From minute 16:50 till 22:00 features New York Cares volunteers at Masbia on Coney: A Community-Supported Everybody-Eats Restaurant
April 27th, 2016
By Gema Flores
Ruben Diaz starts his day knowing that he has to feed nutritious meals to over 500 people,using donated food and following kosher dietary rules. Starting at nine in the morning, he puts in a 14-hour day, including his commute from Ozone Park, Queens, to Flatbush, Brooklyn.
Thursday is the busiest day at Masbia, a network of three kosher soup kitchens, because the group gives out bags of ingredients to tide recipients over for the weekend, as well as serving the daily dinner. “The time I spend to come back home in the subway is my moment,” says Diaz. “Without phone reception no one can call me. I use this time to relax and read a book.”
Read moreBy Roger Clark
Updated Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 12:45 PM EDT
One Brooklyn soup kitchen is hard at work trying to put food on the table for city families celebrating Passover.
The Masbia Soup Kitchen in Midwood is churning out packaged meals for the Jewish holiday's start Friday evening.
Staples like potatoes, apples and walnuts are being bagged and boxed on their way to nearly 3,000 families across the five boroughs.
The company is working to send 270,000 meals out ahead of the holiday but they're doing so at more than $100,000 under their donation goal.
Alex Rapaport, the food drive's director, says they need all the help they can get.
"The challenge is enormous, just getting phone calls from someone with sick children or some seniors. I just picked up a call from yesterday from someone - the father has cancer, they can't put food on their plates. Just meeting that need, in the thousands, is what we're facing here," Rapaport explained.
Each person will get 18 meals, or 6 days' worth of food, in their package.
The drive is named after Charoset, an apple and walnut dish traditionally served on the seder plate.
For more information, visit masbia.org.
Read moreBy Sandy Eller
Published on: March 24, 2016 10:20 AM
Brooklyn, NY - Among the many noisemakers, horns, bells and whistles that are being used to drown out the name of Haman during the reading of Megilas Esther this year will be ten artisan groggers, created out of a table that had been used to feed needy New Yorkers in a soup kitchen.
Brooklyn resident Alex Aronov creates handmade wooden items, including challah boards, mezuzah cases and kiddush cups. Just before Purim last year, the 29 year old Flatbush resident decided to try his hand at making a grogger and by Chanukah, Aronov had the noisemakers available in three different sizes. Just over one week before Purim, Aronov announced on Facebook that he would donate ten percent of all sales through May 24th to Masbia.
Read more
Updated March 23, 2016 2:49 PM
Brooklyn sculptor Alex Aronov is making artisan graggers to help celebrate.
Graggers are wooden noisemakers that Jewish people clap together to celebrate the holiday.
Aronov's graggers are made from recycled wood taken from tables at Masbia Soup Kitchen
Updated February 2, 2016 7:36 PM
Shelves at the Masbia Soup Kitchen in Flatbush were barren last week, and the nearly 1,500 families who regularly eat there could have gone hungry, officials say.
So Investors Bank pledged to match up to $25,000 in donations, and the public accepted the challenge to pour in aid.
The Masbia Soup Kitchen in Midwood received a supply of fruit and vegetables Tuesday, but organizers say the amount is half of what they need.
The director of the soup kitchen says that donations are down, and that they are receiving fewer supplies from government programs.
