North Brooklyn Angels
By Sean Metcalf
A number of toddstreet employees rolled up their sleeves to volunteer for the North Brooklyn Angels, a mobile soup kitchen serving hot meals to residents of North Brooklyn in need (spanning Greenpoint, Bushwick and Williamsburg).
Over the 4 days of service, our team joined other volunteers to prepare meals, serve them from the AngelMobile food truck and return to the kitchen to prepare for the following day.
In a year on the streets, fueled by volunteer power, North Brooklyn Angels has addressed the local meal gap by serving over 33,400 free hot & healthy meals.
The Meal Gap, New York City's official measure of food insecurity, represents the meals missing from the homes of people struggling with food insecurity — that is, when household food budgets fall too short to secure adequate, nutritious food year-round. The meal gap in North Brooklyn ranges from 11 meals to 0.9 meals, depending on the survey area.
Formerly three working-class and industrial neighborhoods, this part of Brooklyn has been rapidly gentrifying since the 1990s. As the area continues to transform with an explosion of development, skyrocketing real estate values, an inundation of bars, trendy restaurants, & cafes, and the continual use of Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Bushwick as a lifestyle prop, it must be recognized that amidst all this wealth and buzz, there is hunger, displacement pressure, and economic uncertainty for the working poor, the homeless, and the low income residents struggling to remain in our community.
What started as a few people cooking meals for a homeless shelter has flourished into a much bigger mission. Today, with a fully functional kitchen and a 40ft food truck, volunteers are equipped to prep and cook 900 healthy meals a week for the area.
We are humbled by the work the organization does everyday to serve members of the community and were grateful to participate. toddstreet looks forward to partnering again soon!