Brooklyn nonprofit that feeds hungry New Yorkers seeks public's help after delivery van stolen

A Brooklyn nonprofit's ability to deliver food and other necessities to New Yorkers in need is being impacted after they say the group's cargo van was stolen.

News 12 Staff

Apr 22, 2022, 2:45 AM

Updated 899 days ago

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A Brooklyn nonprofit's ability to deliver food and other necessities to New Yorkers in need is being impacted after they say the group's cargo van was stolen.
"We returned it right over there, and then the next morning when we came by, I was like, 'Hey where's our van?'" said Kendra Chiu, of North Brooklyn Angels, referring to the cargo van stolen in plain sight. "It was just very bizarre because it was locked. The keys were in the kitchen and we had to file a police report."
Chiu and Neal Sheehan said they used the van to distribute meals to the community on Monday. But when Tuesday came, they say the van they parked outside of a church on Havemeyer Street was nowhere to be found.
"It's still sort of surreal that this would happen because people in the community know us and it's not like it's a really high value vehicle, but it's high value to us because we run a mobile soup kitchen," Chiu said.
The Angels rely on the van daily to make their rounds to families in need by donating meals, baby items, and more.
As the organization now struggles to make those deliveries, the Angels said they're turning lemons to lemonade.
"We have heard from Sen. Schumer, and we've heard from Congresswoman Maloney and they're going to be giving us some resources four or five months from now, so we should be able to replace the van. But in the short run, we're just going to ask the community to help. If you have a van sitting around, if you want to rent a van for us, anything you can do to help," Sheehan said.
The Angels said that in the past two days, they've had an outpouring of support from the community looking for any way to help out in their time of need.
They're asking anyone who sees the van to contact them.