Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens honors 150 pantry volunteers, links gratitude to impact

Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens used Volunteer Appreciation Month to spotlight a workforce that keeps its food network running. More than 150 food pantry volunteers attended two luncheons on April 17 and April 20, one at Church of Sts. Simon and Jude Parish in Gravesend and another at the Msgr. Pfeiffer Resource Center in Howard Beach. The agency said those volunteers are part of a roster of more than 400 people who help operate and support 60 community-based and parish-based emergency food pantries across Brooklyn and Queens, where nearly 5 million meals reached more than 277,000 unique individuals last year.

The recognition carried a clear retention message. Nilda and Rosa Torado of St. Michael’s Pantry in Flushing were honored for 26 years of faithful service, Carol Tolano of the Church of the Holy Spirit was recognized for ongoing commitment, and the organization held a moment of silence for Lourdes LaPolla, a pantry volunteer who died this year. In a volunteer-dependent operation, those gestures are not just ceremonial. They signal that long service is noticed, that continuity matters, and that the people stocking shelves and opening pantry doors are central to the agency’s ability to keep hours stable and neighborhoods served.

Catholic Charities also paired the luncheons with hard numbers that underscore the scale of the work. The organization said its 2025 network food pantries provided an estimated 778,970 pounds of food, while affiliate food pantries provided another estimated 211,500 pounds. Beyond food distribution, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens sponsors more than 160 programs and services and says it served 500,000 people in Brooklyn and Queens as of 2025. For pantry coordinators, that is the practical side of appreciation: the more people feel tied to a visible mission, the more likely they are to stay in the rotation that keeps a complex system moving.

The event also reflected a staffing challenge that has lingered since the pandemic. Catholic Charities has said many of its regular food pantry volunteers are older adults, often in their 80s and 90s, and that volunteer help dropped after COVID-19 even as need remained high. The agency said it had its largest volunteer network during the pandemic, but it has continued to look for more help to match demand. Against that backdrop, the luncheons in Gravesend and Howard Beach served a management purpose as much as a celebratory one: they reinforced belonging, preserved institutional memory, and reminded volunteers that their steady presence keeps pantry operations intact.