Who will feed my family? Where will I get matzoh and wine to fullfill the basic mitzvos of Pesach?
These are the anguished cries heard throughout Brooklyn and our surrounding communities.
Cries of despair and distress-from the unemployed, elderly, the single parents, singles, from the disabled, and from recent immigrants.
Bnai Raphael’s mission is to feed the hungry. No one is ever turned away.
What We Do for the Community:
. Operate a food pantry in Brooklyn, providing free food distribution to more than 1800 families weekly
. Weekly “free food distributions” to dozens of locations in the tri-state area every Sunday (Lakewood, Monsey, Staten Island, Boro Park…..)
. In addition, Bnai Raphael provided more than 3000 families late year with Pesach food items
. Distributed more than 4 million pounds of food last year
The Need is even greater this year. The current economy has left people in crisis. Welcome to our 1st Annual Chinese Auction. A group of dedicated volunteers have gotten together to present you with an evening of sensational entertainment, great Chinese Auction prizes and delicious food. Before you sit down to your seder this year to celebrate the “Yom Tov of freedom”, kindly remember and support the less fortunate. We hope to see you on March 6, 2010. If you are unable to attend, please donate generously to Bnai Raphael. All contributions will ensure that families will not go hungry in these trying times. Bnai Raphael is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation. All proceeds for this event will be going to it’s Maos Chitim Campagin.
Thank You and Tizku L'Mitzvos
Committee Members: Rafi Hazan, Bracha Balser, Leah Bayarsky, Allen Black, Tzippy Blisko, Donna Gellar, Sherri Halpert, Aliza Hollander, Chaim Hollander, Esther Ingber, Chashie Koldony, Yona Mizrachi, Nettie Plafker, Helen Shimon, Barbara Schrem, Esther Simon, Eva Sorscher, Sarah Spirn, Ethel Waiss
Bnai Raphael Chesed Organization an overview of the important work being done here. Our mission is to combat poverty and make the daily lives of those we touch a little easier and simpler.
We provide kosher food products and fresh produce free of charge to the community. By joining the Chesed organization, each family receives a membership card and is entitled to visit the food pantry once per week. In addition, we offer referrals for people who need furniture and appliances for adults and children. We also offer clothing for men, ladies and children. We also offer products for simchas, medical supplies, referrals and legal advice in certain fields.
Every Sunday, we send between 1-3 of our trucks, each loaded with over 8 tons of assorted food, to many communities in the New York/New Jersey area. The needs of each community helps us to decide how many trucks to send. The following communities have benefited from these distributions: Bayswater, Boro Park, Crown Heights, Georgetown, Manhattan Beach, Staten Island and Monsey in New York, in addition to Lakewood and Passiac in New Jersey.
At the time of this writing, we are serving as many as 1800 families on site at our pantry and 100 plus organizations consisting of Kosher and Non-Kosher food pantries across the Brooklyn and Queens areas. The food is donated by supermarkets and wholesalers who carry both Kosher and Non-Kosher items. It is then separated by our trained staff and volunteers and is given to other food pantries, gradually forming our organization into a mini Food Rescue and Food Banking organization, with our own warehousing and trucking. Our goal is to help as many of our fellow Jews as possible. This includes both large and small families, single mothers and the growing elderly population. All of the food items, including fresh produce, are donated to the food pantry from many independent sources who have made it their mission to help the needy and less fortunate in the community. The food items are being delivered on a regular basis, with an emphasis on nutrition.
Bnai Raphael Chesed Organizationis named for Rabbi Raphael Guy, who came to South East Brooklyn in 1989 and helped many people do Teshuva(returning to true Judaism) by donating his time and efforts to outreach and Chesed (doing righteous deeds). In Honor of his success, we have named the organization after him and hope that Hashem will give him strength to continue his great work. He now resides in Los Angeles, California.
For questions that you have regarding our work call 917-861-7282. Please visit us at the same address at 2917 Avenue K, Brooklyn NY 11210 and let us know that you would like to see "Chesed in Action"
