Brooklyn Rescue Mission Urban Harvest Center

Brooklyn Rescue Mission Urban Harvest Center (BRMUHC) grows and distributes through it's food pantry nutritious food to families and individuals needing food assistance. (BRMUHC) is a faith-based food justice nonprofit promoting a healthy lifestyle for both body and soul in the Central Brooklyn communities and helps families and individuals defeat hunger in their households.

Pantry volunteers serve the community at our pantry store.

Who we are:

Co-founders Robert and Devanie Jackson have spent over 40 years in public service and outreach work among New York City's neediest residents and shared a vision of creating a place that would do much more than rescue people from hunger. We set out to create a place of healing and pride. Our dream was to create a secure food system in a community with limited access to fresh and healthy food, to transform a decrepit urban landscape into a thriving urban farm, and to inspire residents to take control of their nutrition.

Fresh food grown at the Bed-Stuy farm for the Pantry

What the funds are for:

Brooklyn Rescue Mission provides Food assistance to over 800 families a month. However, the recent budget cuts have limited federal aid to community members, so Brooklyn Rescue Mission has many food guests at its doors.

Hungry families who shop (for free) at Urban Harvest food pantry rely on the fresh, hyper-local food we grow on the Bed-Stuy farm both conventionally and in our greenhouses during the growing season. Our organization and the building management company are feeling pressure to close our farm, as well as pressure to evict our food pantry for a commercial business that can pay higher rental fees. 

This is a monthly struggle for our organization, even though we feed many needy families in the Community. (This $46,000 request for support will pay for one year of pantry rent and utilities).

With a donation from caring friends like you, we can maintain our urban growing and food pantry spaces.

Our community impact:

Urban Harvest food pantry provided fresh food to the hundreds of thousands of needy seniors and families with children at risk of hunger.

The food programs served over 3,00,000 meals.

The Bed-Stuy Farm produced over 2600 lbs of food for the Community for the USDA farm.

The Urban Harvest food pantry distributes over 28,000 lbs of produce, meats, shelf-stable foods, cans, and dry goods monthly to hungry families and individuals.

Bed-Stuy Farm has mentored over 860 neighborhood youth and young adults.

Our story:

Over 3 million meals have been served.

Taking up residence in an old brownstone on a residential block near a major thoroughfare, BRMUHC was conceived of as a part of and a resource to its neighborhood. BRMUHC first began operating an emergency food pantry program for the elderly, disabled, and low-income residents of their neighborhood.

"We have distributed fresh, organic produce through our food pantry at no cost to the pantry guests." -- The Jackson's

Long before they planted the first seed in the Bed-Stuy Farm, Robert and DeVanie revolutionized the concept of emergency food. They believed that people with limited options deserve healthy choices and that all people deserve fresh food, even if they cannot afford it.

In the last 20 years, the Bed-Stuy farm staff and volunteers have served the community fresh food from the growing space and its managed Food pantry. Robert and DeVanie are neighbors and missionaries to the people of their Community but have become community leaders to seniors and youth alike. The ambition and success of BRMUHC's efforts has been recognized with many awards.

Your gift will help us continue our hunger relief work in 2025.

This is where you can help:

To all of our Bed-Stuy farmers, friends, families, dedicated followers …and those who just learned about us by reading this post, I ask you to help us save the Bed-Stuy farm and Urban Harvest food pantry.

Your gift will help us continue to feed hungry families and grow more food.

Brooklyn Rescue volunteers help prepare for the shopping day.

Please consider sharing this campaign with your friends and family on Facebook, email, Twitter, and text. Each share makes a real difference! 

ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE.

Everyone needs fresh, healthy food to live. Bedstuy has been growing food for community members for 24 years.

Food assistance programs nationwide need support to continue providing vital help to Americans and combat community hunger.

Many food program budgets are currently uncertain due to federal funding freezes. Food pantries, food banks, and food relief initiatives rely on your generosity more than ever. Your contributions significantly impact the lives of people with disabilities, seniors, and children.

At the Brooklyn Rescue Mission, where I serve as Executive Director, we feed over 4,000 individuals monthly. Recently, a mother visited our pantry, and her four-year-old daughter beamed joy at the sight of a watermelon in their cart, excitedly imagining how sweet it might be.

Your support for organizations like the Brooklyn Rescue Mission is essential in our efforts to improve the lives of families, seniors, and individuals with disabilities.

Like many similar programs, we are currently strategizing and seeking funding to continue our mission of feeding hungry seniors, people on fixed incomes, and working families striving to maintain dignity while facing poverty and hunger.

Securing continued funding is crucial for keeping our doors open. Food banks, pantries, and soup kitchens appreciate the importance of having dedicated individuals and community partners ready to advocate for families and individuals in need. Together, we can work towards a brighter, healthier future for our communities.

Thank you for supporting fresh food initiatives across the country. Your contributions not only provide food for hungry communities but also enhance the overall health of Americans. Access to fresh food is vital to improving health in all fifty states.

Thank you for reading, and please consider sharing this message.

Rev. Robert Ennis Jackson

Brooklyn Rescue Mission Urban Harvest Center

brmuhc.org

Brooklyn Rescue Mission Urban Harvest Center has led the Food Justice Movement in Brooklyn, advocating for healthier foods in the emergency food system. The organization's leaders founded the Bedstuy farm to grow fresh food for the organization's pantry guests.

The Brooklyn Rescue Mission has fed community residents over 3 million meals since 2004. 

The Community Food Center, a Food Bank and empowerment center, is open and serves community residents fighting food insecurity in homes and community groceries while providing employment and support services referrals.

Brooklyn, New York, has over 400,000 individuals who are food insecure and are fighting hunger.

So many people in New York are battling rising inflation, increased New York City rents, higher consumer food costs, and higher costs of domestic and imported products worldwide.

The issue of food insecurity continues to evolve, and Brooklyn Rescue Mission and its emergency food providers will continue to serve hungry families. Brooklyn Rescue Mission Urban Harvest Center is here for the community.

Brooklyn Rescue Mission wants to expand its services, and with gifts from donors, we can expand our program hours and provide more program hours.

We are still providing active service to our community.

We are also doing everything we can to take care of our team and enable us to give the best possible service to all our users.

With the help of great friends and donors like you, Brooklyn Rescue Mission will continue to serve our families and individuals in need and provide support for families who need assistance, as well as Brooklynites and other New Yorkers.

Thank you for your present and past support

100% of your donation will go directly to programming and help feed Brooklyn and Queens residents.

Can you help us make a difference by feeding hungry Brooklyn residents, seniors, families with children, and people just trying to make ends meet daily?

Brooklyn Rescue Mission requests donors help raise funds to benefit Brooklyn Rescue Mission Urban. The funds will run operations, pay the electrical costs, and rent our pantry facilities. 

We operate a hunger relief service agency, an urban farm, and a community food center program serving neighborhood seniors fighting poverty and parents with children fighting hunger.

Our goal is simple: to give people good, healthy food in a positive environment.

Thank you for being an activist helping to fight hunger this holiday season,

Thank you for all your Sincerely 

Rev. Robert Ennis Jackson

"**Help Brooklyn Rescue Mission Buy a New Freezer for the Food Pantry**.

Brooklyn Rescue Mission seeks to raise $9,000 to purchase a new freezer.

This new equipment is essential for distributing large quantities of meat and frozen goods to families and seniors in our community who rely on food assistance.

With one new freezer, we can obtain and distribute an additional $135,000 worth of meat and frozen food annually to community residents battling hunger. Our goal is to purchase it before the end of March.

Our food pantry is experiencing a significant demand for healthy groceries due to skyrocketing prices in New York City supermarkets, which have risen by an incredible 25%. Many families in need are ready to fight poverty with your generous contributions.

Over 128,000 children in Brooklyn are projected to experience hunger in 2025. Please consider donating. Extra meals and frozen goods help seniors maintain their monthly budgets. A donation of $50 would help provide meat and other essentials to needy families and seniors fighting hunger.

Thank you for any assistance you can provide. Brooklyn Rescue Mission's monthly food assistance sustains families and positively impacts the lives of both adults and children.

Your support is crucial for the food pantry. They help keep our refrigerators and freezers operational, allowing us to distribute 50,000 pounds of fresh food to communities each month.

Thank you for your generosity.

Sincerely,

Rev. Robert Ennis Jackson