Dear Friends of Brooklyn Relief Kitchen,
Thank you so much for your ongoing support. With your help we have distributed over one million pounds of produce, milk and pantry items and served over one hundred thousand hot meals over the last year. We’ve felt truly fortunate to have been able to create a community of loyal volunteers and donors who together have found a way to do good for others.
As summer approaches we will be shifting gears and making changes to our operations. Because of necessary electrical and building renovations to Old First Church, our work preparing hot meals will be pausing at the end of May. The church has graciously delayed their repairs for 10 months to enable us to continue using the kitchen space, but the work must finally begin.
During our hiatus from the church space, we will continue to provide pantry goods and fresh groceries to our partnering organizations in Brooklyn, as long as funding allows. Additionally, we hope to use the downtime at the church to make some much needed improvements to the Old First kitchen with an eye to continued service and for use in future food emergencies. We plan to return to Old First after renovations are completed, but that will not be until sometime in the fall.
To that end, we’ll be holding fund-raising events and food drives in front of the church and elsewhere, to support summer operations and renovation.
We are very grateful to the Old First for their generosity; the community support we have received from Park Slope and all corners of Brooklyn and beyond has been inspiring, and instrumental in providing food relief to our neighbors in need.
We invite you to stay abreast of our progress through our newsletter and social media channels.
If you are able, we would ask that you consider helping us reach our goal of $100,000 by the end of May so we can keep providing, milk, produce and pantry items throughout the summer. Any and all donations are greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Andy and Piper Wandzilak, Founders
Kate O’Donnell, Executive Chef