Brooklyn Center Nonprofit Provides Lifeline to Low-Income Families
The Brooklyn Center nonprofit Task Force Inc. offers a variety of services including food assistance for immigrant and low-income families.
Located in a packed pair of rooms in the Brookdale West Professional Building at 5901 Brooklyn Blvd., it’s got heavy foot-traffic.
“We are very busy, yesterday we had 61 people show up,” said founder Denise Togbah. “One of our main things is the food distribution.”
Throughout their cramped space are white boxes of fresh produce, while the wire-rack shelves are covered with nonperishables.
Togbah told CCX News that at some points in her life, she looked to food assistance programs as an important lifeline.
“Over six years ago I was married and went through a terrible domestic abuse,” she said. “I almost got killed. And I was homeless for sometime … It was really tough, I almost took my own life three times.”
She survived, and later got her life back with the help of a friend.
“I had friends that came through and told me you’ve got better things to do than taking your own life,” she said. “And she told me, say, ‘give back.’ What do you mean by give back? She said, ‘whatever you have, learn to give to other people.'”
Togbah found that, once she had safe and stable house, she started buying an excessive amount of food.
Her five kids started giving some of that food away to their classmates.
Rather than let all the food she bought expire, she decided to host a giveaway on social media.
That giveaway was the seed that would eventually grow into Task Force Inc.
A box of fresh groceries from Brooklyn Center’s Task Force Inc. The nonprofit provides food assistance to immigrants and low-income families.
Nonprofit Needs to Expand
Since then, the organization has found many clients. They helped around 3,800 families in July alone.
“The majority of our clients that come here, they’re one paycheck away from being homeless,” said Venus Tomlinson with Task Force Inc. “So, I mean, need here is so great and we would love to be able to help more and more residents.”
The shelves are struggling to contain the food they’ve collected.
“We’ve been here over a year now, one year and four months,” Togbah said. “And as you can see, it’s gotten way too small for us. So we are looking for a bigger place.”
If they move on from their current location, they hope to stay in the northwest suburbs.
But wherever they’re located, they plan to provide help, not judgement.
“Life has two phases, good and bad,” Togbah said. “It may be good for you today and bad for me, but it can change around at any time. Never look down on anybody. Always be there to help. You have two hands — one for yourself and one to help other people.”
Beyond food assistance, the nonprofit says it provides domestic violence prevention, financial literacy, home ownership support, and an elderly wellness program.
It’s also hosting a so-called “Back to School Bash” school supply giveaway on Aug. 24.
For more info, visit Task Force Inc.’s Facebook page.
