Thank you for joining the NYC Basket Brigade mission! In these uncertain times, the NYC Basket Brigade is committed to feeding hungry families throughout the NYC Tri-State Area and Westchester County.
Each year with the support of an amazing group of donors, volunteers, sponsors, agency partners, organizers, and corporate partners, the NYC Basket Brigade is proud to feed families in need throughout the NYC Tri-State Area and Westchester County and surrounding areas.
Over the years we have run several other successful initiatives, including a Christmas makeover for a family in crisis, fundraising support for one of the families from the Sandy Hook shootings, and food relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Each year, we and our donors ask ourselves, how can we feed people year-round?
In 2019, we launched our most successful initiative to date in partnership with a nonprofit agency specializing in food recovery (Impact the Change – www.ImpactTheChange.org). Through this partnership, we set up a food recovery program with one of the agencies with whom we have been working closely for more than a decade. (PATHHSEO – www.pathhseo.org). They are a food pantry and soup kitchen in Morrisania, one of the poorest sections of the South Bronx, and also have programs for feeding the homeless, children, and other families in crisis.
Working closely with Jonathan Stone and Dawn Elyzabeth-Stone, the Founders of Impact the Change, Frank Clark and Anna Olivo had several meetings with Sandra Reyes at PATHHSEO, as well as with a representative from a major national food distribution company. Together, we secured access to high-quality food that has been continuously given since the Spring of 2019 and hence extending the NYC Basket Brigade’s mission to be year-round.
That food is now feeding residents of Morrisania, and the agency was able to provide some of its surpluses to other agencies also serving the South Bronx. The community receives anywhere from 4-8 Gaylord pallets of food every week, including fresh produce, canned goods, packaged goods, bread and other baked goods, dairy products, meat, and fish.
While it is difficult or almost impossible to accurately quantify the number of meals provided through these efforts, we estimate that we are providing sufficient food for anywhere from 150,000 to 200,000 meals each year for this impoverished community.
One of the biggest challenges is what is known as the “last mile” problem. This means the problem of picking up the food from the distributor, transporting it to the distribution site, and storing it in refrigerated storage until it can be distributed into the community. Because the food we are recovering is close to its expiration date, it must be distributed quickly and efficiently or cooked or frozen to extend its useful life. This program was in jeopardy in late 2019 because of a lack of funds for refrigerated transportation and for the people to drive the trucks.
We are now looking to ramp up our fundraising to the next level to establish more food recovery partnerships and get better leverage in feeding people by using a percentage of this funding to solve this “last mile” problem. That could be used to fund more refrigerated storage and transportation solutions. We have been meeting with other potential agencies to expand this program throughout the Hudson Valley and the tri-state area.
Thank you for joining us on this journey! We can always use your support whether it be donations or resources to further our mission. Email connect@nycbasketbrigade.org with your thoughts and together, we can make a real difference in the lives of those in need.
