Pratt Public Safety Tour Supervisor Tyrone Spence, Rethink Food NYC Driver Elijah Inniss, and Dennis Mazone, Assistant Vice President of Campus Safety and Preparedness, facilitating the donation of food from Pratt
This is the third in a series of posts exploring how the Pratt Institute community is rallying its creative resources to help with the challenges of COVID-19. In this story, we highlight how Pratt used excess resources due to the campus closure to support its community.
After Pratt Institute’s campuses closed at the end of March, there were school resources that were identified that could be redirected to community needs, with a focus on the Brooklyn neighborhoods surrounding Pratt.
With the cafeteria and other food facilities closed on the Brooklyn campus, Pratt Institute donated a variety of dairy, protein, bread, and other items to Rethink Food NYC for use in their newly opened Rethink Cafe, a small donation-based cafe located in Clinton Hill. All of its meals are served without a price tag; instead, there is a suggested donation of $3. Any donations go back into the work of Rethink. The donated food from Pratt will also be used in Rethink’s commissary kitchens including at Eleven Madison Park where the group has been working to make free meals for clients of Citymeals on Wheels and for hospital workers. The connection between Rethink and Pratt was facilitated by the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership (MARP).
Pratt Public Safety Tour Supervisor Jermaine Elgin handing off donated MetroCards to Mohamed Hamed, Physician Relations and Business Development at the Brooklyn Hospital Center
Without students commuting to campus, there was a surplus of 7-Day Unlimited Ride MetroCards that are usually sold at half-price to students who attend Pratt Manhattan and live on the Brooklyn campus. Through an initiative led by the Student Government Association (SGA) in collaboration with Student Involvement, Pratt donated 100 of these MetroCards to frontline workers at the Brooklyn Hospital Center in Downtown Brooklyn. The MetroCards will support doctors, nurses, and other staff who need public transportation to continue their incredible efforts combating COVID-19.
For previous stories in this series on how Pratt is responding to COVID-19, see “Members of the Pratt Community Sew Masks and 3D-Print Face Shields to Combat COVID-19” and “The Institute Unites to Produce 1,000s of Face Shields for Hospitals.” For daily updates on how the Pratt community is taking action, visit the Pratt Daily Hub.