Celebrating 2021 Thanksgiving

What a whirlwind! After months of planning, weeks of prepping, and days of cooking, our 2021 Thanksgiving was a phenomenal success! Thanks to you, we cooked and home-delivered nearly 10,000 Thanksgiving feasts for our clients, their family members, and their guests so that no one had to spend the holiday alone. Thank you for making Thanksgiving so special.

You helped give our clients so much today. Our clients received full turkey dinners and sweet pumpkin crisps. They received gift totes with snacks, a dental care kit, and a personal care bag.

Many clients also received shelf-stable meals, which we’ll continue delivering through December. And they also received friendly and warm greetings from our volunteers. Each delivery was more than food – it was connection and care.

Thanksgiving is a special time to volunteer in the kitchen at God’s Love We Deliver. This year we were joined by David Burtka and his kids who packed out thousands of apple cranberry sauces; Board members Mindy Ferguson, Kare Naber, Melba Wilson, Ariana Rockefeller, Danielle Segal, Scott Durkin, Melba Wilson, and Tangela Richter; Culinary Council members Amanda Freitag, Jake Cohen and Mavis-Jay Sanders, and all our extraordinary volunteers.

We are lucky that our elected officials join us year-over-year to help prepare meals for their constituents. This year we were welcomed Council Member Carlina Rivera and Senator Brian Kavanagh who have both given their time multiple years in a row.

Our menu sought to nourish and delight! This year’s delicious Thanksgiving meal included: Winter Squash Bisque, Roasted Turkey Breast with Cornbread Stuffing and Gravy, Sweet Potato Mash, Parsnips, Brussels Sprouts, Carrots, Pearl Onions, Apple Cranberry Sauce, and Pumpkin Crisp.

We kept the Thanksgiving love growing close to home with each meal containing sustainable, organic ingredients from local farms through purveyor GrowNYC. This year’s farm menu items included sweet potatoes from Glynwood (Cold Springs, NY), Kabocha Squash from Grandpa Farm (Chester, NY), Butternut Squash from Reeves Farm (Baldwinsville, NY) Kabocha Squash, Sugar Pie Pumpkins and Brussels Sprouts from Dagele Brothers Produce (Florida, NY).

We thank our neighborhood distribution centers, like Industry City in Brooklyn and the College of Mount Saint Vincent in the Bronx, for so generously providing us with their space from which we should distribute our meals to volunteers.

And while we were thrilled to bring so much love to all of our clients, we also extended the love this week to our neighbors in other communities.

For the last few years, we have had the honor of providing Thanksgiving feasts to the homeless LGBTQ youth of the Ali Forney Center. This year, we delivered 100 meals, which we hope brighten the day for their young clients.

We also delivered a special holiday meal to a shelter for unaccompanied minors –children who have been detained by immigration without their parents. The shelter cares for the children while simultaneously searching for family in the United States the children can be reunited with. These children are often fleeing community violence, poverty, or abusive situations.

This is our third year providing this special meal, and we were asked once again to deliver treats that “taste like home.” With dishes like Pupusa de Cerdo (Pork Pepusa); Pepian de Pollo (Chicken Stew); Arroz con Frijoles (Rice and Beans); Tres Leches (Three Milk Cake); Gaelleta de la Abuella (Grandma’s Cookie), we were proud to have brought a little bit of home – and a lot of love – to these children during the holiday season.

And check out #GodsLoveThanksgiving and #CelebrateWithAPlate to see all the celebrations of the day.

On this day of gratitude, we send ours to you for being a member of our community – whether by volunteering your time, donating to our mission or supporting us in countless other ways. It takes each of us to make this day so special. Happy Thanksgiving!