Remembering Lee Wright, Whose Legacy Lives On

By Emmett Findley, Director of Communications

Diane Johnson has been a volunteer and supporter at God’s Love We Deliver since our early days. Today on Giving Tuesday and in honor of World AIDS Day, she shares her story.

Dear Friends,

I started volunteering at God’s Love in January 1987. My husband Lee Wright was a menswear designer and raised money for God’s Love through the fashion world. Lee joined the Board of Directors and threw so much time, energy and love in to the work.

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Image 1 of 2 Diane and Lee on their wedding day

Image 2 of 2 On vacation in Puerto Rico

Lee was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in September 1988. We were so scared. So many people that we knew had contracted the illness and fallen desperately ill, and so many died. Lee had been experiencing symptoms, but it was only three weeks after his diagnosis, on October 20 that Lee passed away. Our son Woody was only 10 months old.

In my grief, I continued volunteering. God’s Love was a place where I could go to give back around people that I loved and who I knew loved me. Founder Ganga Stone even asked me to take Lee’s place on the Board, which I was so honored to do.

And so my family stayed connected to God’s Love and Lee’s legacy lives on in all that the organization accomplishes. Woody and my daughter, Louise, and I were at the first Race to Deliver more than 25 years ago. We have delivered almost every holiday season. And Woody and Louise’s schools have decorated holiday cards, gingerbread houses and more.

We New Yorkers stick together, especially at challenging times like COVID, and our early days. God’s Love We Deliver needs your help and your heart to continue providing nutritious, life-sustaining meals for more than 10,000 clients, children, and caregivers affected by HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular disease, cancer, COPD, and other life-altering illnesses.

If you have made a gift to God’s Love recently, thank you so much. If you have not, please consider making a donation to help God’s Love bring food, reassurance, and love, which is needed more than ever at this time of year.

Ganga always told us, “Service is joy.” and it’s true. I hope you’ll join me in this practice of joy by making a gift today. Your gift will be doubled, up to $150,000, thanks to our friend and champion, Craig Newmark.

Thank you for considering and thank you for your generosity.

Diane Johnson

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