Squadron Honors Ann Kansfield As 2016 SD26 Woman of Distinction

Reverend Ann Kansfield has been a devoted servant to God and to her people of North Brooklyn ever since the Greenpoint Reformed Church called her to serve as their pastor in 2003. Due to demographic shifts over the previous century, the once large Dutch Reformed congregation had dwindled to fewer than a dozen people. In spite of many obstacles, the remaining congregants believed that the church had something to offer the community, and invited Rev. Kansfield to help revitalize their ministry.

Rev. Kansfield has been educated in the ways of spirituality, holding a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University and a Masters of Divination from New Brunswick Theological Seminary, from which she graduated summa cum laude. Rev. Kansfield has built car batteries on an assembly line for AC Delco, and punched in stock trades for TD Waterhouse, but her heart belongs to ministry.

Much of Rev. Kansfield’s limited free time is spent feeding hungry people. In response to having an increasing number of people come to the church asking for food, the congregation began a soup kitchen and food pantry in October 2007. Always a humble woman, she credits caring volunteers, colleagues and donors for enabling the soup kitchen and food pantry to keep up with the unprecedented demand for emergency food.

The first female and first openly gay chaplain of the FDNY, Rev. Kansfield is married to Rev. Jennifer Aull, and together they are raising two children. Rev. Kansfield shows bravery and courage in both her home life and her professional and spiritual careers every day; in recognition of this, Rev. Kansfield was voted New York Times “New Yorker of the Year” in 2015.