{"id":74662,"date":"2025-12-18T18:43:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T18:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/74662\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T18:43:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T18:43:15","slug":"coney-island-food-pantry-in-funding-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/74662\/","title":{"rendered":"Coney Island food pantry in funding crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The holiday lights offer a warm welcome to visitors to Mermaid Avenue. Brooklyn Eagle photo by Steve Solomonson<\/p>\n<p>CONEY ISLAND \u2013 A 25-YEAR-OLD SOUTHERN Brooklyn food pantry is facing a possible closure in January after major donors departed in the wake of the pandemic,  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brooklynpaper.com\/coney-islands-largest-food-pantry\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reports the Brooklyn Paper<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Coney Island Lighthouse Mission operates out of a Mermaid Avenue storefront and serves 14,000 people a month through its food pantry and other programs, with usage spiking as prices of essential goods have soared in recent years. Its leaders say the nonprofit will need to raise around $100,000 to continue to operate in 2026, and that it\u2019s struggling to pay rent, utilities, staff salaries and other expenses.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Incoming Councilmember Kayla Santosuosso, the chief counsel for current Councilmember Justin Brannan who won the election for the area\u2019s open seat last month, says she\u2019s working to help raise funds and organize volunteers for the \u201cimportant organization,\u201d while its leadership is asking the public to consider donating money, time or goods.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2730\u2730\u2730<\/p>\n<p> <a style=\"font-size: inherit; background-color: #fefefe;\" href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/whats-news-breaking\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wnb-read-more aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764410718_524_read-more-wnb-shad-1024x341.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"341\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLSd5hEdpXLwpeWAPMPmcmdn--vHz1InXjphFdhedt_prXKoVFQ\/viewform\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764410719_915_ultima-reader-response.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t<br \/>\n<a class=\"related-articles comment-link\" style=\"clear: both;padding-top:6px;color:#6cc4e8;\" href=\"#comments\" title=\"Leave a Comment\"\/><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/337838\/9-11-memorial-events-in-brooklyn\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764410719_15_AP24254764142461-250x250.jpg\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-image\" alt=\"Flags are placed by the names of those killed during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at the reflecting pools at the National September 11 Memorial &amp; Museum, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in New York. One World Trade Center rises in the background. AP Photo\/Donald King\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t9\/11 memorial events in Brooklyn<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 11 |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/337822\/americans-mark-the-24th-anniversary-of-the-9-11-attacks-with-emotional-ceremonies\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764410719_46_AP25254543237567-250x250.jpg\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-image\" alt=\"William Staudt, a firefighter that worked at Ground Zero on the day of the attacks, looks over a reflecting pool during a ceremony to mark the 24th anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in New York. AP Photo\/Seth Wenig\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAmericans mark the 24th anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks with emotional ceremonies<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 11 |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/337613\/volunteers-prep-millions-of-meals-for-fellow-new-yorkers-on-24th-anniversary-of-9-11\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764410720_596_AP25253626445845-250x250.jpg\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-image\" alt=\"Volunteers work during the &quot;NYC Meal Pack For 9\/11 Day&quot; at the Intrepid Museum, Wednesday, Sep. 10, 2025, in New York. AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVolunteers prep millions of meals for fellow New Yorkers on 24th anniversary of 9\/11<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 10 |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/337825\/ceremonies-hosted-throughout-brooklyn-to-remember-9-11\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764410720_709_canarsie4-250x250.jpg\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-image\" alt=\"A 9\/11 tribute remembering victims and honoring survivors and first responders was held on Sept. 7. Photo by Arthur De Gaeta\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2730PREMIUM <br \/>Canarsie Park holds 9\/11 vigil, other ceremonies hosted throughout Brooklyn<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 11 |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The holiday lights offer a warm welcome to visitors to Mermaid Avenue. Brooklyn Eagle photo by Steve Solomonson&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[3302,98,100,99,7169,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-74662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-breaking","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-food-pantry","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74662","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=74662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}