The Community Fridge Has Served Thousands

The Brooklyn Heights community has fed thousands of hungry neighbors, reduced food waste, and engaged children and adults in meaningful volunteer service through cleaning, cooking for, and filling the fridge.

Now, more than ever, food donations to the fridge are greatly appreciated.  Items best to donate: Fresh produce, dairy (milk, eggs, cheese), tofu, nut and soy milks and prepared food in individual containers/bags dated and labeled. If you have leftovers that are untouched, donations individually wrapped and dated are welcome. 

The Fridge Needs a New Home

Our neighbors at The Watermark at Brooklyn Heights are running a food drive to support the Brooklyn Kindergarten Society, a highly-regarded local nonprofit working to provide high-quality early childhood education to underserved families. 

Now through Monday, November 17th, you can bring non-perishable food items to the Watermark library (just off the lobby once you enter at 21 Clark Street).  Needed items range from canned goods, shelf-stable milk, beans, oatmeal, peanut butter and anything else you are able to contribute.

The days are getting shorter, and the Brooklyn Heights Garden Club has begun preparations for its annual holiday tree on the Promenade. 

The Garden Club will install a 25 foot tree in early December and hopes you’ll join them once again for the tree lighting ceremony on December 17th at 5:30pm.

Budget cuts to NYC Parks have meant that the Garden Club has taken on all of the expenses for this yearly initiative – costs which had previously been covered by the city.  As a 501c3, the BHA is supporting the Garden Club by acting as a fiscal agent to collect donations for this project. Your earmarked donation to the BHA will be passed on to the Garden Club for this purpose.

Please consider a tax-deductible donation to support the purchasing, installation, and lighting of the tree. 

Image: Brooklyn Heights Garden Club Collection, BCMS.0082; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History 

Colder weather doesn't send rats away, but their strategies may change.  So ours need to as well!  Here are some upcoming events and data to help you stay informed on how best to combat NYC's most unwelcome residents.

The Brooklyn Rat Walk will take place on Monday, November 17th at 12:15pm.  The walk will highlight the relationship between our built environment, human behaviors and what every New Yorker can do to prevent rats in their neighborhood.

The walk, led by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, will begin at Borough Hall (209 Joralemon Street) and proceed to Columbus Park/Henry Ward Beecher Monument.  RSVP here.

Each year, the Health Department gets about 40,000 complaints about rat activity through 311. But do these complaints tell them what neighborhoods have the biggest rat problems?

Complaint data doesn’t tell the whole story. Read their update to find out what happens to 311 complaints, what the rat inspection process is like, and how NYC Health uses inspection data to find out what's really going on with rats in your neighborhood.

Want to get all of your rat-related questions answered?  Join our December 8th virtual Rat Academy session - sponsored by the BHA, the Cobble Hill Association and the Atlantic Avenue BID.  The session will run from 5-7pm and be led by experts at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Calling all the talented photographers in our neighborhood (professional and amateurs alike). The BHA is looking for a photograph that depicts a winter scene in our beautiful neighborhood. The winning photograph will be used in our annual holiday postcard sent to all members (and due credit will be given to the photographer.) 

Please email your photos to us by Friday, November 14th.

Now through November 17. Community Food Drive for the Brooklyn Kindergarten Society.  Drop off at The Watermark at Brooklyn Heights.

Thursday, November 6 . Brooklyn Women's Exchange Holiday Open House.  5-8pm.

Thursday, November 6.  Haunted Heights Tours.  6pm. Spots are limited.  Buy your ticket

Friday November 7 - Sunday November 9. Brooklyn Folk Festival. St Ann's Church.  Details.

Saturday, November 8.  Yankee Fair.  Plymouth Church.  10am-3pm

Saturday, November 8.  Open Streets on Columbia Place, Willowtown.  11am-5pm.

Sunday, November 9.  E-Waste and Textile Recycling event.  10am-2pm. First Unitarian Church. 119-121 Pierrepont Street.

Thursday, November 13. The People's Money Brainstorming Workshop.  Brooklyn Borough Hall. Register.

Thursday, November 13. Sanctuary of Sound. St Ann's Church.  6:30pm.  Buy tickets.

Saturday and Sunday, November 15 and 16.  PS8 Super Sidewalk Sale.  Learn more.

Saturday, November 15.  Voices in the Heights.  First Unitarian Church.  7:30pm.  Buy tickets.

Monday, November 17. Trash Containerization Community Meeting (for buildings 10 units and larger). 7pm.  Register.

Tuesday, November 18.  84th Precinct Community Council Meeting. Brooklyn Borough Hall - 209 Joralemon Street. 7pm.

Monday, November 24. Roebling Rink returns to Brooklyn Bridge Park.