In 1987, a group of friends were eager to tackle the social problems of New York City. Like many other caring New Yorkers with demanding work schedules, they searched in vain for an organization that offered flexible, hands-on volunteer opportunities. Finding none, they formed a new organization, New York Cares. Its mission: to meet pressing community needs by mobilizing caring New Yorkers in volunteer service.Since then, New York Cares has grown immensely, becoming the City's leading volunteer organization. In just one year, New York Cares and our volunteers -- now 43,000 strong -- improve the lives of 450,000 needy New Yorkers throughout our city and provide critical assistance to 990 Project Partners. New York Cares is more than just a service that simply matches individual volunteers with nonprofit agencies in their field of interest. Our program staff works with each organization to identify their most pressing needs, creates projects where volunteers can make meaningful contributions, and then recruits and deploys teams of volunteers to help meet these needs. The great majority of these projects simply would not exist if it were not for New York Cares.