The Camp Friendship Food Pantry Celebrates 2nd Year Anniversary

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Dear friends of the Camp Friendship Food Pantry,

Our work at the pantry marked its 2nd anniversary last week. Since June 2, 2020, volunteers have been running it week-in and week-out, ensuring hundreds of families have access to produce and pantry items each week—along with covid tests, diapers, and other offerings we've had the opportunity to source.

Thank you for any and all roles you have played over those years. It's been this community that has volunteered on site, staffed collection tables, made thousands of deliveries, donated food, contributed financially, hosted lemonade stands and bake sales, and helped spread the word about the pantry.

If you're looking to get involved this summer, here are a few needs—we are currently scheduling volunteer shifts through Labor Day. For any of the volunteering needs, reply to this email with the shift and dates you can work. You will receive a confirmation and then a reminder the week of your shifts.

We are in need of more drivers—especially over the summer! If you have a car and are willing to drive—weekly, periodically, or on a one-off basis—let us know.

  • Saturdays at noon -- delivering packages of food to to 4-7 recipients. We provide the packages, load your car, and set the routes. You pick up at Camp Friendship in Park Slope and distribute within Brooklyn. We encourage you to have a co-pilot for double-parking, etc. A shift usually takes about 90 minutes.

  • Friday 5:30pm Wegman's runs. We need two drivers each week (or one with a very large car) to pick up from Wegman's in the Navy Yard and deliver our order to Camp Friendship in Park Slope -- aiming to deliver around 6:00pm. The order is prepped and paid for, but we need to pick it up each week.

Community Donation Tables. Every Saturday from 9:30am-1:30pm, we set up several tables around the neighborhood to collect food and financial contributions and support the pantry's work. If you like being outside and chatting with neighbors, this is a great role for you. Shifts run about 2 hours—if you have kids, you're welcome to bring them.

In addition, if you want to host your own lemonade stand, bake sale, neighborhood or school fundraiser or food drive, let us know—we always welcome the support, and it's a fun way to engage your community.

Food and Financial Donations. You can always support the work of the pantry by dropping off non-perishable items on Friday evenings 6-7:30pm or Saturday mornings 9am-1pm at Camp Friendship, 339 8th Street at 6th Avenue, or at the tables Saturday mornings outside local markets.

Pandemic-EBT. If you are a public school family, you will be receiving $375/child in additional funds on your "P-EBT" card. This is the same card you had from previous disbursements—if you can't find your card, you can request support here: http://bit.ly/PEBTcontactform. If you are fortunate enough not to need these funds, you could:

  • Come spend it on non-perishable items at Steve's Market on 9th Street or Foodtown on 5th Ave, and then give the purchases to our community donation table on Saturday morning—or purchase anywhere and drop off the purchases at Camp Friendship.

  • Spend it on your own groceries, and make a donation of whatever amount you're able to Camp Friendship and we'll buy essential items.

And you can always donate either online—https://www.gofundme.com/f/park-slope-food-pantry-at-camp-friendship—or by writing a check that you can drop off at or mail to Camp Friendship.

Thanks—and have a safe, healthy, and enjoyable summer.

The Camp Friendship Food Pantry Team.