indigenous communities, especially in New York, is an everyday effort, and we hope that you find something in this resource guide to begin or deepen your solidarity with us for the Indigenous communities who are still here fighting for their land, water, rights and recognition today. Click here to view the resource guide.

Pride Month Resource Guide

In honor of Pride Month, we curated a list of resources which center on the important history of the LGBTQIA+ community and their influence. We hope these resources will foster conversations to encourage a call for greater unity, visibility and equality for the LGBTQIA+ community. Click here to read the resource guide.

Uplifting our AAPI Elders

When: May 18, 2022
Where: Virtual

We hosted a free virtual community discussion in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month and Older Americans Month where our wonderful guest speakers shared their community work with AAPI older adults.

Black History Month: In Our Own Words

When: February 10, 2022
Where: Virtual

We hosted a free virtual community discussion in honor of Black History Month. We were excited to be joined by guest speakers—poet and writer Javan Howard, writer and essayist Jared Michael Lowe and artist and author Isabel Villarreal—who shared how they're creating their own spaces to tell and preserve their narratives.

Check out this resource guide featuring the speaker’s recommendations of fellow Black authors and poets for you to add to your reading list as well as mental health resources centered on support, healing and wellness for the Black community.

Honoring History and Roots with Chef April Smith and Aunt Doll

When: February 18, 2022
Where: Virtual

We were joined by special guests Chef April Smith and her Aunt Doll as they shared two recipes with connections to Black history and their family roots - Okra and Tomato Stew and Aunt Doll's Buttermilk Pies. It was hosted by The Teaching Kitchen® at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House with Chef Evelyn García and Seema Pai.

Check out their delicious recipes below:

Okra and Tomato Stew
Aunt Doll’s Buttermilk Pie
Aunt Doll’s Cornbread

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Educational Resources

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we compiled a list of a few resources—books to read, organizations to support, podcasts to listen to, movies to watch—to learn more about racial justice and civil rights history as well as to highlight the community work of Black people. Click here to view the guide.

Making Space for Disability Justice

When: November 10, 2021
Where: Virtual

We brought our community together for a virtual discussion Making Space for Disability Justice⁠ featuring special guests Lindsay Adams, geunsaeng ahn and Kai Minosh Pyle, where together we created a space for our speakers to share their work and stories centered on disability justice, advocacy and inclusion.

Check out our Resource Guide to further your learning on disability justice and to continue amplifying more voices in the disability community.

Juneteenth Event: Black Joy, Hope and Liberation

When: June 17, 2021
Where: Virtual

To celebrate and honor Juneteenth, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House hosted a reflective conversation on what Black joy, hope and liberation mean for the Black community and how can non-Black people show up in solidarity in tangible ways, especially one year after George Floyd's death. We were joined by Rasheed Ajamu (Community and Digital Organizer), Dr. Amber Spry (Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics and the Department of African and African American Studies at Brandeis University) and Natelegé Whaley (Culture Journalist).

Older Adults Kick Off the Holidays at Annual
Thanksgiving Dinner Dance

When: November 25, 2019
Where: Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

The Neighborhood House was honored to welcome nearly 400 older adults to our Thanksgiving Dinner Dance, one of our most beloved annual traditions. Our guests included members of both the Center @ Lenox Hill Neighborhood House and our Senior Center at Saint Peter’s Church, as well as clients from our Geriatric Care Management and CARE programs.

Guests enjoyed a full farm-to-table Thanksgiving feast prepared by our fabulous Food Services team, followed by spirited dancing to a live band. Dinner was served by our incredible volunteers from New York Life Insurance Company, New York Cares, Omni Hotels & Resorts and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. After the meal, guests enjoyed dancing to live music from the Leah Rich Band, who entertained the crowd with chart-topping hits from the 50s, 60s and 70s. This memorable evening of food, fellowship and fun was a fantastic way to kick off the holiday season and celebrate together as a community.

Book Party with Alex Counts

When: October 24, 2019
Where: Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

The Neighborhood House hosted a Book Party for Alex Counts, a 1970s alumnus of our summer camp. Alex founded the Grameen Foundation in 1997 with a $6,000 grant from Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus and a burning passion for social change. Facing burnout by his early 30s, he found a new way to live and thrive. Alex shared his experiences with members of the community and signed copies of his book, Changing the World Without Losing Your Mind: Leadership Lessons from Three Decades of Social Entrepreneurship.

Protest Music - A Global History: Lecture and Performance

When: October 16, 2019
Where: Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

Members of the community enjoyed a fascinating lecture by Dr. Benjamin Tausig, who discussed the history and power of protest music—both as it relates to the settlement house movement and to other 19th and 20th century causes, and as a vital force for change in our own era. Dr. Tausig’s lecture was followed by an acoustic performance of historical protest music by musicians and scholars Taylor Ackley and Alison Rowe.

Volunteers Honored at Annual Celebration

When: October 3, 2019
Where: Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

This wonderful event collectively honored our more than 1,100 incredible volunteers for their important work with our programs. The evening also featured the presentation of the Elizabeth Rohatyn Awards for Community Service. This year we were proud to present the awards to Gale Brewer, Manhattan Borough President, in recognition of her invaluable support of Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, our clients and New Yorkers in need, and to Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, for their dedicated service to our community. Members of The Center @ Lenox Hill Neighborhood House performed two songs from our recent production of Into the Woods SR. and several current volunteers shared about their life-changing volunteer experiences.

Center @ Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Members Present Into the Woods Sr.

Members of Our Adult Centers presented Into the Woods SR., a pilot production of the classic Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine musical adapted for older adult theater groups. The cast worked for three months to prepare for a weekend of sold-out performances. The week before the performances, Stephen Sondheim (who wrote the music and lyrics) and James Lapine (who wrote the book) enjoyed visiting a rehearsal to meet the cast and observe some of the scenes. Congratulations to our cast and crew on a fantastic show!

Into the Woods SR. was presented through special arrangement with, and all authorized materials were supplied by, Music Theatre International, New York, NY 212-541-4684 www.mtishows.com

The Teaching Kitchen’s Farm-to-Institution Panel Discussion

The Teaching Kitchen at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House hosted a panel on February 21, 2019, to discuss what opportunities exist for action and collaboration to improve publicly funded meals, how we further farm-to-institution goals, how we develop policies and processes to effect wellness for low-income New Yorkers, and how we strengthen the local food shed and create a more healthy and equitable food system.

Speakers

Barbara Turk, Director of Food Policy, Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services

Greg Silverman, Executive Director, West Side Campaign Against Hunger

Dr. Kristie J. Lancaster, NYU Steinhardt Associate Professor; Director, Graduate Nutrition Program

Lynn Loflin, Teaching Kitchen Executive Chef, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

Sarah Barton, Director of Program Development, New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets

Moderator
David French, Director of Philanthropy and Healthy Food Initiatives, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

A New Way to Look at Aging: A Conversation with Ashton Applewhite, John Leland and Ruth Finkelstein

The Neighborhood House hosted a program and panel discussion on February 9, featuring This Chair Rocks author Ashton Applewhite, New York Times reporter John Leland and Professor Ruth Finkelstein. The conversation centered on attitudes on aging, what it means to grow older and strategies for fighting ageism, and well over 100 people were in attendance. John Leland presented on his book, Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons from a Year among the Oldest Old, highlighting what he learned about joyful aging from spending time with individuals in their eighties and nineties. Ashton Applewhite’s program centered around ageism and how identify and push back against discrimination on the basis of age. Ruth Finkelstein moderated the program and facilitated a conversation between the speakers, concluding the event with a lively open discussion and Q & A session between the audience and panelists.

Hundreds of Older Adults Enjoy Homemade Banquet and Live Music at Annual Thanksgiving Dinner Dance

When: November 19, 2018
Where: Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

The Neighborhood House welcomed nearly four hundred older adults to our annual Thanksgiving Dinner Dance, one of our most beloved traditions, on November 19th. Guests enjoyed a full farm-to-table Thanksgiving dinner prepared by our Food Services team and served by a large team of enthusiastic volunteers. The guest list consisted of members of both the Center @ Lenox Hill Neighborhood House and our Senior Center at Saint Peter's Church, as well as Geriatric Care Management and CARE clients.

The delicious menu included fresh roast turkey with mushroom gravy, bread stuffing with roasted apples, miso-tomato-braised sweet potato and winter squash with spinach, cranberry sauce and pumpkin cheesecake. Dinner was followed by dancing in our Auditorium to live music from the Sami Stevens Band, an eclectic mix that ranged from jazz and swing to Motown and disco. This joyful evening was a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season and celebrate together as a community.

Volunteers Honored at Annual Rohatyn Awards Celebration

When: October 4, 2018
Where: Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Auditorium

We are so blessed to have so many amazing volunteers! At our annual volunteer recognition celebration, we were honored to recognize Board Member Mal Barasch with our inaugural Pro Bono Service Award and Cristo Rey New York High School and NYC Food Policy Director Barbara Turk with our 2018 Elizabeth Rohatyn Award for Community Service. Members of our volunteer-led hula class performed at the event, showcasing their delightful dance to the song "Lovely Hula Hands." 

Neighborhood House Staff Present on Leading-Edge
Farm-to-Institution Training Program at NYS Health Foundation

When: January 31, 2018
Where: New York State Health Foundation

Teaching Kitchen Chef Lynn Loflin and Deputy Chief Program Officer Mia Kandel presented at the New York State Health Foundation about the impact our fantastic program, The Teaching Kitchen at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, and our plans to scale the program to train 50 nonprofit organizations annually in our farm-to-institution model.  Lenox Hill Neighborhood House was chosen as a recipient of The New York Health Foundation’s Emerging Innovator Award for our work in The Teaching Kitchen, which is our leading-edge training, technical assistance, and consulting program to help local nonprofit organizations with institutional food programs serving low-income clients to offer healthier food.

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Receives Bank of America Neighborhood Builders® Award

When: December 6, 2016
Where: Bank of America Tower

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House was proud to be selected as a recipient of the Bank of America Neighborhood Builders® Award! Since Bank of America’s Neighborhood Builders® program began in 2004, it has become the nation’s largest philanthropic investment in nonprofit leadership: they give out approximately 90-100 awards nationwide each year! This award program will provide us with an important grant of $200,000 and a leadership development program for both our Executive Director and an emerging leader, Health Care Attorney Alexandra Brandes.

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Rings Closing Bell on NYSE for CIBC Miracle Day

When: November 28, 2016
Where: New York Stock Exchange

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House was thrilled to participate in CIBC's Miracle Day. Every year since 1984, CIBC's Capital Markets team and Investment Advisors donate their fees and commissions to children's charities on the first Wednesday in December. As a beneficiary of this wonderful event we received the fantastic opportunity to ring the closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange.

Chef Hugh Acheson Visits Early Childhood Center

When: October 18, 2016
Where: Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

Chef Hugh Acheson visited Lenox Hill Neighborhood House's Early Childhood Center to meet with staff, learn about our work and tour our facilities and then held a cooking demonstration with children and parents on our Green Roof.  We were so glad that Chef Hugh Acheson stopped by to celebrate Head Start Awareness Month with us!

Neighborhood House Staff Address Pressing Legal Issues

When: November 13, 2015
Where: New York City

Chief Program Officer Carolyn Silver coordinated a large civil legal services conference on Friday, November 13th organized with other legal partners and hosted by Weil, Gotshal & Manges.  The Conference, "New York City at a Crossroads:  The Role of Civil Legal Services in Preserving Diverse Communities," featured more than 225 attorneys and advocates. Speakers included Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Legal Director Diane Lutwak and Housing Attorney Arthur Burkle, as well as New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippmann.