(New York Jewish Week via JTA) – Masbia, the kosher soup kitchen and food pantry, has partnered with food delivery service DoorDash to provide kosher meals and groceries to families facing food insecurity in Brooklyn and Queens.  The partnership is part of Project Dash, DoorDash’s social impact initiative, in which the San Francisco-based company partners with local food banks, food pantries and other non-profits to deliver food and groceries to people in need.  “Every week, the [Masbia] network handles over 7,500 food pantry appointments and close to 2,000 soup kitchen dinners,” Alexander Rapaport, the executive director of Masbia, told The New York Jewish Week. 

Still, he was aware that many more families than that are struggling, given the sharp rise in food prices and the potential winding down of food assistance programs as pandemic policies are lifted. Many of these families, due to COVID-19 or the lack of transportation, are unable to make it to the storefronts to get food, so Rapaport wanted to find a way to bring groceries to them.

Main Photo: The original site of Masbia Soup Kitchen opened in Borough Park in 2005. During the height of the pandemic, there were often lines out the door. (Courtesy)