Sister Mary Maloney Retires from Park Slope Soup Kitchen and Shelter after 26 Years

Sister Mary Maloney came to Brooklyn in the late 1980s—after 14 years of missions in Africa and South America— to become director of Park Slope Christian Help (known as CHIPS) on Fourth Avenue.

The soup kitchen had only $300 in the bank and was renting the ground floor, but Sister Mary brought with her a love for the poor and organizational skills that tied the community together, built resources, brought in donations and grants to help feed the hungry, the homeless and the poor and was able to buy the entire building.

And now, although donations are still needed, CHIPS has become an institution in the neighborhood and needs to raise $30,000 each month to help fund the soup kitchen and shelter. The kitchen, between Sackett and Degraw streets, feeds about 200 people a hot, nutritious meal six days a week, and the shelter upstairs, the Frances Residence, which has been operating for 13 years, houses nine young women in their last trimester of pregnancy and women who have just given birth in studio apartments.

But after 26 years of being the director, Sister Mary Maloney retired from CHIPS, which began as part of St. Francis Xavier Church over 40 years ago, on Wednesday, March 27.   

“I’m sad to leave, but I love working with the poor,” Sister Mary said, who is 80 years old and commutes from the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor residence in upstate New York everyday. “However, it’s time for younger people to take over and for me to pass the torch.”

During her time at CHIPS, Sister Mary helped raise $990,000 for a complete gut renovation in the early days, started the teen-mother shelter, and helped raise money and get grants to rebuild after the devastating five-alarm fire that engulfed Danken Auto Parts and left CHIPS temporarily closed with thousands of dollars worth of damage in 2011.

But for Sister Mary, the success of CHIPS has always been a team effort:  

“We have a wonderful ministry, we have over 100 volunteers who are all dedicated to our cause— some of which who have been here for 20 years,” she said, explaining they have a budget of $500,000 a year, which is raised through donations. “The community helps make CHIPS work, we constantly get donations of clothes, schools and churches run canned goods drives for us, City Harvest comes by once a week and gives us food, and even individuals and Park Slope grocery stores donate too.”

And who will fill Sister Mary’s shoes? Denise Scaravella, who has been working at CHIPS for the past year, will replace Sister Mary as director.

And Sister Mary’s replacement is ready for her new role with new ideas.

Scaravella, who was the executive VP for Homes for the Homeless for 20 years before joining CHIPS, is going to start a new project to help coordinate every school in Park Slope to run a canned food drive once a month. Sister Mary said that most can drives are during the winter holidays, but by April their reserves are run dry.

“If Denise can get 12 schools to run a food drive, we’ll have a food bank every month,” she said on her last day as director. “And come April, June, July we’ll have food no matter what. She’ll create a system that allows us to have continuous resources."

But most importantly, Scaravella is a loving person, Sister Mary said.

“She’s an excellent replacement, she’s had a lot of experience with ministries working with the poor and she has a gift to love the poor no matter what,” Sister Mary said, explaining that this job requires to love every person who walks through the front door. “Many people are good at management and running a place, but running a soup kitchen and shelter is different. Many of the people who come here are troubled.”

Although Scaravella is ready to take over, she said that CHIPS was built to where it is now because of Sister Mary.

“Her legacy is that she has created such a successful model that it should be replicated everywhere. She has involved the whole community and made us a fixture in Park Slope. She has involved all the schools, churches and synagogues, and it’s because of her that we can endure,” Scaravella said, explaining that Sister Mary had such a personal touch that she hand wrote 2,600 thank you letters to donors each year. “CHIPS is her legacy, and we will survive because of her hard work. This place is a testament to Sister Mary.”

Scaravella said that her goal is to build on Sister Mary’s work and bring in more volunteers and donors. A few things Scaravella said she wants to start is parenting programs for the teenage mothers upstairs, increase involvement from schools and restaurants, and help raise money for air conditioning in the kitchen and repairs all throughout the building.  

As Sister Mary got ready for her last phone call as director of CHIPS on Wednesday, she had a few last words for everyone who lent a helping hand to her soup kitchen.

“I have a heart full of gratitude for all the volunteers and staff over the years—if not for them we wouldn’t have CHIPS,” Sister Mary said.

If you want to donate to CHIPS, click here. If you want to volunteer, stop by the soup kitchen at 200 Fourth Ave, between Sackett and Degraw streets.