Bette Midler Last Night At “God’s Love We Deliver” Benefit

Food For Thought
A Message From Karen Pearl
Oct 15, 2015

The holiday season was exceptionally busy at God’s Love, and I want to thank everyone who helped prepare and home-deliver more than 7,600 delicious holiday meals for our clients. You make the holidays special for so many clients and their families. Many of you volunteered in person, while others helped us “Celebrate with a Plate” by sponsoring one or more meals. Your generous efforts had our clients calling and sending notes full of gratitude. I hope you know just how much your spirit and efforts were appreciated.

This holiday season brought celebrations and remembrances. We remembered Joan Rivers and felt profoundly both her loss and her presence during Thanksgiving and Winter Feast. We recognized World AIDS Day on December 1. Staff at God’s Love shared a moment of silence, remembering those we lost while affirming our roots as an organization founded at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis. These remembrances served to strengthen our commitment to the work we
do for all those affected by serious illness.

The work on our SoHo home is continuing at a great pace, and we look forward to returning to our newly-renovated building this spring.

I am grateful that so many of our volunteers have continued with us while we are in Brooklyn, and I welcome all of our new volunteers as well. If you put volunteering on hold while we are in Brooklyn, I hope we see you again when we return to SoHo. Our clients often recognize the efforts of our volunteers by commenting on the love that is in every bite of their meals and on the big smiles that come with each delivery. Thank you for your gifts of time.

With more than 20,000 meals delivered every week, throughout the five boroughs and parts of New Jersey, God’s Love depends on many people and organizations. There are a number of wonderful partners that deserve recognition for their special gestures in support of our work.

We thank the American Express Foundation for their recently renewed support for our Volunteer Department. As the lead supporter of our volunteer team, American Express helps us recruit, retain, and celebrate the amazing work of more than 8,000 volunteers annually.

Other partners pitching in this winter include the Alcoa Foundation, Avon Foundation for Women, Bloomberg L.P., and M·A·C AIDS Fund. You shared your energy, insights and resources, and we are grateful for all you do to support our work.

As God’s Love continues to expand, there are some things that never change. As has been true for 29 years, we continue to be committed to our core principles: we will deliver each client’s first meal on the next delivery day, we will never charge our clients for their meals, and most importantly, we will never have a waiting list. Our commitment to these principles is made possible because of the generosity and unwavering commitment of all our
volunteers and supporters.

We thank each of you for making the growth in our services and the expansion of our building possible. Every day, you help to nourish and bring comfort to so many vulnerable New Yorkers who are too sick to shop or cook for themselves.

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