UWS Son And Mom Look To Bring Volunteer List Across Manhattan

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — It's been almost a year since Trinity middle school student Rian Julka and his mom, Kamal, started a crowdsourcing page to organize volunteers willing to shop, walk pets and simply chat to elderly or immunocompromised Upper West Siders who might need help during the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2021, the local family is still making an effort to bring people together around the common cause of lending a hand.

Specifically, Rian is creating a website along with his Trinity classmate Henry Faulkner that will bring his crowdsourcing spreadsheet idea to more neighborhoods throughout Manhattan.

"Once we knew the idea worked on the Upper West Side, that's when the idea for the website started — the website is what I want to do to expand it," Rian told Patch. "It can be a hub for multiple spreadsheets, one for the Upper West Side, one for the Upper East Side, one for Harlem."

Rian and Faulkner plan to launch the website in the coming weeks. Its neighborhoods of focus, along with the UWS, will be the UES, Chelsea, Gramercy/Murray Hill/Stuyvesant Town, and Tribeca.

As a sign of how much the Upper West Side volunteer corps has grown since its creation, over 230 volunteers are on the list — offering everything from errands to tutoring to online exercise programs and pep talks.

The volunteer list also has a section of free things to do while at home, including virtual zoo visits, workout classes and audiobooks.

Rian and his mom spread the word of the ready-and-able volunteer pool by distributing the sheet to doormen and other building staff who could help identify where elderly neighbors live and who might need it.

Kamal credits their ability to continue working for so many months to the volunteers and the fact they are no longer the ones putting in the sweat and grit themselves.

The process also hasn't been without its humorous stories.

At one point, Rian began dropping off bread to an older woman who lived within their Upper West Side building.

"She started telling us about how you don't need to spend money, there are others who willing to give for free," Kamal told Patch. "And I said we'd like to know who's giving for free, because we will rope them into our effort — and then she said there's this guy who brings bread.

"And we realized she had no idea we were the ones running it and the ones bringing her food. She talked it quite excitedly, and we didn't say anything or intervene."

Rian kept it simple when talking about how the Upper West Side has responded to joining the volunteer list.

"They were very on the spot, ready to help."

People can check out the Upper West Side volunteer sign-up sheet here.