We currently serve around 600 to-go meals six days a week from our soup kitchen, generally over 100 meals during breakfast and 400 to 500 meals during lunch. Our breakfast, served from 9:00 to 10:30am, includes bagels, eggs, cereal, pastries, and coffee and tea. For lunch from 11:30am to 1:00pm, we hand out a hot meal, a snack, a sandwich, and water. We also offer “after-hours” sandwiches, and leftover meals when we have them, after lunch service until we close at 4:00pm.
The number of people we serve each day has increased dramatically since 2022. In the first few months of 2023, we supported asylum seekers bused up from Southern states in droves and dropped off in Brooklyn without adequate food, shelter, or winter layers. In 2022, we served 50,000 meals. In 2023, that number was three-fold, coming in at 170,000 meals for the year. Our response to the asylum seeker crisis was only possible with massive amounts of support from members of our community and other local aid organizations – in the months following the first wave of arrivals, we saw a significant increase in monetary and in-kind donations.
We’ve seen no sign of these numbers slowing down, and we’re committed to continuing the growth and development of our program to more fully meet the needs of our guests and neighbors. We aim to serve anyone and everyone who comes to us for food. We ask that guests complete a short registration form, but we don’t ask guests to provide identification or to participate in religious activities. Our kitchen serves people regardless of immigration status or religious beliefs.
We have a small staff of full-time and part-time employees that manage the kitchen, but our volunteers are the true heroes of our operation. Every week we have around 100 volunteers reliably show up to help the program run smoothly. Our volunteers pick up and drop off food donations, plate food in the kitchen, make sandwiches, portion out snack items, check guests in, hand out food, and plenty more.