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Culture on the Cheap
The Greenpoint Food Pantry Needs Your Help
Last weekend a colleague of mine and I discussed over lunch the dearth of new bloggers. I am of the opinion that the sour economy is a contributor to this phenomenon. Think about it: maintaining a web site requires time and money— and that is something not everyone has nowadays. Many are too busy trying to put dinner on the table.
Unfortunately, no amount of hard work is enough for a number of Greenpoint’s families to make ends meet. Hence why I was very disheartened (but hardly surprised) to read that the food pantry operated by the Greenpoint Reformed Church (the host of this evening’s bedbug workshop) is empty! Ann Kansfield writes Sunday, May 4, 2008:
This week we experienced an unprecedented need for food in our neighborhood. As the news continues to report troubling times for the economy (and our pantry was featured in Sunday’s Nowy Dziennik), we are witnessing first hand the effects that higher prices are having on our neighbors. After distributing 150 bags of food in the first two hours of the pantry being open, we ran out of food and sadly had to turn people away. We also fed more than 70 people at the soup kitchen, another record number of hungry folks.
…The church has already depleted its budget for the pantry and it’s only May. We need to raise $3000 to pay for an emergency purchase of groceries from our wholesaler so that we’ll have food to give out for the coming month until we get our next shipment from the Food Bank. We’re stepping out on faith, and placing the order so that there will be food on Wednesday. In the meantime, if those of us who are able could contribute to this effort, it would be greatly appreciated.
Donations can be made online or in person at 136 Milton St. Brooklyn, NY 11222. In addition, Ms. Kansfield, myself and the owner of Word Books have been knocking around the idea of organizing an arts and crafts fair and/or auction to benefit the food pantry. This idea is still in its infancy and we would love to hear from interested artists, craftspeople and local business owners who would be interested helping to make this happen.
Think of it as an opportunity to rack a up a few good karma points. Ms. Kansfield can be contacted via email at:
pastor (at) greenpointchurch (dot) org
And as always, ideas and/or constructive criticism are welcome via comments here on New York Shitty. I will make sure she gets them.
Miss Heather
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