A Greenpoint-based production studio is stepping up to help out during the pandemic — offering help to both their Brooklyn neighbors and the entire city.
Broadway Stages, which operates television and film production stages throughout the borough, has leased its East New York space to the Campaign Against Hunger on a pro-bono lease, allowing the hunger-fighting group to harness the resources it needs to feed thousands of New Yorkers each week.
“Their operations have become so robust, that without Broadway Stages, a lot of what they’re doing wouldn’t be possible,” said Samara Schaum, a spokesperson for the production company.
At the Broadway Stages space, the campaign is able to repackage thousands of meals a week for distribution across the city, at a time when more and more New Yorkers find themselves unemployed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and food pantry demand is at an all-time-high.
The three-month lease is worth over $100,000, according to Schaum.
On a local level, the production company has lent a hand to numerous causes around north Brooklyn. To combat food insecurity among seniors, Broadway Stages donated loaves of bread to the 79th Precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant, who then distributed them to local seniors in their homes. To assist with remote learning, the group donated school supplies to roughly 100 students at PS 23 in East New York. And to help out hard-hit Elmhurst Hospital, Broadway Stages donated 400 shoe coverings.
That’s only a portion of their efforts in the neighborhood, which also include a $2,500 contribution to the North Brooklyn Angels mobile food truck, the Angel-Mobile, and a donation of dry foods to the Cooper Park Housing Association.
All of their efforts are spurred by the company’s community-first mindset, according to Monica Holowacz, director of community outreach for Broadway Stages.
“We’re really a company that focuses on the community,” Holowacz said. “We’re very family-oriented and if we can lend a helping hand we’re very much happy to do so.”
