Brooklyn Jubilee

Brooklyn Jubilee’s Cooking Club met for the first time on Saturday, December 10, 2011, at Baptist Church of the Redeemer in Flatbush. A new endeavor that is part of Brooklyn Jubilee’s developing food and nutrition ministry, the aim of the Cooking Club is to create a space where people in the Flatbush area might learn and share healthy cooking tips.

While advice on healthy eating is abundant (and, sometimes, conflicting), there is little tailored to West Indian cuisine. How do we tap into existing knowledge in the community and come up with recipes for meals that are healthy, nutritious and affordable?

We set out to answer that question in three groups, which included Brooklyn Church of the Redeemer attendees, as well as, Brooklyn Jubilee staff, volunteers and clients. The professional chef in the house, Lauren Pilgrim, had laid out the ingredients and prepped three recipes –rice and peas (beans); sweet potato and vegetable curry; and Jamaican slaw–for us to make.

Also at hand were Leisa Bryant, a dietician, and Michelle Pink, a family nurse practitioner, to offer their expertise on nutrition and health. However, it was evident that the non-professionals knew more than a thing or two about cooking and eating well!

More than just prescriptive, the recipe handouts and nutrition guides served as prompts for exchanging knowledge. As they chopped, measured and stirred, participants shared their own cooking stories, demonstrating that there are a myriad ways of personalizing dishes–such as varying the mixture of spices (a great taste substitute for salt) in the curry to one’s taste.

At one point, a debate ensued on whether it was better to go with the high calorie content of real mayonnaise or the fat-free “fake stuff” kind in the slaw. The real stuff won out, although there were strong proponents for using olive oil and lemon juice as healthier substitutes.

The teenage participants, accompanying their mothers, also displayed a general ease in the kitchen, whether cultivated from helping out at home or from restaurant work experience. A couple of them showed some really decent knife skills, which were further sharpened that morning. Here is Chef Pilgrim imparting a handy tip on how to avoid accidents on the cutting board: curl and tuck the fingertips of the hand that’s holding the vegetable steady, using your knuckles instead to guide the blade, like this:

After a morning of learning, sharing and making, participants were able to take home a healthy meal of their own making. Addressing immediate and long term needs, the first Cooking Club meeting was an encouraging start to a ministry that hopes to build on the knowledge of the community it aims to serve.

—  Fiona Lee

This morning, all over New York, would-be lawyers are sitting down to take the bar examination ‑  the professional exam one must pass in order to become a practicing lawyer. More than a third will not pass.

It’s been twelve years since I sat for this exam, and even though I’d already passed one bar exam in another state the previous year, I still remember it as the physically and mentally grueling test of strength that it is. Did I mention that it’s 12 hours of written examination, over two days? By the end of it, your writing hand is going numb.

This morning I think particularly of Owen Field, a young man whose only professional desire is to serve low-income Brooklynites in East New York. The  neighborhood is one facing many challenges, but blessed with a wealth of committed church families, a number of whom are signed on already to support Owen in his future ministry. Brooklyn Jubilee, too, intends to support Owen in whatever ways God will allow us to. Please pray Owen today and Wednesday. Pray  that he will have a clear mind, a calm heart, and the sheer physical endurance needed to get through the next two days of the bar exam. Please also  pray for Graffiti Ministries, which is sending Owen to East New York, and for our continued efforts to find ways to support Owen’s future service in that neighborhood.

Sandhya Reju Boyd, Director

Sandhya Reju Boyd, Director

Last fall, Brooklyn Jubilee added our newest board member Marcey Grigsby to the board. Here is a little Q&A with Marcey on her new role.

What first got you interested in serving with Brooklyn Jubilee?

As a Christian, it’s important to me that I give my time to and use my abilities for people who are in need.  Brooklyn Jubilee presented an opportunity for me to use my knowledge and skills as an attorney to help people in my community who might not otherwise have access to legal assistance, information about their rights and the benefits they’re entitled to, or help in solving a problem.

What are your impressions of the clients that Brooklyn Jubilee serves?

For the past several months, I’ve been working with another attorney volunteer to coordinate the monthly legal clinic at the Helping Hands Food Pantry at St. Augustine’s Church in Park Slope.  I really like working at the same location consistently, seeing the same faces, and getting to know a regular group of clients and volunteers.

But I still never know what problem or situation a person will need help with on any particular day.  Some of the clients appear to be managing alright for themselves with the help of the food pantry, but maybe they’re having landlord problems or want to know how they can correct an error in their public benefits.  Others are in more precarious situations with urgent needs for help with rent or utilities, for example. And from time to time we see someone who faces a truly dire situation—those are of course the difficult times when, despite all the help we do provide, there may be a limit to what we can do because of factors beyond our control. In every case, though, our clients are so grateful that we are there to listen and help them figure out the steps they can take to solve their problem.

Why are you motivated to serve in this new role as a member of Brooklyn Jubilee’s board? What are your hopes and goals in this new role?

The more I volunteered, the more I came to believe in Brooklyn Jubilee’s mission and care about its work. This summer, Sandhya Boyd approached me about joining the board and I jumped at the chance to get involved in a new way. I look forward to learning getting to know the organization better, and working with the board to develop programs that will make a difference in the lives of Brooklyn’s most vulnerable residents.

What would you like to see more of, or what new things would you like to see happen with Brooklyn Jubilee over the next year?

I’m especially excited to learn more about the opportunity for Brooklyn Jubilee to be involved in providing free medical clinics to people in Brooklyn who don’t have little or no access to health care.  The lack of affordable health care for low income residents in some Brooklyn communities is more than just an unfortunate or unfair situation; the statistics about its effects, in terms of chronic health problems and mortality rates, for example, are really alarming. I’m hopeful that Brooklyn Jubilee can play a role in addressing this problem.

After a long hiatus from blogging, I’m (Sandhya) trying to get back to posting regularly. Inhibited by the need to present neat stories, with a beginning, middle, and triumphant end, I just didn’t post at all. Community service is messy, and the stories do not end neatly. Encouraged by my friend Michelle to write the stories as they unfold, I will start again. The stories will hopefully reveal more of the day-to-day struggle, both the victories and losses, for a tiny non-profit attempting to serve God by serving our community.

~Sandhya

Since we first began the Brooklyn Jubilee ministry in 2006, it was clear that many of us are concerned about social and economic justice, but few feel equipped to engage with the problems that surround us and have an impact on them. Christians in the Church are (hopefully) asked to wrestle with Biblical call to serve the poor, but struggle to find meaningful ways to get involved.  

This blog will aim to encourage and challenge us with  thoughts from the Bible on questions of social justice, stories from of the ministry of Brooklyn Jubilee, and other issues affecting the life of low-income New Yorkers. We hope you’ll join in the discussion and help us develop an active network of supporters, advocates, and  others with food for thought on complex and critical issues.