Every Saturday morning, members of our New York City community assemble on 93rd Street, often in a line extending up the block and north onto Amsterdam Avenue. They come for a hot lunch, a bag of fruit and grocery staples designed to last throughout the week, and camaraderie.

For several decades, the Advent Food Program has worked diligently to provide a nutritious hot meal, fresh produce, and shelf-stable groceries for the community. The ingredients in our team's recipe: a dollop of volunteers, a pinch of community advocates, a drizzle of professional chefs, and a slather of hunger relief champions. We have maintained our Food Program in the face of significant challenges: to mention a few, the 2008 financial crisis, rising prices, faulty plumbing, burnt hands, cut fingers, winter storms, and most recently, Covid-19.

 

Friday preparation, Saturday hot lunches, and supplemental meals require kitchens. And our kitchen and programs need some TLC. Here is the latest on our project.

To really prepare our facility for the future, Advent is engaging in a project that is triple the original concept to include adding space for the new oven while bringing the refrigerators and freezers into an expanded kitchen, adding food prep space in the kitchen, replacing the hot water heater, the old stove and the inadequate sink. All this while funding prep supplies, and directly funding food for the community.

We are deeply grateful for the generous support of so many people to the kitchen project and your unwavering commitment to our mission. We are excited to let you know that construction will begin in January after the “busy season” is over. We have ordered the appliances and preparations for construction have begun!

We most appreciate everyone’s patience as we’ve navigated the necessary behind-the-scenes work for this significantly enhanced project. Our food programs are eager to serve more community members more efficiently thanks to the great support the programs have received. We’re proud of the Food Mission and want to continue supporting the community. Thank you for your help.