Part of what makes Hall Street unique is that our business is so closely intertwined with the companies we serve. Their goals and development become a priority for our team and how we shape our partnership. One organization whose mission we are proud to champion is the North Brooklyn Angels– a volunteer-powered non-profit in Brooklyn that has been fighting food insecurity, hunger and poverty since 2017. The Angels bring food to where the need is, through their mobile soup kitchen (the Angelmobile), which now regularly serves over 1,600 hot, healthy meals a week at eight locations in North Brooklyn. We recently sat with Kendra Chiu, Executive Director and Felice Kirby, Partnerships Director to discuss the vision and evolution of the North Brooklyn Angels. Here’s an excerpt from our time together:

You’re doing amazing things in the community and your efforts are having quite the ripple-effect. We heard last year you had over 850 volunteers! Tell us more about the North Brooklyn Angels.

Kendra Chiu, NBA: Thanks for your interest in our story. The North Brooklyn Angels adhere to the vision of “neighbors helping neighbors.” Our community is filled with residents of different needs and resources and we seek to organize those with more resources and energy to cohesively take ownership of the health, welfare and nutrition of their neighbors. We do this by providing food through our mobile soup kitchen, as well as organizing community leaders, members, and volunteers. Direct action by neighbors serves as an important resource in building an equitable, diverse, neighborhood.

We engage local volunteers and partners to help their neighbors beyond just hot food: hundreds of pounds of produce and/or bulk food items are redirected from farmers markets and businesses to community members served. Most recently, the provision of gently used newborn-children material essentials has become a core program through a vital partnership with the Brooklyn Hospital Center’s WIC program, the Angel Babies project. 

Serving 1,600 meals a week must take a remarkable team effort. How does your organization partner with volunteers?

Kendra Chiu, NBA: What you heard about our staggering number of volunteers is correct! In the past year, we hosted over 850 unique volunteers serving over 9,000 hours through the platform, Deed. Over a third of them became repeat/returning volunteers. Each week, we rely on 50-60 volunteers to help us with our meal prep, packaging, and distribution to operate our mobile soup kitchen program. 

To collaborate with all our volunteers, in addition to the both of us, we also have a full time Kitchen Manager, Anjali Suneja, and a part-time bookkeeper. We’re a lean and nimble team. Our board members are extremely active in volunteer coordination, fundraising campaigns, team organization and even driving our meals over to our distribution points.

We also greatly rely on community partners on a grassroots level to help us carry out our work. At most of our meal distribution sites, we have volunteer leaders who have personal familiarity with community members. They often connect those in need with not only food, but any additional resources we have available.

How does your team coordinate donations and volunteers and turn it into meals? What does your typical work day look like?

(Kendra Chiu) Each day we begin by orienting volunteers, who will then package hundreds of hot lunches for distribution at varying points throughout the North Brooklyn community. Once meals, supplies, and bulk food items are loaded into our mobile soup kitchen vehicles, volunteer drivers will head to our meal distribution sites of the day. At some locations, we have a “host committee” of volunteers who will aid in the plating and distribution of meals. 

In the afternoons, there is a rotation of community meetings with partners and donors. This is when we strategize fundraising events and address administrative and operational tasks.

How did you realize you needed a storage facility? What prompted you to select working with Hall Street?

Felice Kirby, NBA: As our organization continued to grow, we began receiving donations and making purchases of frozen products in high volumes. We outgrew our own physical plant and knew we needed a commercial facility with loading docks, safe and sanitary practices, fair prices, and easy access for our food supply chain. One of our board members did research and found Hall St. We toured the facility and felt their organization hit on all cylinders. Their facility was clean, efficient, government licensed and offered easy access for truck traffic. The team was responsive and offered a great rental price.

Key partnerships make all the difference in achieving big goals. What has been a benefit from our collaboration?

Felice Kirby, NBA: Since the pandemic began, with the help of Hall St. we were able to procure and distribute 1.5 million pounds of bulk food for almost 6,000 households. When the pandemic shuttered many food service businesses, our emergency food and nonprofit exploded. We were offered hundreds of thousands of pounds of food donations from all over the tristate area. Without our partnership with Hall St, we would not have been able to maximize this opportunity to triple our productivity and feed over 15,000 per month.

What’s next for the North Brooklyn Angels? What are the goals to continue to serve your community & grow your organization?

Kendra Chiu, NBA: We’re working on expanding into the Bushwick community, extending our offerings to include weekends, and continuing to support our newest initiative, the Angel Babies Project as part of our core programming. Our goal as a nonprofit organization is to remain focused on engaging and cultivating local volunteers and partners to support our mission of neighbors helping neighbors.

We thank the North Brooklyn Angels for their time and sharing their inspirational story.  

Types of equipment and donations North Brooklyn Angels accepts

North Brooklyn Angels is accepting donations for the items listed below. 

 

For the community kitchen:

  • Fresh, high quality pre-packaged food items
  • Green / recyclable meal containers and cutlery
  • Eco-friendly t-shirts and bags
  • Napkins

For the Angel Babies project:

  • Diapers
  • Maternity & nursing supplies
  • High chairs
  • Baby clothes