It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of our former staff member, Keith Berg. Keith worked at God’s Love in the 90s, first as a volunteer, then as our Executive Chef, then in our development office. Keith had moved to NYC with dreams of going into theater but found himself in the restaurant trade as a chef. When Keith became our Executive Chef in the early 90s after a few years of volunteering, he transformed our dishes and developed our modified menu. Keith also created our kitchen volunteer food safety class.

Hear from our community members Amanda Lugg and Pat Costello about what made Keith so special at God’s Love:

From Pat Costello, our Delivery Dispatcher in the 1990s:
“Keith’s level of excellence set the tone here at God’s Love for the quality of meals prepared, the professional behavior of the staff and the level of training our volunteers received. Keith made sure that every meal that came from God’s Love was of highest quality, made with the best ingredients and filled with love. His influence began all those years ago in the 90s and his legacy carries on.”

From Amanda Lugg, who was hired by Keith as the Evening Head Chef at God’s Love in 1994:
“It’s because of Keith and so many folks like him, that God’s Love is who we are today, and thousands of people have been fed a beautiful, nutritious meal. Keith was a perfectionist who always, always had the needs of the client as his top priority. It was Keith who began God’s Love’s famed ‘modified meal program,’ which ensured that many more people could be able to eat the ‘restaurantesque’ meals that our happy band of chefs and kitchen volunteers produced with love and joy!
It was also Keith who instigated a kitchen volunteer food safety class before they began working in the kitchen and Keith gave me the privilege and opportunity to develop and create what became the country’s first food safety course for meal programs serving people living with AIDS. A true trailblazer! … Keith Berg quite literally changed my life and I have been and will remain to him forever grateful.”

Keith is deeply missed by our God’s Love community and we will always be grateful for all he did in service of our clients and mission.