New York’s Fourth Annual “Pack It Up For Purim” Food Drive Aims To Help The Hungry In Our Area
The following is a press release from the UJA-Federation:
UJA-Federation of New York’s fourth annual “Pack It Up For Purim” food drive runs now through March 16, 2014, and aims to provide more than 3,000 food packages to hungry New Yorkers. Food will be collected at JASA Brighton/Manhattan Beach Senior Center, 60 West End Avenue in Brooklyn; JASA Senior Alliance Senior Center, 161 Corbin Place in Brooklyn; Kings Bay YM-YWHA, 3495 Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn; and Shorefront YM-YWHA of Brighton-Manhattan Beach, 3300 Coney Island Ave in Brooklyn.
Drop-off times for JASA Senior Centers are Mondays through Fridays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Drop-off times for Kings Bay YM-YWHA and Shorefront YM-YWHA of Brighton-Manhattan Beach are Mondays through Thursdays from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., Fridays from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sundays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The initiative follows one Purim tradition of offering mishloach manot, or charitable food baskets, to friends, neighbors, and those in need. Fanning out over New York City, Long Island, and Westchester, over 40 UJA-Federation beneficiary agencies, synagogues, day schools, and other organizations are collecting food donations and many are organizing food-packing projects to help inspire community-building and charitable giving.
“Approximately 2.6 million New Yorkers – or nearly one in four – have difficulty affording food for themselves and their families and we need to come together to help feed our neighbors,” says Susan Kohn, executive director of the Volunteer Leadership Development Department at UJA-Federation of New York. “In the spirit of Purim, we are so grateful to our food collection sites and encourage all New Yorkers to come out and help members of our community who are just trying to feed their families.”
“Our goal for last year was to deliver over 2,000 food packages, and this year we raised that goal to 3,000 to further alleviate pressure on food distribution sites and increase the number of families we can serve,” said Kohn.
Each Pack It Up for Purim food package will contain nutritious, nonperishable items such as whole-grain cereal or oatmeal, canned vegetables, canned tuna, pasta, beans, granola bars, and peanut butter.
The festival of Purim, celebrated annually by Jews around the world, commemorates a time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved from extermination.
For more information on how to volunteer and to find a list of the food collection sites, please visit www.ujafedny.org/purim. For information about these “Pack It Up For Purim” food collection sites, please contact:
- JASA Brighton/Manhattan Beach Senior Center, Anna Bella: (718) 646-1118 / abella@jasa.org
- JASA Senior Alliance Senior Center, Sheila Galvez: (718) 646-4100 / sgalvez@jasa.org
- Kings Bay YM-YWHA, Laura Mezhiborsky: (718) 648-7703 ext. 227 / lora@kingsbayy.org
- Shorefront YM-YWHA of Brighton-Manhattan Beach, Ariella Angert: (718) 646-1444 ext. 332 / Ariella@shorefronty.org