Chabad’s Chelsea Giving Kitchen Elevates Food Donations

It started with a flier left in her mailbox.

Elena Sapir had moved to the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in 2018, Rabbi Chezky Wolff, who directs The Chelsea Shul, dropped a flier in Sapir’s mailbox, inviting her to join the synagogue’s annual gala. 

Elena heeded her friend’s advice and went. 

“Slowly, we got to know one another, and in a few months, Rabbi Wolff approached me and shared his ideas about creating the Chelsea Giving Kitchen,” Sapir told Lubavitch.com.

Wolff had a vision to create a space that would bring together community members to volunteer to prepare and pack food for those in need in the neighborhood.

“It’s a very diverse neighborhood,” Sapir explained. “There are buildings with lower-income families; there are a lot of Jewish families who struggle. The Giving Kitchen creates a space where Jewish community—and not just Jewish people, but anyone who’d like to be a part of this—can come together, connect with each other, and give back to the community.”

“It inspired me. I thought it would be a really wonderful idea to create a platform for community engagement,” she said. “We can nurture personal growth, celebrate the importance of family, and cultivate our cooking skills, while giving the food to people who really need it.” 

It’s a value that runs deep in the Sapir family. Sapir’s husband, Mr. Tamir Sapir, was a supporter of Jewish communities around the world. “After seeing him always being of service, always giving—I was looking for ways to give back and support my local community as well.”

One of the people in that community is Adele Unterberg. 

In the four years since her cancer diagnosis, Unterberg often felt that joining in communal events was a challenge. “I have not been able to go to shul, because I can’t be exposed to germs,” she said. “During the pandemic, the rabbi had the idea to help older people who needed food, and people were very grateful.”

With Sapir’s generous vision, the Chelsea Giving Kitchen launched at the start of the Covid pandemic, when so many people—especially the elderly—were confined to their homes and were in acute need. 

“He went from home to home,” Unterberg recalled. “He had a list of people in need and went from door to door with bags of meals for people, and they were very grateful.”

The Kitchen distributes meals each week to hundreds of seniors living in the Chelsea and Gramercy Park neighborhoods. Volunteers prepare, pack and deliver the meals. To date, the Giving Kitchen has distributed more than 10,000 servings of salmon, pumpkin pie, meatballs and other menu items to elderly, disabled and homebound local residents, including Holocaust survivors. 

“It’s very appreciated, because many people here are not exactly rolling in dough, and older people may be embarrassed to admit they don’t have money or food, and he provided that,” Unterberg said. “I thought that was absolutely wonderful of him.”

Last month, more than 100 people gathered at The Chelsea Shul in Manhattan, NY for the formal launch of The Chelsea Giving Kitchen.

The evening featured a hands-on cooking demonstration given by celebrity chef Chani Apfelbaum. Participants seeded pomegranates, juiced lemons, and chopped salad ingredients for Apfelbaum’s signature Farro Salad. Then they packed the food for distribution to those in need. 

“The whole idea of this organization is that it’s not just another giving kitchen,” Sapir explained. “The most important purpose of it is to bring the community together. To me, it’s creating a sanctuary; a home; a huge kitchen that brings people together.”

Adele Unterberg’s son has joined the many who volunteer for the Giving Kitchen, delivering meals alongside the Wolffs and others. “He loves Rabbi Wolff and his family,” Unterberg said. 

According to Elena Sapir, the Giving Kitchen brings people together in a way that few other spaces can.

“At home, the family gathers in the kitchen because it’s the warmest place,” Sapir described. “So many fun things happen—you cook together, you create memories, you share stories; it warms and nurtures your body, and it nurtures your soul, mind and spirit. It’s a very spiritual, transformational place in my eyes.”

Sapir says the kitchen’s effects can be alchemical.

“You’ve got the base metal ingredients: food, knowledge and shared experience, which nourishes the body. But with the right intention it transforms; it nurtures the spirit, creating community.” 

The Giving Kitchen has created connections between givers and recipients. In many instances, family members of recipients—like Adele Unterberg’s son—have chosen to volunteer themselves and pass on the kindness their families have benefitted from.

“Finding community where you can feel welcome, where you can engage and learn something new, where you can give back in selfless service—that’s what the Chelsea Giving Kitchen accomplishes,” Sapir said. “In giving, you are always receiving.”