Reaching Out Community Services
Organization background

RCS, a food pantry and community service organization in Brooklyn, NY serves over 5,600 registered families in 16 SW Brooklyn communities — 65% of these families are low income individuals and 35% are families with children under 18. The only full-time food pantry in the area, they also serve hundreds of homeless people, who are given a small bag of ready-to-eat foods. In addition to offering food services, RCS also offers a wide range of support services to the needy.

They also provide other services such as advocacy; educating and guiding clients on available welfare programs; emergency response services; summer tutoring for grade 2-8; free tax preparation services and an online sharing program offering free items to those who may need them.

Project background

The pantry is modeled after a supermarket so that clients can make their own food choices. Their clients are registered after they have gone through income and eligibility verification, and are invited to shop every 15 or 30 days, depending on family size and need. They queue up in front of computer terminals where they select items, and volunteers deliver the items to them.
The pantry is stocked with canned goods, pasta, rice, fresh fruit & vegetables, frozen meats & frozen vegetables, dairy products, and is also equipped with a walk-in refrigerator and a commercial freezer for cold storage. The dairy products offered depend on availability (organizations like City Harvest provide them with their excess inventory and that is what they distribute).
In addition to their emergency pantry, RCS also runs a "Homeless Feeding" program which was funded by GKF in 2015. The program is run out of a bus fitted with shelvs and a stove, and drives on a route where the homeless reside, providing them with warm and healthy meals.

GKF contributions to RCS