If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Michelle Finn has an important role today at Community Help in Park Slope.

“Coffee is my drug of choice,” Finn said. “So people, I feel like it’s a very important thing for people to at least get a cup of coffee to start their day in the morning.”

Finn is a breakfast shift leader at the nonprofit organization known as CHiPS. Each week, she helps feed and caffeinate 200 people in her neighborhood.

“I see a serious need, especially in the last year, for families that need a place to go for food, to come get food,” she said.

Finn started at CHiPS two years ago as a service requirement for her local food co-op. But the opportunity to do something constructive with her time motivated her to keep coming back.

“At CHiPS, I have an opportunity every week to come in and give back to this community,” she said.

Finn took on the role of breakfast shift leader shortly after. She keeps the work going when staff members are busy with other tasks.

“I could handle what was happening on the floor and help direct volunteers because I was here so often,” she said.

Finn has been a stay-at-home mom for more than a decade.

“When I come to CHiPS, I’m able to put everything else aside in my head. I don’t think about the kids,” Finn said. “I don’t think about what our schedule looks like.”

She has still managed to involve her children, even though they aren’t old enough to volunteer. They organized toiletries for asylum seekers and prepped meals for the holidays to be served at CHiPS.

“I’m hoping to hand down the gift of community and service to my children in those ways until they’re old enough to come volunteer themselves,” she said.

It’s a gift that benefits both the givers and the receivers.

“Being part of a community, being in service to other people is something that everybody needs and could serve all of us,” Finn said.

For brewing community, Michelle Finn is our New Yorker of the Week.