Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Shelter Program Director Denise Lalande-Phipps
Update: The video's audio is back.
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The Kensington Family Shelter is often described as "a model shelter." The cooperative relationship between the shelter's staff and families, local residents, elected officials (Councilmember Brad Lander and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams), and CAMBA, the non-profit service provider operating the shelter, has made it that way.
Since opening in December 2015, The Kensington has been providing temporary shelter for sixty-four homeless families, defined as one or two parents and a child or children. Families are offered social services that prepare them to return to independent living and put homelessness behind them.
In 2016, the Coalition for the Homeless
recognized the two
local residents who, prior to the opening of the shelter, began organizing the community to provide assistance to the families:
In the spirit of the season, and with a desire to lift up such examples of human kindness, the Coalition for the Homeless is announcing our first Compassionate Communities Award to be given to Catherine Barufaldi and Tracy Connor of Kensington/Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, for their “Give Me Shelter BK” campaign.
Catherine and Tracy created and maintain a mailing list to inform neighbors of opportunities to donate clothing, toys, school supplies, toiletries, etc. to the families and to assist with celebrating holidays and other events. To join the mailing list and receive approximately one e-mail a month, send an e-mail to givemeshelterBK @ gmail.com.
The informative video above explains more about the shelter, located at 385 McDonald Avenue, across the street from Foodtown.