volunteering - Bklyner

Applications Open For Spark Prize For Brooklyn Nonprofits

The Spark Prize application is now open through Friday, June 25th. Brooklyn Community Foundation (BCF) will be distributing $600,000 to support the work of Brooklyn nonprofits.

volunteering

Camp Friendship Food Pantry Has Been Looking Out For Its Neighbors For a Year Now

Camp Friendship Food Pantry celebrated its one-year anniversary with what they usually do – helping those in need. The Pantry gave out at least 300 bags filled with fresh groceries to their neighbors and delivered about 100 bags to seniors on Saturday, June 5th. Last year, on June 2, residents came

COVID-19

Remembering Eugene Hurkin, 1925-2021

Eugene Hurkin, family photo.If there was one thing Eugene Hurkin lived for, it was to laugh and make others smile too. And if a joke was good enough to tell once—it was good enough to tell a thousand times. Every time Eugene and his family drove past a

COVID-19

East Brooklyn Mutual Aid Needs Help Funding Food Deliveries

East Brooklyn Mutual Aid volunteers./ Photo Provided by Natasha SantosThe East Brooklyn Mutual Aid (EMBA) [https://www.eastbrooklynmutualaid.org/about] is hosting a fundraiser [https://www.instagram.com/p/CLc4NUXrReE/] to keep their volunteer group organizing food distribution in Brownsville, Ocean Hills, East New York, and Cypress Hills for another

Bensonhurst

Masbia’s Brooklyn Soup Kitchens To Double in Size To Meet Unprecedented Demand

A line forms outside Masbia’s Borough Park location in May 2020. (Image: Alexander Rapaport/Masbia)Masbia, the Borough Park-based soup kitchen and food pantry network [https://www.masbia.org/] that distributes kosher hot meals and emergency food packages, announced yesterday it would double the size of its Brooklyn locations.

Bushwick

Valentine’s Fundraiser For Mutual Aid Groups: Sharing Love The Brooklyn Way

Comida Pal Pueblo volunteers distribute food. Photo courtesy of Vianca LugoTo give back to folks who have been selflessly helping the most vulnerable in the community, this Valentine’s Day, consider ordering from Nuestra Mesa BK, [https://www.nuestramesabk.com/] a Brooklyn-based kitchen collective, who along with Plants For The

bath beach

Teenager Offers ‘Survival English’ Classes to Senior Immigrants

Michelle Mikhels, a high school student and “Survival English” instructor. Courtesy of Michelle Mikhels.Many senior immigrants who were previously able to communicate by using facial expressions and gestures, despite the language barrier, have found themselves alone and struggling as the pandemic mask mandates make communication harder. In Southern Brooklyn,

Announcements

Brooklyn Communities Collaborative Awards Over $300,000 in Grants

Yesterday, the Brooklyn Communities Collaborative [https://www.brooklyncommunities.org/] (BCC), a nonprofit organization focused on providing aid for Brooklyn and its residents, awarded over $300,000 in grants to Brooklyn nonprofits serving communities impacted by Covid-19. These grants are part of the BCC’s $3 million campaign [https://www.kingscountypolitics.

Bushwick

Cleaning Up Bushwick One Block At A Time

Since the pandemic started, and sanitation litter basket service got significantly cut [/garbage-open-dining-and-private-streets-dominate-transportation-committee-hearing/] , garbage issues have only gotten worse in Bushwick. Complaints about illegal dumping of trash, dirty sidewalks, missed collection, and derelict vehicles are among the top three issues Brooklyn Community Board 4 (CB4) has received the most complaints

Animals

Cat Cafe Gets Funding To Help With Pandemic Surge In Demand For Cats

Cafe cats by the window. By Alexandra Steedman.Thanks to a generous grant, Brooklyn Cat Cafe will be able to help more delightful felines get treatment and find forever homes. The Brooklyn Bridge Animal Welfare Coalition (BBAWC [http://wp.bbawc.org/]), which operates the popular Brooklyn Cat Cafe [https://www.

Extraordinary Neighbors

Brooklyn Woman Wins AARP’s Top Award For Community Service

Linda Boyd, the winner of the 2020 Andrus Award for Community Service award. Courtesy of AARP.Linda Boyd, a Fort Greene resident for the past 25 years, spent much of her time during the COVID-19 pandemic volunteering to talk to strangers, making their days just a bit less lonely. Boyd’

East New York

Residents In East New York Tackle Litter, Wonder Where Is DSNY

This is the sidewalk on Loring Avenue Avenue between Drew and Emerald Street before volunteers began their clean-up efforts. Anthony Medina/BklynerOvergrown vegetation and excessive litter on Loring Avenue between Drew and Emerald Street in East New York, Brooklyn, made the sidewalk almost impossible to walk through. The tree pits

News

Sean Casey Animal Rescue’s Halloween Fundraiser Moves Online This Year

The Sean Casey Animal Rescue [https://www.nyanimalrescue.org/] (SCAR) in Windsor Terrace is who Brooklyn’s residents call about injured cats, stray dogs, or missing turtles. Sean Casey and his team consistently show up to help. Every fall, Brooklyn shows up for them by supporting SCAR’s annual Halloween

Arts & Culture

Comedians On Call, Laughter On The Line – Lifting Spirits One Phone Call At A Time

Rosalyn Marhatta has been enduring the Coronavirus lockdown while cooped up in her Greensboro, N.C., home with her sister Marsha Harris since March 17. The two septuagenarians had been active patrons of their local senior center, taking part in its diverse array of classes and activities before the pandemic

COVID-19

Sisters With Purpose Making A Difference In Starrett City

EAST NEW YORK — On a Saturday morning in late June the line at the food pantry at the Brooklyn Sports Club in Spring Creek Towers, commonly known as Starrett City, was trailing around the block and doubling back in the parking lot. Susie Williams was near the entrance of the

community

Brooklyn Relief Kitchen Feeds Those Hit Hardest By COVID-19

Meals ready for distribution. Courtesy of Paul Carney.Andy Wandzilak can’t not feed people. Former co-owner of Two Boots Park Slope with his wife, Piper, as well as a caterer at Kings Theatre, Wandzilak had launched the volunteer-led Hurricane Sandy Relief Kitchen back in 2012 when the storm devastated

Big Story

An Assembly Woman In Action: Mathylde Frontus On Giving Back & Finding Hope

Assembly Member Mathylde Frontus and volunteers help distribute meals to seniors in Coney Island. (Photo via Rathkopf Photography, [https://www.rathkopf.com/] with permission)SOUTHERN BROOKLYN – On Friday, March 20, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the ‘NYS on PAUSE’ executive order. [https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-signs-new-york-state-pause-executive-order] All non-essential businesses

Food & Drink

Feeding The City, One Meal At A Time

When the COVID-19 pandemic started, the City knew that feeding those in need was going to have to be a top priority. One in five city residents was food insecure before the pandemic, and the Mayor said in his press conferences that they expect about 2 million of the city’

COVID-19

Together For A Cause

Feeding First Responders Press Conference with Coalition Partners. via Steven Saperstein.In early March, it became apparent that COVID-19 was going to have a profound effect on our lives. When the lockdown in NYC was announced and the pause order was put in place, I turned to my network to

community

Solidarity, Not Charity – Flatbush United Mutual Aid

Volunteers Christina Das and John Wasserman volunteering with People in Need. Courtesy of Nowshin Ali.New mutual aid groups, grassroots organizations that operate on the idea that communities can and should care for one another out of solidarity, have been springing up all around Brooklyn since the early days of

Business

Roots Cafe Turns Into Food Bank For Neighbors In Need

Manwaring shows off some of the pantry’s goods. Courtesy of Patricia Manwaring. In the 11 years Roots Cafe [http://rootsbrooklyn.com/] has been in the neighborhood, it has gone through two rounds of owners, landing now on the third. Patricia Manwaring owns and operates the cafe with her husband

COVID-19

Brooklyn COVID-19 Response Fund

Across the country, it has become undeniably apparent that the coronavirus pandemic is taking a vastly disproportionate toll on communities of color. Here in New York City, Latinx and Black residents are dying at twice the rate of whites. In Brooklyn, economic, social, and health inequities are deeply rooted along

Business

Flatbush Thrives On Small Businesses. Here’s How They Can Get Support

Flatbush. Liena Zagare/BklynerFLATBUSH – To support small businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic, two Brooklynites launched Flatbush Thrives, [https://flatbushthrives.org/]a comprehensive website that connects Flatbush business owners and service providers with federal, state, and local resources to keep their businesses alive. Flatbush Thrives aims to connect volunteers (who have

Bushwick

Raise Money For Puerto Rico at Bridge And Tunnel Brewery Tomorrow

Puerto Rico Earthquake Relief Fundraiser flyer. Courtesy of Saara DeAngelis. Puerto Rico [/pr-declares-state-of-emergency-after-6-4-magnitute-earthquake-hits-island-brooklyn-gets-ready-to-help/] has been hit with over 1,200 earthquakes [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/opinion/puerto-rico-earthquake-power.html?searchResultPosition=1] in the course of just three weeks, leaving over 2,200 people homeless. Roughly 6,000 are

News

PR Declares State of Emergency After 6.4 Magnitute Earthquake Hits Island, Brooklyn Gets Ready to Help

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Puerto Rico this morning, killing one man and injuring several others as well as cutting off power to large areas of the island, CNN reported [https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/07/us/puerto-rico-earthquake-tuesday/]. The quake is the most damaging to hit the island