About Us

We can put the misery filtering from network news out of business.
That’s the conclusion of Michael Van Burger, who founded Help from NYC in early 2006, when he began bringing together researchers, non-profits, friends, family and local communities to combat conditions that give rise to poverty.

We can improve every human life one step at a time. Our team believes in hit and run missions that strike at the heart of poverty, social isolation and despair by raising funds, identifying needs, and acting on a micro-level to maximize effect.

We can look without being afraid. Staffers know the overwhelming nature of poverty can be paralyzing. We seek to educate people about the small ways they can make big differences. Our philosophy is to empower people curious about how they can help by educating via multi-media accounts of our missions. The little girl we care about in Africa is the little girl you learn to care about at home.

We ask you to join us. We ask you to ask for a better world. We ask you to stop looking the other way.