This last week at God’s Love We Deliver was most certainly an unusual one! As you’ve probably already heard by now, our boiler hit the skids a week ago, making many of the items on our clients’ menu impossible to produce. Soups, sauces, basically anything that’s made in the big kettles, have been temporarily taken off our menu until we are able to get a new boiler installed.

Next came the first earthquake to hit New York City in years! Luckily for us, we just experienced a little shake upstairs and those in the kitchen didn’t feel a thing! And of course, the week of mishaps would not have been complete without our dear friend Hurricane Irene coming to town. While NYC thankfully didn’t get hit as hard as expected, transit issues and the damage to our neighbors in Westchester, New Jersey and Connecticut further complicated things, with many staff and volunteers stranded and without power.

However, while this has been a trying time for God’s Love, it’s only made it more obvious just how phenomenal, generous and dedicated our volunteers are. We’ve received an overwhelming amount of donations from volunteers for a new boiler, and many of you have spread the word through emails, Facebook and Twitter, asking friends and family to do the same. Everyone has been so understanding when we’ve had to cancel and change volunteer shifts because of the boiler issues, as well as call out for extra help in the kitchen and on the vans after the hurricane. Drivers and delivery volunteers have shared with us stories of clients expressing their deep-felt gratitude and delighted surprise at receiving meals in spite of the storm.

Thank you for all you’ve done to make this difficult time as easy as possible for us and our clients. They say that “bad things come in threes”, so here’s hoping that the boiler, earthquake and hurricane means it’s all smooth sailing for awhile!