God’s Love in Action for Sickle Cell Awareness

September is Sickle Cell Awareness Month and God’s Love We Deliver is ready to
spread the word!

All over the world, the global theme for World Sickle Cell Day in 2025 was “Global Action, Local Impact: Empowering Communities for Effective Self-Advocacy.” This theme highlights the connection between worldwide efforts and community-level changes, emphasizing that global awareness must translate into concrete actions in local communities to improve the lives of people with Sickle cell disease. With a chance to amplify the voice of our clients, we also celebrate their incredible resilience in the face of their diagnosis and are proud to advocate on their behalf. Sickle cell disease is a genetic blood disorder where red blood cells become abnormally shaped (sickle-shaped) and rigid.

Sickle cell disease affects between 90K-100K people in the United States, occurring in approximately 1 in every 500 Black or African American births and 1 in every 16,300 Hispanic American births. In New York State alone, roughly 10% of the national Sickle cell population reside, with 80% of the estimated 8,374 individuals diagnosed living in New York City. The symptoms of Sickle cell disease can include pain crises, anemia, fatigue, infections, and even organ damage. The nutrition-related challenges are also present, including inadequate calorie and protein intake, nutrient deficiencies, dehydration, medication side effects like nausea or loss of appetite, and even stunted growth and development in children. There is no cure for sickle cell disease, but there are treatments that can help manage the symptoms and prevent complications. Almost 20% of our primary children as clients are diagnosed with Sickle cell disease. Our well-balanced, antioxidant-rich meals contain a wide variety of nutrients including protein, calcium, and zinc. Our meals can reduce oxidative stress, ease nutritional deficiencies, and provide calories to promote weight gain and growth in children with the condition. Given the genetic nature of the diagnosis, God’s Love We Deliver also provides meals to any additional children in the household, who may be living with Sickle cell disease or Sickle cell trait. Empowering our clients to live their best lives can’t happen without our partners in the community.

This month, the Business Development & Community Partnerships team attended a Sickle Cell Awareness Day Event hosted by the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in The Bronx. This event provided an educational foundation for Sickle cell disease, possible treatments and therapies, a brilliant panel of sickle cell warriors, and also provided an opportunity for organizations providing services to individuals diagnosed with sickle cell disease to share information about their services with each other and the community. We were privileged to attend and bear witness to these amazing stories!