{"id":310726,"date":"2026-07-31T14:41:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/310726\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T14:41:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:41:15","slug":"as-food-insecurity-rises-chips-expands-into-brooklyn-navy-yard-warehouse-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/310726\/","title":{"rendered":"As food insecurity rises, CHiPS expands into Brooklyn Navy Yard warehouse \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inside a sprawling Brooklyn Navy Yard warehouse, volunteers sort fresh milk, produce and frozen chicken destined for families across the borough. The operation is the next chapter for Community Help in Park Slope, better known as CHiPS, a longtime Brooklyn nonprofit expanding its footprint for the first time in 55 years as food insecurity continues to climb across New York City.<\/p>\n

To meet growing demand, CHiPS \u2014 a food pantry, community meal and transitional housing provider on Fourth Avenue between Park Slope and Gowanus \u2014 recently moved its pantry program from its longtime headquarters to an approximately 4,000-square-foot warehouse in the Navy Yard, marking the organization\u2019s first physical expansion since its founding in 1971.<\/p>\n

The move comes as more New Yorkers are turning to food pantries to meet basic needs amid persistent inflation \u2014 food prices in the United States have increased 33% over the past seven years \u2014 and cuts and rule changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) under President Trump\u2019s \u201cOne Big Beautiful Act,\u201d signed into law on July 4, 2025.<\/p>\n

According to City Harvest<\/a>, 1 in 4 New York City children are experiencing food insecurity, an increase of 50,000 children compared to the previous year. One in 5 New Yorkers, or nearly 1.6 million people, are experiencing food insecurity, up from 1 in 6 a year ago and 1 in 8 in 2019. Forty-six percent of working-age New York City households are struggling to make ends meet, and 67% of food pantry visitors are employed. Average monthly visits to food pantries and soup kitchens are up 84% since 2019. In 2025, city soup kitchens and food pantries recorded 3.3 million more visits than at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the total to 47 million visits.<\/p>\n

In addition to its six-days-a-week community meals program at its headquarters, where it serves around 600 to-go meals daily, CHiPS runs its food pantry two days a week and operates six mobile pantry locations throughout Brooklyn. In 2022, the organization distributed just over 50,000 meals and 5,600 pantry bags and logged 5,800 volunteer hours. Last year, it distributed 207,000 meals and 34,000 pantry bags, with more than 46,000 volunteer hours \u2014 representing a 400% increase in meals, a 600% increase in pantry services and a 700% increase in volunteer hours.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the expansion, CHiPS expects to broaden its outreach into new parts of Brooklyn and more than double its pantry operation from approximately 700 households per week to more than 1,500 within the coming year, ensuring that thousands of Brooklyn families continue to have access to nutritious food and supportive services during a time of increasing need.<\/p>\n

\"\"CHiPS moved its pantry program to an approximately 4,000-square-foot warehouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"CHiPS also distributes fresh products like meat, eggs and milk thanks to the addition of refrigerators and freezers.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Peter Endriss, executive director of CHiPS, told Brooklyn Paper during a recent tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard facility that the larger footprint allows the organization to receive multiple pallets of groceries at a time. Previously, it could accept only one pallet, which had to be broken down on the sidewalk before volunteers and staff hauled the products down basement stairs.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The expansion] has greatly improved efficiency and allowed us to receive larger in-kind donations. For example, we used to get one to two pallets from City Harvest. Now we get six to eight,\u201d Endriss said.<\/p>\n

He noted that food insecurity is no longer confined to lower-income households and appears to be affecting middle-income families as well because of New York City\u2019s high cost of living and rising grocery prices.<\/p>\n

He also said CHiPS has received numerous requests for food pantry services from public schools and community partners such as Callen-Lorde Brooklyn, where employees started an employee-run pantry program for patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pantry program in particular is the one where we keep seeing more need,\u201d Endriss said. \u201cWe\u2019re getting more calls from public schools that have started their own little makeshift food pantries.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the Trump administration cut federal food assistance programs, including the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program \u2014 which support food banks and other feeding organizations \u2014 as well as SNAP funding, individual and foundation support has increased, Endriss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s kind of how the public feels that they can help in an otherwise helpless situation,\u201d Endriss said. \u201cFor me personally, also, this whole shift of responsibility from government to nonprofit \u2014 which is kind of, when you step back, what we\u2019ve seen \u2014 has deepened our obligation to the people we serve. Now we are the providers, and with the increased support that we\u2019ve received, we\u2019ve increased what we\u2019re serving and the quality of what we\u2019re serving.\u201d<\/p>\n

The expansion will free up about 700 square feet at the organization\u2019s Fourth Avenue location and more than double the net square footage available for food service programming, leading to a more streamlined guest experience, a more organized volunteer experience and a more open, accessible food service area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just created a new chef position at Chips, which will increase our food services. We started quarterly dinners in collaboration with a Brooklyn Winery; they come in and do a dinner service, which is something we\u2019ve never done at Chips,\u201d Endriss explained. \u201cSo we\u2019re trying to address the increased need on that front too, as well as provide more options, better food, maybe hot breakfast a few times a week instead of just a cold breakfast. So, just across the board, I think we feel an increased responsibility to the people we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet despite the food insecurity crisis, there is a silver lining: the community continues to rally around its neighbors.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe flip side to all of the depressing stuff that\u2019s happening is the outpouring of support that we\u2019ve seen, both in people reaching out and people showing up; it\u2019s been a real gift,\u201d Endriss said. \u201cWhen you read the news, and then you go to work and get to see 60 people who show up to help, those stories restore your faith in humanity a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"R.J. Kosineski, James Gordon and Quincy Powers after loading the van.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"R.J. Kosineski and James Gordon load a pallet with pineapples.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

James Gordon, pantry van manager at CHiPS, and Quincy Powers, director of pantry services, told Brooklyn Paper that the 4,000-square-foot facility is a \u201cbig step\u201d up, providing ample space for five industrial-sized refrigerators and two freezers to store fresh groceries such as protein, eggs and milk, in addition to staples including fresh produce, canned goods, rice and pasta.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve expanded not just the number of pantries that we can do, but also what we\u2019re giving to each site, and that\u2019s really only possible because of this expansion of space,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the SNAP cuts. It\u2019s also the war, gas prices, [and] food prices in general. I think people are really struggling right now and are turning to the pantry as a resource.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the organization has noticed increased need over the past month or two.\n<\/p>\n

Gordon also gave a shoutout to CHiPS\u2019 volunteers.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cEach of our distributions is impossible without volunteers, and we rely very heavily on them,\u201d Gordon said.\n<\/p>\n

With the expansion and growing need, more volunteers are always welcome, and interested New Yorkers can sign up through the CHiPS website.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"Hansel Toussaint meticulously inspects produce to ensure it is in perfect condition.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"Brooklyn Grange Farm operates a soil-based farm on the roof of the same building.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Volunteers and CHiPS staffer Hansel Toussaint were busy preparing for a food distribution at P.S. 124 in Sunset Park that included onions, potatoes, milk, carrots, cabbage, sweet potatoes, zucchini, cornbread, pineapple and frozen chicken legs.<\/p>\n

Toussaint meticulously inspected cabbage and corn on the cob, removing the outer layers to ensure the produce was fresh and in good condition.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe open the boxes [and] make sure that everything is in perfect condition before it actually goes out to the customers,\u201d Toussaint said, noting that vegetable scraps are composted by Brooklyn Grange Farm, which operates a soil-based farm on the roof of the same building.<\/p>\n

\"\"Quincy Powers explained that milk is locally sourced.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Powers said one of the organization\u2019s goals is to provide each household with about $100 worth of groceries every week while diversifying offerings and prioritizing fresh products. CHiPS also focuses on sourcing New York state products, including eggs and milk, through Five Acre Farms, a network of sustainable local farmers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been sourcing about two pallets of fresh half-gallon milk a week to start with at every distribution. We\u2019re already seeing a response in our numbers,\u201d Powers said. \u201cWe\u2019re having more attendance at each site, so it feels like it\u2019s kind of the balance between being grateful that you\u2019re in a position to offer a service that is valuable to people, but also realizing that so many people are in need.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inside a sprawling Brooklyn Navy Yard warehouse, volunteers sort fresh milk, produce and frozen chicken destined for families…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,117498,100,14261,99,15175,117499,14608,14221,6420,59801,464,34688,35174,9,24,12,370,63,8005,15178,10604,12825,14225],"class_list":["post-310726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-food-pantry","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-navy-yard","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-chips","tag-community-help-in-park-slope","tag-food-assistance","tag-food-banks","tag-food-insecurity","tag-food-prices","tag-gowanus","tag-grocery-prices","tag-hunger","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-park-slope","tag-peter-endriss","tag-snap","tag-snap-benefits","tag-snap-cuts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310726","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=310726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}