A personal story
A personal story About charity - and charities - in our time Alex Berenson I first started giving money to City Harvest more than 30 years ago. City Harvest was founded in 1982 with the mission of bringing New York City restaurant food that would have been thrown out to soup kitchens - a small way to deliver some of the city’s incredible wealth to its poorest people. I can’t remember how old I was when I sent in money for the first time - 14? 15? - but I kept on giving. At some point, City Harvest told me I was its longest continuously active donor. It was a scrappy little charity with crowded offices near Times Square and an even more crowded warehouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. It had a few big-name chefs associated with it - Eric Ripert of the famous Le Bernadin was a board member and a huge supporter. But it wasn’t the Met, the museum or the opera. It wasn’t in any way fancy. I made more money and gave more money, especially after The Faithful Spy, my first novel, sold w...