Park Slope Soup Kitchen Makes Meals To-Go Over Coronavirus

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A Park Slope soup kitchen stopped its sit-down meals amid coronavirus fears. But volunteers didn't stop serving meals — instead, they switched it up and made them to-go.

"People need to eat," said Denise Scaravella, executive director for CHiPS.

The change came as the coronavirus altered another aspect of everyday life in New York City — classes canceled, empty shelves at grocery stores, the mayor urging people to avoid crowded subways and more.

Scaravella's phone rang and rang as the concerns mounted.

Her volunteers wanted to know, would CHiPS remain open? Yes, of course, Scaravella said. The question was how.

"I said we’ll do food to go,” Scaravella said.

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CHiPS, short for Community Help in Park Slope, serves 350 meals a day to the needy from its Fourth Avenue kitchen. Breakfast and lunch are usually to-go bags, but its hot meals are sit-down affairs in the soup kitchen, Scaravella said.

It's probably not a good idea to sit 60 people or more together amid the coronavirus outbreak, Scaravella said. So she and CHiPS volunteers called off those meals and shifted entirely over to to-go bags.

That required help in the form of donations, and CHiPS turned to Facebook last week.

"URGENT CALL FOR DONATIONS!" the post read. "CHiPS needs items to make sandwiches for bagged lunches next week!"

The community heard the call and responded. Boxes from Amazon and hand-delivered donations piled high by 7 a.m. the next day, Scaravella said.

CHiPS volunteers have been turning those donations into sandwiches all week. They gathered in the kitchen Tuesday morning, sorted through the goods and bagged them up.

"We will be cooking all week and will be giving away food all day long," Scaravella said.

Scaravella thanked the community and the shelter's volunteers for stepping up. She said CHiPS still needs containers and plastic bags as it preps to-go meals with no end in sight for the coronavirus.

"We still need donations," she said. "This is not going to stop in a day or two."

Donations can be dropped off directly at 200 Fourth Ave. More information on donations can be found on CHiPS' donation page. CHiPS also has an Amazon wishlist showing which items are currently in need.