Ocean Hill / East Bushwick Elder Boxes
We're delivering fresh fruit and vegetables, plus pantry staples, to elders in our community who are shut-in because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Leader
Sharon Stapel
Location
2029 Fulton Street Brooklyn, NY 11233
About the project
‘If All the Stores Close, We Need Food’: Community Gardens Adapt to the Pandemic - Phoenix Community Garden featured in the New York Times.
Because of the pandemic, our community elders should be staying inside. They are among the most vulnerable to Covid-19. Because we recognized the danger, the Fresh Food Box Program at Phoenix Community Garden began collecting money to provide fresh fruit and vegetables to elders in isolation. We have recruited a team of volunteers to deliver the bags of produce and pantry staples following social distancing protocols. These volunteers are also checking in with the elders, making sure they're ok and have everything that they need. As the weeks have worn on, it looks like shelter-in-place and social distancing restrictions will be going on for several more months. We are committed to providing food security to every elder that we add to our list by providing them with a fresh food box every week. Currently, we are working with 72 elders.
We were recently featured in National Geographic's How are older Americans fighting isolation during the pandemic?: "Bernadette Mitchell, a Phoenix Garden volunteer, delivers a bag of vegetables and produce to 78-year-old Norman Stout, who is blind. Volunteers meet at Phoenix Garden every Saturday morning to pack the bags. Natalie Peart, a Phoenix Garden volunteer, bundles fresh herbs to add to the produce bags."
The Steps
The process is pretty simple. On a weekly basis, we determine a count of bags that need to be delivered on Saturday, when we pack the bags and do the distribution. The steps are:
Monday: Place an order with our distributor, GrowNYC, which is a food distribution hub that sources from regional farmers, and with our other partners who provide organic, healthy pantry items
Saturday: Receive delivery, pack bags, hand off bags to our volunteer deliverers.
Sunday: Call the bag recipients to see how they like the bag and take notes for next week.
Why we‘re doing it
Even before the pandemic, Ocean Hill-Brownville and East Bushwick was a "food swamp" area -- you could get all the fast food and potato chips that you wanted, but fresh healthy fruits and vegetables are not readily available. By providing a weekly bag of produce plus high-quality pantry staples, we are making sure our elders are fed and their immune systems are boosted.