Client Spotlight: Adele

Adele used to work nights as a bartender, serving drinks and playing the jukebox at her local neighborhood bar. She’d pour for her friends and neighbors until the early morning while swinging her hips to the Supremes, the Shirelles and the Chantels. After a long night at work, Adele would head back to her three children and her Queens apartment.

She and her family spent their time together dancing to oldies and touring New York City, spending entire days wandering museums, seeing shows on Broadway and at Radio City Music Hall. Despite busy nights at the bar and the hard work of raising three active children, Adele always had the energy to construct fun and memorable days and to encourage her loved ones to pursue their educations, hopes and dreams.

As the 69-year-old single mother of three, the grandmother of nine and the great-grandmother of six, family is everything to Adele. Today, Adele is eager to brag about her daughter who just got her Master’s degree in social work, and she closely follows the lives of her big extended family. Adele has photos of her family all over the walls and bookshelves of her small apartment. The surfaces that aren’t covered with family smiles and memories are decorated with large house plants. Adele’s zest for life and love surround her.

Today, Adele has slowed down some, as she deals with significant health issues. In 2005, she was diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and high blood pressure, probably from years of long hours working in the bar and eating a poor diet, always on the run. Adele can no longer enjoy the city and dance like she used to. More urgently, she can no longer shop or cook for herself. After Adele was diagnosed, a friend referred her to God’s Love We Deliver.

She started our program right away, and her life quickly made a turn for the better. Adele now eats our freshly prepared, nutritious meals rather than the greasy bar foods of her younger days. Due to dramatic diet changes developed by our registered dietitians, Adele has lost weight and lowered her blood pressure. Because she gets meals delivered right to her door, Adele can focus on the oxygen treatments she receives 4-6 times a day and making sure she keeps her doctor appointments. She has also enjoyed other aspects of our program, such as our free and unlimited nutrition counseling as well as our Thanksgiving and Winter Feast meals, which she shared with a friend.

She believes she receives something special, something more than a meal, with each delivery. She knows that she’s receiving love and care from her God’s Love family. In particular, Adele loves the volunteers and drivers who deliver right to her door and brighten her day, and says that she feels the strength and warmth they bring with every delivery. After putting her much-anticipated meal away, Adele always watches out the door to make sure her visitors are safely on their way. In true Adele style she says, “They keep me safe and make me feel loved, I want to do the same!” Confident in her care and recovery, Adele says, “I know you will always be there for me, so that I can always be there for my family.”