Church of the Ascension on Java Street has been Occupied. The church, which began helping coordinate relief efforts (with Councilmember Steve Levin) for Hurricane Sandy survivors immediately after the storm, has just been more formally Occupied by Occupy Sandy, an off-shoot of Occupy Wall Street. The Greenpoint site is largely replacing the 520 Clinton Street location at the Church of St Luke and St Matthew in Clinton Hill, after a December 23rd two-alarm fire at that location which fire officials have called “suspicious” and Church Father Chris Ballard called “arson.”
The church, Occupy Sandy’s first Greenpoint location, will serve as an office hub for the various Occupy Sandy locales in the city and as a headquarters for “volunteer dispatch operations” to the Rockaways, Gerritsen Beach, Red Hook, Coney Island, Staten Island, and Sheepshead Bay, where survivors continue to struggle with little help aside from volunteers like Occupy Sandy and others.
Occupy Sandy will also use the locale to offer a regularly scheduled orientation for new volunteers interested in helping in the ongoing long-term relief effort. More information is available on the Occupy Sandy website.
Greenpoint’s response to Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath began immediately after the storm through City Councilmember Steve Levin, and both Church of the Ascension and Greenpoint Reformed Church.
As reported in the Greenpoint Star and DNAinfo, there are Greenpoint residents still suffering the affects the storm including moldy basements and problems getting insurance or government to help with necessary cleanup funds.
Greenpointers & Yummy Eats invite you to a Cajun Feast to benefit the Greenpoint Soup Kitchen & Food Pantry on Friday, April 13, 2012 at 8pm at the Greenpoint Church (136 Milton St).
Each week, the Greenpoint Reformed Church Hunger Program provides no-cost groceries and a weekly hot meal to hungry people in Northern Brooklyn. It takes $6,000 per week to feed all these people. Much of the money comes from government food programs, but $1,500 more per week is needed for additional food, plus utilities, building maintenance, volunteer coordination and overall administration.
Join us for a delicious dinner prepared by Joseph of Yummy Eats.
Proceeds from the dinner will be donated to the soup kitchen. It’s a great cause and will be a fun and very yummy night.
“Hey veggie lovers in Greenpoint! The Greenpoint Reformed Church going to be hosting a CSA this year. Here’s the info if you’re looking to sign up for fresh veggies this spring and summer: Lineage Farm will be teaming up with the Greenpoint Reformed Church for a CSA distribution on Mondays starting June 4. This will be a weekly distribution of vegetables that runs for 22 weeks. All produce is grown with organic and biodynamic methods of farming. The variety of vegetables changes over the season. There will be about 35 different types of vegetables grown and distributed during the season with over 130 varieties of those vegetables. For more information please visit www.lineagefarmcsa.com or email the farmer who’s growing the food at jonronsani@netscpae.net.
In exchange for using the church as a base for distributing CSA veggies, Lineage Farms will be donating extra produce to the soup kitchen and food pantry. We are incredibly grateful to all the area CSAs that donate food to our hunger program. The list includes the Greenpoint-Williamsburg CSA, the Paisley Farm CSA and the South Side CSA among others. Thanks to their generosity, we’re able to distribute tons of fresh veggies and fruit to hungry people in North Brooklyn.
And on a somewhat related note…if anyone you know might want assistance in applying for Food Stamps (aka SNAP benefits), Greenpoint has a wonderful Food Stamps expert who volunteers to help people with the application process and troubleshoot bureaucratic difficulties related to Food Stamps benefits. She’s available to help on Mondays from 10am – 2pm at the church.
The Greenpoint Soup Kitchen Supper Club will be hosting its final fundraiser of the year this Friday, October 21, 2011 at the Greenpoint Reformed Church (106 Milton). The event will open with cocktails with music by Brooklyn musicians Holler, from 6:30-8:00; followed by a four-course vegetarian meal.
Suggested donation is $20. Proceeds from the meal and the bar go towards purchasing fresh produce for the Soup Kitchen’s weekly meals during the winter months, when donations from CSAs no longer come. The Facebook page says, “consider this our ‘un’can’ drive.”
RSVP to annefay (at) gmail.com to reserve your spot and remember ”As always the meal is TBD, but how could it not include squash, leafy greens, apples and pears?”
