{"id":275922,"date":"2026-06-24T00:24:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T00:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/275922\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T00:24:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T00:24:22","slug":"mobile-soup-kitchen-north-brooklyn-angels-celebrates-ninth-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/275922\/","title":{"rendered":"Mobile soup kitchen North Brooklyn Angels celebrates ninth year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt started up in my office, and Neil came up and said he wanted to do this food truck,\u201d Brodsky told the Brooklyn Eagle. \u201cI\u2019m embarrassed to be honored today, because I was there at the spark of the beginning, but I don\u2019t do this thing every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization has two full-time staff members \u2014 Chiu and Kitchen Manager Anjali Suneja \u2014 and a few part-timers, but the bulk of operations are run by a team of over 900 volunteers who pack and distribute food, drive the trucks and more. Most volunteers live in North Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many people moving to North Brooklyn, and they don\u2019t know how to connect and make community and find long-term friendships,\u201d said Kate Covey, who leads a weekly shift as a volunteer captain after four years of volunteering. \u201cWe all get to know each other so well, and we see each other out in the community, we have lunch together, we have happy hours together, we have group texts. It\u2019s just such a wonderful environment, and you meet people from all sorts of different backgrounds.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The program can be as valuable to volunteers as it is to the people they serve. \u201cIt\u2019s a lifeline,\u201d said longtime volunteer Sophia Schneider. \u201cAsk anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"North<\/a>North Brooklyn Angels volunteers serve boxed sandwiches to the attendees in Ascension Hall. Photo: Julie Thompson\/Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

The organization is an antidote not just to the affordability crisis but also to the isolation that residents of the heavily gentrified neighborhood often experience, said Chiu. Community is built between those waiting in line, volunteers, and volunteers and meal recipients.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a familiarity that forms when folks are waiting on line for food. It\u2019s not stigmatizing. Everyone can use a free meal,\u201d Chiu said. \u201cWe don\u2019t means test or screen for eligibility for meals, because the whole idea is whatever can bring the community together.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a natural community that forms among our meal recipients and our volunteers, especially our regulars. If you don\u2019t see [someone] for a couple weeks, we start to ask other folks on the line, \u2018Have you seen so-and-so?\u2019 We try to respect their privacy, of course,\u201d she continued. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of this old-school meeting people on stoops that really doesn\u2019t exist as much these days, but it exists around our trucks and among our volunteer population.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"North<\/a>North Brooklyn Angels volunteers man the beverage service station, including beverages provided by sponsors Brooklyn Brewery. Photo: Julie Thompson\/Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

The hyperlocal nature of the organization means that NBK Angels can truly get to know the people they serve each week. Otherwise, \u201cwe wouldn\u2019t get to know our neighbor,\u201d said Suneja. \u201cWe\u2019d just simply be handing things out, handing things out, handing things out. And now we reallocate resources along with finding out what their needs are. Because we\u2019re so hyperlocal, we\u2019re able to focus.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

These annual luncheons were first held at the Williamsburg live music venue Warsaw and eventually moved to the Church of the Ascension, where Merz is the rector. The funding raised from the events over the past six years has allowed the organization to hire Chiu and Suneja full-time and to continue and expand its offerings.<\/p>\n

This year, NBK Angels is launching a new free program, Live Local, which will help community members in Greenpoint and Williamsburg navigate the affordable housing lottery. Over 30 volunteers have already been specially trained in education on the \u201ccumbersome and intimidating\u201d lottery system, said Chiu.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to help them navigate a pretty tight system, and with the cost of living, it\u2019s a very real reality. The most we can do is start a little bit of optimism by creating community,\u201d said Chiu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt started up in my office, and Neil came up and said he wanted to do this food…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,1882,106096,106097,106098,9,24,76549,63,2579],"class_list":["post-275922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-community","tag-john-merz","tag-kendra-chiu","tag-neil-sheehan","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-north-brooklyn-angels","tag-nyc","tag-premium-content"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}