BY CAROLINE OURSO
One Brooklyn Health-
Brookdale distributed 1,000
bags of produce and dried
goods to the Brownsville
community on Friday in a
special Martin Luther King
Day installment of their ongoing
food giveaway program.
“We’re partnering with
Greater New York Links and
Food Bank NYC to distribute
a total of 1,000 packages
of both dried goods and produce
to the community,” said
Dr. Sandra Scott, executive
director of OBH-Brookdale.
“We have one Links sister
who works in the Food Bank,
so we’ve been able to coordinate
a lot of food distributions
through her assistance,”
said Dr. Nanette Thomas, a
Links member for 19 years.
Links, an international
Black women’s service organization,
COURIER L 28 IFE, JANUARY 21-27, 2022
is “primarily based
on service and friendship,”
said Thomas, “and of course
we’re always interested in
helping when there are major
issues, especially like the
COVID outbreak.”
Since the onset of the pandemic,
the doctors said, OBHBrookdale
has given out
15,000 bags to the community
— and the healthcare organization
has also given back to
its employees.
“Particularly when things
were bad in 2020,” said Scott.
“We’ve been doing food distribution
for the entire pandemic.”
Both doctors feel the need
for food giveaways such as
theirs has been downplayed
by the media.
“I feel like it’s very understated
in the media how much
people are struggling,” Scott
told Brooklyn Paper. “Every
time we’ve done this, people
are extremely grateful, and
they need the food.”
Area Congressmember
Hakeem Jeffries and several
of his staff members joined
the event to help volunteers
in doling out the bags of food,
some of which were also delivered
to assisted living homes.
Another portion of the distribution
occurred at four different
community churches.
“There are not a lot of supermarkets
in this neighborhood,
really only bodegas,”
said Thomas, “so it’s an opportunity
for families to get
some fresh vegetables.”
Many who came to Friday’s
donation event were
hospital patients who heard
about it via word of mouth.
“Given our attention to
L-R) Dr. Nanette Thomas, US Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Dr. Sandra Scott
smile with a sampling of the food One Brooklyn Health-Brookdale distributed
to the community on Jan. 14. Photo by Caroline Ourso
more of the politics and the
science around the pandemic,
I don’t think these
kinds of giveaways are really
being highlighted so
much,” Scott said, adding
that she sees a need for them,
still.
“We see that the people
who show up really need
the food. Regardless of the
weather, people show up.”
OBH-Brookdale gives
back to Brownsville at
MLK-driven food drive
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