"Choice Style" Food Pantry Opens In Brooklyn
December 07, 2006Bedford Stuyvesant is home to a different kind of food pantry, one that lets people in need shop for their own items, and gives them a choice. And there are only a few like it citywide. NY1's Roger Clark filed the following report. Robert Allen is a volunteer at the Full Gospel Food Pantry in Bed Stuy. Living on a fixed income, he is also one of the 6,000 people the pantry serves each month. "Here I am able to get certain things that I might not be able to get personally by spending money or anything like that at the store," said Allen. And at this food pantry, it is just like being at the store. Responding to a need in the community, the Full Gospel Bed Stuy Campaign Against Hunger moved their operation two months ago from a church basement to a Fulton Street Storefront. Before, hundreds of people would wait on lines, braving the elements, to receive a bag of food, but now they can come inside, and shop. "Every person that comes in here is treated as an individual, so they are shopping with dignity, enjoying it,” said Reverend Melanie Samuels of the Full Gospel Food Pantry. “And not only that, they have the opportunity to select their own food as opposed to be given a bad." The pantry is the first in Bed Stuy and fourth in the city to institute this so called "choice style" food assistance. It runs on a point system, depending on how many people are in a family. And in an effort to stress good nutrition, your points will get you more fresh fruits and vegetables than other items such as canned goods. "You have a lot of hospitality and people look out for you,” explained Allen. ”And the pastor and all make sure you have the right type of meals to eat." The pantry is now open five days a week rather than just two, and added flexible early and late hours for those who work but still need help feeding their families. Most of the food is supplied by the Food Bank for New York City. "We'd like to see more of these type of pantries open up,” said Food Pantry for New York Vice President of Agency Relations Carols Rodriguez. “But, in reality what we want to make sure is that there is just enough food on the shelves and in the hands of the families that need them." Food pantries like this one around the city, especially around this time of year, still need help to feed the hungry. New Yorkers who want to help out can donate to The Full Gospel Pantry at 2004 Fulton Street in Bed Stuy, call 718-496-4013. Interested in New Yorkers can also go to the Food Bank for New York website at http://www.foodbanknyc.org/. - Roger Clark