A couple of years after my parents retired in a snow-heavy area of Michigan, they had a neighbor with a snow blower who would usually clear not only his driveway, walkway, and sidewalk, but also those of my parents. Prior to that, either my dad did it, or I did it when I was home for Christmas. One winter break, it snowed every single day that I was home, and I enjoyed (!) going outside with my snow scoop and taking care of it. My parents had another neighbor whose area I also took care of; before I turned 16, I earned money in the winter (in Iowa) by scooping snow for a few neighbors, but as a young adult, I was doing it for the sheer enjoyment of it!
All of this came to mind last week when I read about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s call for emergency snow shovelers to help dig out the snow-blanketed city. Prior to that, there had been reports of volunteers who were snow-shoveling, along with the employed city workers tasked with it. The pay was initially reported to be about $19/hour, but it was quickly increased to a very generous $30/hour. However, there were a few catches: first of all, paid snow-shovelers had to be at least 18 and eligible to work in the U.S. Second, they had to show two original forms of ID plus copies; their social security card; and two small photos sized 1.5 square inches. (This is not the same as a passport-sized photo, by the way, which is 2 X 2 inches.) If you were a snowed-in New Yorker and you happened to have all of this documentation, you were good to go! However, notice that you had to show not just two IDs, but copies as well; for those without printers, that would require the extra step of heading out into the snow and finding a business that was open and could make copies. Notice also the size of the required photos; if you had a couple of extra passport-size photos lying around (which I do), you would have had to do a little cutting. If you didn’t have extras, you could try to do it yourself, or you could head out into the snow and, again, hopefully find an open business that would do it for you. When I looked online, I did find a site that provides you with passport-size photos (for a fee, of course), which you could then print (again, if you had a printer) and then cut to the appropriate size.
As you might expect, Mamdani and other city officials received backlash over these stringent requirements. In response, New York City Department of Sanitation press secretary Vincent Gragnani said, “As with any employer, the City of New York has a legal obligation under federal law to verify work authorization and maintain proper documentation before issuing payment. We are not legally permitted to hand out checks without completing that process.” It is not clear whether there could have been a suspension of at least some of these rigorous requirements; however, given that this was officially an “emergency shoveling program,” it seems that should have been possible. To be fair, in spite of all of these requirements, there were about 7600 people who met all of them and signed up; this is even more than ten years ago, when New York City had its worst snowstorm on record and 6454 people were recruited.
Mamdani and other city officials received additional backlash, however, because New York City does not require registered voters to show ID to vote. For first-time voters, even a driver’s license number or a social security number is not required when registering to vote; a current utility bill will do. And even if that fails, you can vote by affidavit ballot, which means that your eligibility to vote will (hopefully?) be checked before your ballot is counted.
In sum, if you want to earn money in NYC as an emergency snow shoveler, you have to meet several requirements; on the other hand, if you want to vote, a utility bill will do, and even if you don’t have that, you can still cast a ballot. This blog is focused on Biblical answers to current issues and questions, not political decisions, but it seems to me that there is something askew here.
If I were living in New York City, I would be more than willing to shovel snow for myself and a couple of neighbors for free; I might even shovel crosswalks. Admittedly, in this hypothetical situation, when I learned about the city offering money to remove snow and ice from public areas–specifically bus stops, crosswalks, fire hydrants and step streets–I might do that as well!
I don’t live in snow country anymore, but one place I enjoy volunteering is at my church; over the years, I have done some in my community at large as well. I would encourage you to do the same, as you are able. I hope volunteering is something that never grows out of fashion; it sounds a lot like what the Bible calls serving one another.
To the Remnant 