Anthony Tocantinis is convinced the North Brooklyn Angels are actual angels.

They’re the closest he’s encountered to the real thing.

“Knowing that this is here is one less worry in my day,” Tocantinis said. “It’s a relief they’re wonderful people, very friendly and again I consider this a diamond in my day.”

Tocantinis comes four days a week to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Williamsburg to get a hot meal, he says is fresh and nutritious, and he’d know, he’s a professional chef who’s fallen on hard times.

“I feel their generosity is equal to what I always felt in terms of faith as a Catholic so it’s reinforcing for sure,” Tocantinis said.

This Thanksgiving Tocantinis and 500 others will be spending the holiday with North Brooklyn Angels for a sit down meal. The organization is also giving out 1,000 turkeys and 1,000 to-go meals. Program Manager Lauren Bakoian said on a day that’s all about coming together why not do it right.

“Everyone becomes a friend,” Bakoian said “They’re not just people in need that come for a meal, they’re familiar faces they have different needs and we all come for community whether it’s the volunteer community or the folks coming to eat.”

Inside the kitchen at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, the assembly line for North Brooklyn Angels’ daily hot meal distribution moves quickly.For volunteer Lee Finkel, there’s something spiritual about this work – 

Finkel has been volunteering every week for the last several months. It’s reshaped his worldview and the way he views his own neighborhood.

“I’m a big believer in the golden rule above all the above all else and to be able to just do my part is a blessing to me in a big way,” Finkel said. “It gives me just a little bit more purpose in my day, knowing that I’m able to put a warm meal in their hands and a smile on their face.”

This holiday in North Brooklyn, the volunteers and those in need are thankful for their angels.

North Brooklyn Angels is serving a Thanksgiving meal at four locations.

For information and to inquire about tickets email [email protected].

Bishop Robert Brennan spent time with young people during the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Catholic Youth Day ahead of Thanksgiving . 

Around 150 teens from across Brooklyn and Queens gathered at Immaculate Conception Parish In Jamaica for the first diocese Catholic Youth Day since the pandemic!

Bishop Brennan celebrated mass with the young people and then lead a eucharistic procession, bringing the body of Christ to attendees. 

To read more, and to stay up to date on all diocesan news just go to TheTablet.Org.

By Jessica Easthope

Jillian Battey dishes out bags filled with hot food and essentials but she knows what it’s like to stand on the opposite side of this window.

Battey’s a volunteer at St. John’s Bread & Life, but she’s also a guest.

“I don’t get so much in food stamps so this saves me a lot of money,” Battey said.

This year Battey and the tens of thousands of others who wait in line to shop at Bread and Life’s digital pantry are putting something new in their cart: a $25 gift card to Food Bazaar, a new grocery store located a few blocks away. 

It doesn’t just buy a Thanksgiving turkey or ham; for Battey it buys some freedom.

“It puts a lot of dignity back. A lot of people can’t afford turkeys, so it helps with their turkey, with their ham and pies,” Battey said. “There are certain things that we don’t give out that $25 helps people go to the store and complete their Thanksgiving dinner.”

The gift cards are the product of a partnership with Food Bazaar and The New York Mets’ Charity Foundation.

Sister Caroline Tweedy, Bread and Life’s executive director, said a $25,000 gift from the Mets has transformed Thanksgiving at the pantry.

“I would say we are reinventing ourselves and one of the things we came up with was giving people an opportunity to select and customize their own holiday basket,” Sister Caroline said. “We thought that would be a great idea, giving people choice. That gives people a sense of dignity and choice and it values their culture and their sensitivities to food, and we wouldn’t have been able to do it without the Mets and without Food Bazaar.”

Dawn Brabham has been a guest for years, but with her gift card in hand, Thanksgiving at Bread & Life feels a lot different this time around.

“It gives it a little more independence,” Brabham said. “Over the years Bread & Life has been a savior for me, and I’m truly, truly blessed and thankful for Bread & Life.”

Battey thinks back to the time she and her daughter spent living in homeless shelters and how Bread & Life helped her get to where she is now.

“I understand the aspect of people needing help,” Battey said. “I went through five years, four or five different shelters, finally got my own place so I said let me volunteer because I love helping people, I love talking, everybody knows me, even the people outside. They say, ‘You’re in here now?!’ It’s a help, a lot.”

Battey says the love and support she found at Bread & Life is what she’s really thankful for, the food is just gravy.

The National Revival Campaign was started by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and was just one of the things they recently discussed during their meeting in Baltimore. 

National Correspondent for The Tablet and Crux, John Lavenburg, joins Currents News to talk more about the fall assembly.

Young people from across the Diocese of Brooklyn are taking part in the National Eucharistic Revival, getting closer to Christ during a Holy Hour at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church in Queens.

Hundreds of kids from the Ridgewood church’s religious education and sacramental programs sat in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament Wednesday night.  

The pastor, Father Anthony Sansone, said the annual Holy Hour helps them understand the underlying message of the national campaign. 

During the Holy Hour, the young people and their parents also prayed for vocations.

By Jessica Easthope

A watched pot never boils.

“I’m gonna be watching forever because it’s still not boiled yet,” said Lyndia Bitler, a tenant at the Bland Houses NYCHA complex.

Bitler usually does Thanksgiving big, but without gas in her NYCHA apartment, holiday plans have been canceled, a single hot plate isn’t going to cut it.

“I wanted to do a turkey,” Bitler said. “I usually either do a lasagna or baked macaroni and cheese and I can’t do that on a hot plate.”

Bitler and her neighbors in this building of the Flushing NYCHA complex haven’t had gas for a month. They were given a hot plate and crock pot to hold them over until repairs to a gas leak are made, but Bitler has a family to cook for, which includes four children, all with developmental or physical disabilities. NYCHA said what they gave her is good enough but Bitler believes otherwise. 

“I’m used to cooking on the stove, cooking in the oven,” Bitler said. “I can’t do that now. It’s taking a toll on me.”

We tested just how long it would take the hot plate to bring a medium pot of water to a rolling boil. On a stove it takes anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. 

It took 23 minutes and Bitler worries she’ll be waiting much longer. She heard her gas could be out for six months.

“I got kids I gotta feed, [and] a husband,” Bitler said. “It’s really not acceptable.”

She currently has 31 open work tickets NYCHA hasn’t responded to, for mold, leaks, holes in her walls, cracked ceilings, and Bitler’s biggest concern, mice. 

“Every time they put holes in the walls they come, 30 in three days,” Bitler said. “I’ve been hounding them. Hello, I have a rodent problem here. Oh we don’t do that. What do you mean you don’t do that? You’re Housing! It really makes me cringe.”

Bitler said at this point her issues have become an emergency. She’s even taken NYCHA to court. She expects Thanksgiving to come and go. 

“I have prayed a lot, the ongoing problems here has really tested my faith a lot,” Bitler said. “If they don’t turn the gas on, what am I supposed to do? It’s just gonna be another day.”

Currents News reached out to NYCHA about Bitler’s issues but we have not yet received a response. 

The nightmares at NYCHA were the focus of an exhibit in The Bronx. 

Twenty people who lived in public housing in the borough were interviewed and photographed for the “speak out” exhibit at The Bronx Documentary Center. 

It depicts the yearslong struggle to secure better living conditions for the residents.  

While the exhibit is now closed, you can read and see more of it in this week’s tablet.