Thursday, July 2, 2009

PLEASE HELP -- Canned/Dry Goods Drive

This is the second season that we are partnering with Pastor W.R. Billips of Brownsville, Brooklyn as the recipient of the leftover produce from our CSA distributions. Each week Pastor Billips drives to the garden at the end of distribution, and volunteers pack boxes of our extra veggies into his truck. Our extra produce is an important infusion of fresh food in the communities of Brownsville and East New York, where families gather on Saturdays to collect our produce to supplement goods from the neighborhood's food pantry. Last week, Pastor Billips told us that the largest food pantry in the neighborhood is struggling to provide for the growing number of hungry members of the community. According to Pastor Billips, the shelves are practically empty. Food pantries across NYC are suffering from funding cuts at a time when more and more families depend on food assistance. As you can imagine, this creates a huge strain on the neighborhood and the many families that rely on emergency food providers to make ends meet.

Increasing access to fresh and nutritious food for people of all income levels is among the CSA's core values, and we'd like to do more to support Pastor Billips and his community in this time of great need. To this end, the CSA will be collecting canned and dry goods during the next 2 distributions to help restock the bare shelves of Brownsville's food pantry. Please, please take some time to look in your kitchen and pick out a few items to donate, or stop by the store and purchase a few items to contribute. Bring your beans, pasta, lentils, etc with you to distribution on June 27 and/or July 4 and look for a big donation box. We're looking forward to growing our partnership with Pastor Billips, and hope this will be the first of many direct actions that can assist his mission of improving the Brownsville community.

We really hope that you're able to contribute!

WHAT: Canned/Dry Goods Drive
WHEN: Distribution - June 27 and July 4
WHY: To supplement the Brownsville Food Pantry and support our partner, Pastor Billips

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