History
North Brooklyn Angels was formed by a group of North Brooklyn residents with varying community organizing, fundraising, and professional backgrounds. In directly witnessing the rapid changes to the community over the years, the organization was founded to help stem the tide of gentrification’s effects on individuals and families. They do this by providing food to where the need is, essentially through a mobile soup kitchen, but also through organizing community leaders, members, and volunteers.
The organization’s vision is based on the idea that North Brooklyn neighborhoods are filled with people - neighbors - who want to work together to fight hunger, food insecurity, and poverty. More importantly, the community is filled with residents of different needs and resources: it seeks to organize those with more resources and energy to cohesively take ownership of the health and welfare of their neighbors. Direct action by neighbors serves as an important resource in building an equitable, diverse, neighborhood.
Mission & Goals
North Brooklyn Angels’ vision of “neighbors helping neighbors” addresses the needs of the area through multiple approaches. Recognizing the immediate hunger needs of North Brooklyn, the Mobile Soup Kitchen (popularly known as the Angelmobile) was developed and introduced to directly serve those experiencing food insecurity. We create a “bus load” of hope, love, and nutrition to serve our needy North Brooklyn neighbors at strategic locations where they can congregate easily.
With an initial schedule of 3 days a week, the mobile soup kitchen now provides over 1,500 hot meals, 5 days a week, at 8 locations that have demonstrated high need. Presently, food is sourced through a combination of local sources, including donations from the green market and food pantries, the Food Bank, and other food justice nonprofits. Beyond food prep and service, the Angelmobile also has fully-equipped office space that we will eventually offer for Coalition members to provide social support services (ie. legal, housing, healthcare).
The organization’s intermediate goals are to:
- Raise awareness about food insecurity in North Brooklyn neighborhoods
- Organize interested neighbors to volunteer their time in meal prep and service
- Build upon community organizing efforts in addressing food insecurity