Boro Park community leaders and elected officials joined together to distribute Passover packages for needy families on Thursday, distributing over 300,000 lbs. of produce and chicken to approximately 1,000 families.

“The Pesach Seder is the most important family gathering of the year and an essential part of Jewish life,” said Councilman Kalman Yeger. “I’m so proud of how our community comes together to help make Pesach a bit easier for those in need.”

Yeger, who entered office in January, has pledged to continue prioritizing the Boro Park JCC and its anti-poverty initiatives.

“This is just one of many of the projects that reflect the great work that the Boro Park Jewish Community Council can accomplish with partners like Kalman,” Executive Director Avi Greenstein said, pointing to a 2018 Digital Inclusion and Literacy Initiative as one of his group’s many other successful collaborations with the City Council.

With cars and volunteers lined up outside the New Utrecht Avenue distribution center all afternoon, Yeger put his back where his money is, hauling sacks of potatoes and cases of Kedem grape juice and Kosher for Pesach Coca-Cola products to families. He was joined by volunteers from the Boro Park Shomrim, among other organizations.

“As in previous years, it has been the pleasure of Boro Park Shomrim to partner up with BPJCC to distribute food to 1,000 families,” said Jacob Daskal, head of Shomrim.

“Everyone I respect in government lives for days like this,” Yeger said. “The chance to give back, to make life easier on people in our community who work so hard to make ends meet and just need a little bit extra. Every day I work at City Hall is about making things like this happen for our community.”

David G. Greenfield, the new C.E.O. of Met Council on Jewish Poverty, highlighted the impact this distribution was having on families in need. “Met Council is proud to partner with 120 organizations distributing Kosher for Pesach food to ensure that everyone, regardless of financial ability, has an enjoyable Yom Tov. The sad reality is that so many families who ‘make it’ during the year struggle before Pesach because of the high cost of Kosher food. That’s why what we’re doing with the Boro Park JCC is so vital. We are partnering together to make sure that no family gets left behind this Pesach. It’s really our privilege to provide more food than ever before for this Pesach distribution,” Greenfield said.

Other local luminaries who came to the event included Councilman Mathieu Eugene, but it wasn’t just governmental leaders and non-profits that made the Pesach event possible. Support also came from numerous local entrepreneurs, as well as Liberty Coca-Cola, which contributed hundreds of bottles of Classic and Diet Coke.

While Coke may not be as associated with Pesach as Manischewitz or Maxwell House with its ubiquitous haggadah, its relationship with the holiday goes back to the 1930s. That’s when the company first introduced bottles that were Kosher for Passover after encouragement from Rabbi Tobias Geffen, whose congregation was based in Atlanta, where “Coke” is so popular that it is the generic term for all soda. Orthodox Union-approved yellow-capped Pesach bottles are now a Seder staple.

“Pesach is about coming together to celebrate our freedom, our heritage, our values,” Yeger said. “At the Seder, we recite ‘Kol Dichpin Yaisai V’Yaichol’ (‘All who are hungry, come and eat’). We invite our community’s hungry to join us. Hopefully, with this year’s Pesach packages, fewer of our community will go hungry this Pesach.”

“No Seder table can ever be too big, and no plate can ever be too full,” Yeger said.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)