Through the Braid foundation

For the children the State already promised.

Thousands of New York families qualified for a childcare voucher and are still on a waiting list the funding never caught up with. Our volunteers take those children. Those families pay nothing, and neither do we take anything from them.

$0what the family pays, and what we take from them

2children at a time. Never more.

Samebenefits as a carer who takes the wage

What you receive

We do not think a person who gives their time should be worth less to us than one who takes the wage. Volunteers active a set number of hours receive the same package, funded by the foundation.

Vision, dental and hearing.: The three things Original Medicare has never covered, and the three that decide whether a person can read, eat comfortably and follow a conversation.
Groceries and meals built around your own health.: Delivered weekly, with the children’s food for care days arriving alongside it — allergies and dietary rules already handled.
Cover and clearances, paid for.: Insurance on every session, and every certification covered: fingerprinting, the State Central Register, CPR and first aid. You are never charged a dollar to take part.
A seat on the Wisdom Council, if you would rather shape this than sit in it.: A standing body with real authority — sign-off on the carer handbook and the training before a single carer is trained, and the standards for what we measure and publish. It exists partly so that members who would rather not have small children in their home, or are not able to, are not shut out.
The honest reason we want you.: The Surgeon General has put a number on what most people already know: isolation after retirement is a health condition, not a mood. A standing afternoon where two children expect you, by name, turns out to be a strange amount of medicine for it.

Why a foundation and not the company. Volunteering for a for-profit business generally is not permitted; volunteering for a nonprofit is. So the volunteer side sits inside a separate foundation, funded by the company, which carries the voucher-waitlist families, the volunteer benefits and the Council. It is not a flourish — it is the thing that makes this lawful.

Put your name down

A waitlist, not an application. It commits you to nothing.

Your name

Phone optional

ZIP or postal code

City or town

State

Country

New York first, but we are taking names everywhere.

What you would like to do

Volunteer afternoons with children Sit on the Wisdom Council Either — tell me what is needed

A little about you optional

Hours a week you could give

When you could start optional

Days that could work

We will email you when we open in your area. No mailing list, no sharing, and you can ask us to delete your details at any time.

Thank you — you’re on the list.

We will write when we open near you, and before that if we want your view on how this should work.