In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy, nearly 150 Food Bank for NYC volunteers from different backgrounds rolled up their sleeves on Monday, January 16 to create Hunts Point’s first food pantry. The volunteers were hard at work transforming an unfinished kitchen at Bright Temple AME Church into a soup kitchen and dining room equipped to serve thousands of families whose nearest hot meal may be a half hour walk away. Food Bank for NYC partnered with Bright Temple AME Church in 2015 to reopen the church’s food pantry to serve as the neighborhood’s only local food pantry. Photos by Aracelis Batista
(l-r) Charles Martinez, Dana Cordy, Russell Gordon, Zac Hall and Sayed Christopher worked together to build shelves for the soup kitchen.
Photo by Aracelis Batista
Volunteers worked diligently transforming Bright Temple AME Church’s unfinished kitchen into a much needed local soup kitchen and dining room.
Photo by Aracelis Batista
(l-r) Margarette Purvis, Food Bank for NYC president; Congressman José Serrano and pastor Sherwyn James from Bright Temple AME Church attended the massive renovation project.
Photo by Aracelis Batista
(l-r) Volunteers Lacrai Mitchell, Keila Simons and Kimberly Reveil gave the soup kitchen a fresh coat of paint.
Photo by Aracelis Batista
Many volunteers did their part to construct shelves for the new soup kitchen.
Photo by Aracelis Batista
A volunteer’s shirt says it all.
Photo by Aracelis Batista
