Great Heights! Today we had our first abundant and lush donation from Brooklyn Grange. Not only are they the leaders in rooftop farming in the US, they operate the WORLD’s largest rooftop soil farms, located on three roofs in New York City, and grow over 100,000 lbs of organically-cultivated produce per year.
They are fiercely dedicated to community and giving back, educational programming and events, in addition to growing and distributing fresh vegetables at their own rooftop farms and various markets around the city. If you don’t know about them yet, be sure to follow and visit their site, and do some socially distant shopping at their rooftop markets on the weekend.
We are so very grateful for the plentiful bounty of arugula, herbs, heirloom carrots and radishes. We were able to add veggies to over 100 produce packages to @stmarksumcbklyn. Arugula is washed and ready to be made into vats of pesto. So thankful! .
Photos of Brooklyn Grange and their donations to BRK
First and foremost, as of writing this update, we have just reached our first fundraising goal of $35,000. We are humbled and full of thanks!
August at The Kitchen was our busiest yet. More thanks to your incredibly generous donations, we had the resources to fill a big need in the local Brooklyn community. While our frontline partner organization Chips was closed for repairs and respite, our dedicated volunteers set up in front of the building Monday to Friday to distribute over 800 meals a week, including lots of well received servings of watermelon! During the last week we had a visit from our local champion and council member Brad Lander. Thank you!
Numerous local businesses and individuals also donated supplemental meals and resources. We are particularly thankful to the Park Slope Fifth Avenue BID (@TheOther5th) for helping to spread the word about our work. We received an anonymous donation to our Gofundme last week for $10,000, leaving us beyond thrilled and thankful that we can put those funds towards thousands of meals.
Work Day Changes: Tuesday to Saturday
Brooklyn Relief Kitchen is providing more and more meals and produce/pantry boxes to our frontline partners. New Yorkers continue to face long stretches of unemployment, food insecurity and our most vulnerable seniors and populations continue to practice social distance/safety by staying away from public places and food shopping. To better meet the needs of our partners The Kitchen will now operate Tuesdays to Saturdays 10am to 2pm.
BRK Food Drive outside Old First Church @ 729 Carroll St. Every Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 2pm
Our food drive drive outside of Old First Church will also change its schedule. Tuesday thru Saturday 10am – 2pm.
Chip’s will serve our hot meals: Tuesdays thru Saturdays 11:30am to 1pm 200 4th Ave. @Sackett St. Brooklyn
Camp Friendship will serve our hot meals: Saturdays 10am to 2pm Park Slope United Methodist Church 410 6th Ave. @ 8th Street Brooklyn.
September is Hunger Awareness Action Month
As thousands of New Yorker’s are facing hunger, some for the first time as a result of the pandemic, we continue preparation and delivery of more than 1800 meals and pantry boxes a week to a growing number of clients at St. Marks United Methodist Church, Camp Friendship, Worker’s Justice Project and Heights and Hills Senior Services. Later in the month we will announce our collaboration with some new frontline partners. As we and everyone else seems to roll with the punches in these most uncertain times, we are dedicated to our vision of preparing fresh, warm, nutritious meals. Keeping Brooklyn Strong, By Keeping Brooklyn Fed.
All the Ways to Donate: –Employer Match: One of our super volunteers anonymously donated $700 to The Kitchen, only to be matched by their employer, Apple! Big thx.
–In Person: Tuesday through Saturday 10-2pm we are outside at Old First Church 7th Avenue and Carroll St. collecting monetary donations and pantry items!
–Pay it Forward EBT Card: In the coming weeks every public school student will receive an EBT card valued at $420. If you are fortunate enough, part or all of the value of this card can be donated via the GoFundMe campaign. Many have already started to do this, we thank you so much. *Be sure to mention when donating. https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-the-brooklyn-relief-kitchen
–Time/Volunteer: As our fabulous high school and college student volunteers start heading back to school (in one form or another), we have a few openings for kitchen prep and packing volunteers. Please contact us at info @ brooklynreliefkitchen.org for details.
Small Biz Thanks and Support Your Local: –Shout out to Dontis Produce, who Andy and Piper have been working with for over 35 years, for supplying The Kitchen with donated and discounted produce. Family Owned + Operated Wholesale Produce Company Since 1962 Now Delivering Veggie & Fruit Boxes to Local Residence Reserve Today: www.dontisproduce.com @dontis_produce
–Dujour Bakery – Donated delicious baked goods and breakfast. 365 5th Ave –L’Arte Della Pizza – Yummy donations. 172 5th Ave –Hiller and Moon – Weekly bread donations, hand delivered! 814 Union
Please continue to follow us on Instagram @BkReliefKitchen, Facebook /BrooklynReliefKitchen and help us to spread the word.
Thank you all so much for your online contributions. You have helped us to prepare and serve another 2000 tasty meals this week. Our in person donation tent also saw an uptick in giving, as our visibility, and need grows. We increased our fundraising goal to $35K. This money is crucial in subsidizing our back line food donations. We appreciate your continued interest and hope you will share this post/and fund. Some delicious meals this week included: Chicken tikka masala, Vegetarian chili, Intensely good mac and cheese, Bratwurst and braised cabbage. We even distributed fresh vegetables to our front line partners at St. Marks UM Church in Flatbush. Again, thank you.
For your donation convenience B.R.K. has started an Amazon Wishlist for the items we most needed to fulfill our food relief mission. You can purchase items (PPE, coolers, containers etc.) to ship to us directly, OR you can view the list, purchase locally and come on by to drop off and say hello.
Old First Church, under the tent, between 10am and 2pm Monday to Friday – 729 Carroll Street (6th and 7th).
We’ve already got orders for hundreds of meals from four non-profits and soup kitchens – your donations will help us SET UP and DELIVER!
We’ve got a great team of volunteers dedicated to providing as many meals on weekdays as we can, and will expand our outreach as our capacity, and our funds, grow — and that’s where you come in.
Please give what you can, and spread the word that the Hurricane Sunday crew are back in business, ready to help those who need it.
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