| On Saturday, November 14, in recognition of the Brooklyn Relief Kitchen’s vital work in addressing the persistent hunger crisis throughout Brooklyn communities, the Park Slope Civic Council presented a $2,500 grant to Andy and Piper Wandzilak, BRK’s co-founders. Piper expressed her deep appreciation of the PSCC’s support by remarking that the grant will enable BRK to feed several thousand households in the coming weeks. |
| BRK’s collection tent in front of the Old First Reformed Church was an apt backdrop for the grant ceremony, since the church has provided BRK with the space to prepare thousands of hot meals since its operation began in June, 2020. Volunteers staff the tent every week from Tuesday through Saturday, from 10am to 2pm. The hot meals that the Brooklyn Relief Kitchen prepare are supplied to CHiPs Soup Kitchen and Camp Friendship, both in Park Slope; the Workers Justice Project; and the St. Marks United Methodist Church in Flatbush, all of which distribute meals to sustain many families and individuals whose livelihoods evaporated when the businesses that employed them shut their doors. Undocumented households have been a major recipient of BRK’s assistance, particularly as they have been denied Covid-19 relief benefits. Since it appears likely that Covid-19 will be with us well into 2021, The Brooklyn Relief Kitchen’s services will continue to be needed to ameliorate food insecurity within our communities. Their task has been further complicated by ebbing Federal support for food programs in New York State. For these reasons, we encourage our members, readers, and the Park Slope community to kindly chip in with financial support to enable the BRK to purchase food in bulk and continue their invaluable efforts in the community. Your donations enable BRK’s efforts to go much, much further. Tax deductible financial donations can be made payable to BRK’s fiscal sponsor: The Old First Reformed Church, noting Brooklyn Relief Kitchen or BRK in the memo line, and sent to the church at: 729 Carroll Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215, or simply dropped off at its collection tent in front of Old First Reformed Church on Seventh Avenue and Carroll Street. |
| Additionally, if you are going on a food shopping expedition, you may also leave food items with the volunteers staffing the tent. The most urgently needed items are canned tuna, fruit, beans and soups, peanut butter/jelly, dried fruit and nuts, shelf-stable milk, pasta, rice and grains flour and sugar baby food/formula, baby supplies and disinfectant products. Please use your social media and email to urge your friends and neighbors to support Andy and Piper and the many volunteers who have made the Brooklyn Relief Kitchen an organization we can all be proud of. The Park Slope Civic Council appreciates your generosity and commitment to this cause, as we embark on the upcoming holiday season. Thank you! |