With the need for emergency food at an all-time high, Masbia gets a huge warehouse in Boro Park, down the block from Bingo. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Masbia added more storage space by renting additional storefronts adjacent to the original facilities, but this one is the first standalone warehouse facility where pallets are stored three stories high.

Since NYC recently drastically stopped deliveries from their emergency pandemic reserve (see story here), the opening of this site will act as Masbia’s own strategic reserve.

“What Masbia needs now is help from all the good people out there to keep this strategic reserve full with food. Even with room for over a hundred pallets in this warehouse, in a regular week our network gives out more than that. Before Passover, that’s less than a day’s worth of food. But having at least some food as reserve definitely is a huge help”, said Alexander Rapaport, Executive Director of Masbia Soup Kitchen Network.

“We are also shifting our distribution strategy where we try to deliver to large families instead of them coming to us, thanks to a generous donation we got from the delivery company known as DoorDash. This new location will help us scale up to be able to do a lot more deliveries this Passover season”, Rapaport continued.

“We call our Passover food distribution the Charoset Drive, and it’s because it’s the food on the Seder plate that looks the same in every home. To some, matzah is round, to others it is square. To some, matzah balls are a must and to others matzah balls are gebrauchts. But this sweet little paste on the seder plate we all do the same. So I ask everyone to come together and help us make Passover a little sweeter for everyone.”

Throughout the Passover season, Masbia expects to serve 20,000 families through raw food distributions, which will include special holiday staples for families to be able to prepare their own Seder and Kosher for Passover meals. Masbia will also serve 4,000 ready-to-eat meals on Passover during the days of Passover for those who are unable to prepare food for themselves. We need to raise $2,232,000 to cover the food. please donate here: www.masbia.org/passover2022

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Masbia Soup Kitchen Network has mobilized to respond to the emergency food needs in our community. Masbia is continuing to respond to a 500% increase in demand. Each day, 500 families visit Masbia every day at each of our three locations. That means about 1,500 families a day and 7,500 every week get food relief from Masbia.

Masbia is a grass-roots, hand-to-mouth organization where every dollar donated makes it into someone’s stomach in less than two weeks. Everything that is done at Masbia is done only because tens of thousands of people come together and share resources to make it happen.

Read the original article HERE.

To donate food for Passover via the Charoset Drive click here.