Beacon's Backyard Kitchen Cooks and Serves Thanksgiving Brunch To Community In Need

This is a story of the hot meals - often with gluten free options - that are prepared by the rotating volunteer crew at Beacon’s Backyard Kitchen, an upstart of The Yard Beacon, after a soup kitchen closed on Main Street in January 2025. Since then, they have served over 6,000 meals to anyone in need.

THat little sign you see on the side of Fishkill Ave. is for Beacon’s Backyard Kitchen, who prepare free hot and delicious meals for those in need every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6:30-8:30am weekly.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth

Thursday was their Thanksgiving Brunch, open to any and all who need it. Beacon’s Backyard Kitchen is open every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 6:30-8:30am each week at 12 Hanna Lane. When SNAP ended, the volunteer crew was there, with Chef Lewis cooking, and volunteers serving. Made possible by ongoing donations from all sources.

When they first opened, it was fair to wonder how the people in need would get to them. Since Beacon’s Backyard location is off the beaten path on Fishkill Avenue, which is a heavily trafficked road.

This day, however, ALBB saw that the people - many who are elderly - do come no matter what. By foot or wheelchair or wheeling walker, they come, assisting each other all the way down Rte. 52, and then down the long driveway of The Yard. If coming from the other direction, which is connected to Main Street by the Fishkill Creek, one can avoid the vehicular traffic above. But several elderly people come from the top.

Below is a photo series of the road journey to Beacon’s Backyard Kitchen at 12 Hanna Lane:

For the Thanksgiving Meal, the crew pulled out all the stops. The location switched buildings, from the one-story dark gray building to the Big Tent, warmed by powerful heaters and decorated in twinkling lights hanging brightly above rustic wooden family-style tables topped with pumpkins and condiments.

Normally, Beacon’s Backyard Kitchen serves out of this building on the property. But for Thanksgiving Brunch, they switched to the big white fancy tent with heaters.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth

Offering to help a guest with their rolling walker may be futile, as they are just fine thank you very much, but appreciate the gesture with a smile. If they don’t know where the meal moved to, one guest stakes it out ahead of the group, and then retreats to get the others, motivating them to stand up again to keep moving to the final destination of the tables for the warm meal, this time served from fancy catering dishes.

Donate any time to Beacon’s Backyard Kitchen to keep this weekly program going. Opportunities to support also arise when they have fundraising event nights.

New Free Breakfast Program Launches After Closure Of Tabernacle Church Location

While the closure of the Beacon Community Kitchen as an entity was sudden for most, some people knew it was coming during the two weeks of the closed door, and began organizing to figure out new ways to feed the community in need.

Justice McCray presents to City Council about the new Free Breakfast Program from Beacon’s Backyard.

Justice McCray, a co-founder of Beacon4BlackLives and former City Councilmember, had been working with their network to create a new offering. They announced during Tuesday’s 1/21/2025 meeting that a new free breakfast program had started: “Recently The Beacon Community Kitchen closed and they were one of the only food justice organizations in the City of Beacon that was serving prepared meals,” they said.

“While we do have other food justice organizations that do offer food in Beacon, a nonprofit that I've recently become a part of - Beacon’s Backyard - is working to bridge that gap. We are starting a free breakfast program starting next week.” The program runs from 6:30-8:30am continuously on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 12 Hanna Lane beginning Tuesday, January 28th. “Anyone is welcome to come in and dine in for breakfast or take out and it's free. We just want to make sure that people in this community are fed and have what they need,” Justice concluded.

The volunteering people who made up the Beacon Community Kitchen seem to be remaining active in their roles in new ventures. While the Beacon Community Kitchen as an entity may have dissolved, at least two new initiatives have grown from it: The Free Breakfast Program from Beacon’s Backyard at 12 Hanna Lane, and the new soup kitchen from Fareground at the First Presbyterian Church at 50 Liberty Street. Volunteers will be at both.

The Beacon Community Kitchen announced their change on their Instagram: “As there’s a transition from Beacon Community Kitchen which has recently closed, please follow us as we continue to feed our neighbors under a new nonprofit dedicated to providing food and resources for our community. We will update and share with you in the days to come. Thanks for your support of BCK and we look forward to your support and love in the future of Beacon’s Backyard. We are thankful to Candi Rivera for her service and for starting BCK and In Care of Multi Services.”

The Instagram of the Beacon Community Kitchen will be renamed to Beacon’s Backyard Kitchen. Opportunities to donate food and volunteer time will be posted, and one can email BeaconsBackyard@gmail.com with inquiries.