November 20, 2012
Entire Team Serves Meals, Signs
Autographs at Soup Kitchen in Brooklyn
The Brooklyn Nets are New York’s newest sports team and have
given the city reason for optimism and excitement. The entire
basketball roster visited St. John’s Bread and Life in the Bedford
Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn on November 15 as part of their
relationship with the community and Barclays Bank – the naming
rights partnerof the Nets new arena – Barclays Center.
Star players Joe Johnson, Brook Lopez and
Deron Williams along with their Nets teammate’s donned chef’s hats
and aprons to serve food to the homeless of New York and sign
autographs for adoring fans at the St. John’s facility.
The
Nets players and staff were overwhelmed with the reception they
received and joined in conversation, posed for pictures and had a
memorable time interacting with the more than 400 plus clients who
waited in long lines outside to be served meals that afternoon.
“This was a wonderful opportunity for Bread
and Life clients to meet the Nets on a special afternoon. One of
the missions of St. John’s University is to ‘serve the
underserved,’ and that couldn’t have been more evident as the
Brooklyn Nets demonstrated a true first-class approach in
taking time out of their busy schedules to be with us in person,”
said Rev. James Maher, Executive Vice President for Mission and
Student Services.
Anthony Butler, Executive Director of St.
John’s Bread and Life, hosted the event and did several media
interviews. The event attracted press from the YES Network, Fios
Network, WCBS-TV, photographers from the New York daily newspapers
and local Brooklyn press affiliates as well.
Today, St. John’s Bread and Life
continues to address the issues of hunger and poverty
in Brooklyn and Queens. Every day Bread and Life serves
over 2,000 meals to hungry New Yorkers. They provide these services
both at their 795 Lexington Avenue (Brooklyn) facility and through
their unique Mobile Soup Kitchen. For many, the meals
that Bread and Life provide are the only meals they have. Their
goal is to combat poverty and help people achieve
self-sufficiency, in addition to educating the public and
increasing awareness about meals to needy New Yorkers.
Interested media can contact Dominic Scianna,
Associate Vice President for External Relations by calling
718.990.6185 or e-mail inquiries sciannad@stjohns.edu .
For more information visit the St. John’s
Bread and Life website at www.breadandlife.org . For
breaking news and information regarding St. John’s visit the
University web site at www.stjohns.edu/news or
access us at Twitter@StJohnsUMedia
.