Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen’s Third Annual Benefit From Farm to Tray Gala

On May 21st, LuxuriousPROTOTYPE was invited to attend the Third Annual Farm to Tray Gala by Watershed Communications, held at the Church of the Holy Apostles at 296 Ninth Avenue and 28th Street. The From Farm to Tray Gala is a benefit for Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen that featured a selection of tasting small bites made by using locally grown ingredients and sustainable beverages. Here at LuxuriousPROTOTYPE, staff sit on a variety of non-profit boards, including that of the Eagle Academy Junior Board and Hope Community’s board and have extensive experience working in benefits access and SNAP public education and enrollment, so when we received this invitation we were excited to attend and have an opportunity to celebrate the great work that the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen does every day. On a daily basis the Soup Kitchen serves over 1,000 New Yorkers, yes you read that correctly, 1,000 meals to a variety of New York’s less fortunate.

The day begins bright and early at 6:00 am when volunteer staff, start arriving to begin prepping the day’s meal. Meals are served between 10:30am and 12:30 pm, every weekday, even on holidays. According to Michael Otteley- Director of Operations “Each meal is designed with health in mind and is made up of the recommended balance of fruit, vegetables, grains and proteins and New York State dairy. Only whole grains are used and in the last few years we have removed all processed foods from the menu.” The Soup Kitchen provides not just substance to the needy but helps them to eat healthy, balanced meals.

The Farm to Tray Gala honored Don Terwilliger and Steve Pandolfi for their work over the past year to benefit the Soup Kitchen. Sara Pandolfi, who along with her colleague Kerri Charas, planned a spectacular event that brought together delicious small bites such as the very fresh and delicious offering from Zio Ristorante- Wild Mushroom Fanotto with Marscapone Cheese and Zio Max’s Meatballs from Zio Ristorante. Area chefs were charged with creating a sustainable menu, with ingredients donated by Whole Foods for their culinary use. As you can imagine, this was a well-attended event with tickets selling very quickly when they went on sale. The evening began with a cocktail reception, acknowledgements, by the awardees, a silent auction and an especially powerful speech by Charlise Harris- who is a soup kitchen regular who was evicted from her home in 2013 and has been helped immensely by the soup kitchen and social services provided onsite at the Church of the Holy Apostles.

According to the event’s Executive Producer Sara Pandolfi this year’s event raised over $140,000 and had over 375 attendees’. I highly encourage you to consider supporting the state’s largest emergency Soup kitchen that you can do here.