1.26.24
/ Community
Your Love, Our Story: A 2023 Recap
Dear Friends,
I’m excited to share with you that God’s Love We Deliver cooked, packaged, and home-delivered an all-time record number of meals — more than four million! — last year, thanks to you and your support.
Our community makes this work possible, helping us meet the growing demand for our services while meeting the changing needs of our clients and their families. Thank you!
Last year, God’s Love cooked and home-delivered more than 4 million medically tailored meals for more than 14,700 individuals. This includes our clients, their caregivers, and their children.
We now deliver more than 15,000 meals each weekday. This is only accomplished with the generosity and time given by our volunteers who continue to show up no matter the weather, no matter the circumstance. I offer a huge thank you to the dedicated staff of God’s Love for never letting our clients down. As we continue to grow, the team has found innovative ways to keep up with production and delivery demands.
Getting the word out about our good work is critical to our success. In 2023 we launched our first television PSA in more than 20 years, voiced by iconic New Yorkers Rosie Perez (in English) and Zoe Saldaña (in Spanish).The Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival presented by Capital One garnered 7 billion media impressions, $8 million in free advertising and welcomed more than 47,000 foodies to the festivities this year, and Love Rocks NYC added another billion media impressions. The NY Post adopted God’s Love as their official charity partner, and we were featured in AARP magazine for the first time, and The New York Times.
Our volunteer department welcomed more than 23,000 volunteers, among them 660+ corporate and student groups. We are grateful for all our volunteers’ contributions, including the times you shared your volunteer story with friends, family, and colleagues to raise awareness of our life-affirming work.
Our Advocacy efforts have been successful at all levels. We hosted 29 advocacy visits with City, State, and Federal Representatives and staff. Last spring Secretary McDonough of Veteran Affairs and U.S. Senator Gillibrand visited God’s Love to discuss our work on behalf of Veterans. The city, the state, and the country are truly paying attention to “food is medicine.”
Our clients are as diverse as New York City. Many are older (64% of our clients are age 60+). Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, HIV and cancer are currently the most common diagnoses we serve. No matter your background, every individual on our program depends on God’s Love for the personalized nutrition and care we provide.
As we review new milestones and growing numbers, we remember to keep it personal. Each meal represents a moment of comfort and care for a New Yorker in need.
Here are a few comments of gratitude our clients have shared with us recently:
“Thank you for the kindness and care you always treat me with. Because of your meals and nutrition counseling, I’ve made improvements in my health. After joining God’s Love, my life was saved”.
“The meals are always great! Without these meals I would not be alive today.”
“Thank you to everyone at God’s Love, and especially my driver! He is always full of good cheer, and delivers with love, most importantly. Thank you.”
Our clients tell us every day in emails, phone calls, and on social media, how necessary our program is to their health and well-being.
Thank you for being such an integral part of our life-saving work. We look forward to showing up for New York City together in 2024!
With gratitude,
David
