A neighborhood fund, run by neighbors.

Where we work

We serve Kensington first — the blocks around Ocean Parkway, Church Avenue, Coney Island Avenue and East 3rd Street — and we take referrals from the surrounding Brooklyn neighborhoods: Borough Park, Midwood, Flatbush and Ditmas Park. If a family is close enough that someone in our circle knows them, they are close enough for us to help.

How a case reaches us

Almost nothing comes in cold. A rav calls. A principal calls. A neighbor notices that the same family has not ordered for Shabbos in three weeks. Someone in the family calls themselves, which is the hardest phone call any of them will make that year.

From there it is short. A small group reviews the need, confirms what is actually required, and releases the funds — usually to the landlord, the school, the pharmacy or the grocery directly, rather than as cash, because that is what protects both the family's dignity and the donor's money.

What we will not do

• We do not publish names, photographs, or details of any family we help.
• We do not make a family tell their story to a room of people to qualify.
• We do not spend donations on fundraising dinners, mailers, or a paid development office.

Our affiliation with Kupat Rabbi Yehuda bar Illue

Bnei Moshe of Kensington is affiliated with Kupat Rabbi Yehuda bar Illue, which supports needy families in Tzfat. The connection is not decorative: a dedicated portion of what we raise is transferred to the Kupah, and donors who prefer to give to Eretz Yisroel directly can do so at rebbeyehuda.com.

It is also where our mark comes from. The Kupah's own emblem is an arch — so ours is a gate, the place a person walks through when things are hard.