Thursday, January 8, 2009

My Year of Hopefulness - God's Love We Deliver

I've been doing  a lot in these past 8 days  of 2009 to make myself more hopeful. The second half of my New Year's Resolution is to generate more hope for others and today, I started down that road. Last Fall, I was at an event for a rather disorganized nonprofit. I was griping a bit to one of the other volunteers about how disorganized the event was and she told me about a nonprofit that she works with that runs like a well-oiled machine, God's Love We Deliver. I looked into the organization and learned that they deliver handmade, nutritious meals to people in NYC and the greater area who are homebound due to serious illnesses like cancer, MS, and HIV / AIDS. I love to cook and figured that this might be a match, so I went to an orientation tonight. I left after the hour session with more energy than I've had in weeks. 

The organization prepares and delivers meals with love to people who are desperately in need. Each client receives 10 meals per week. The meals are tailored to the clients' dietary needs. They are healthful and creative. On staff, there in a dietary / nutrition department and the head chefs are French trained. There are 24 volunteers for every one staff person. And this crew cooks, laughs, and plays together. You tastes that joy and care in the food. They are saving lives, literally. What could we ever do that would be more hopeful?

And what's more impressive, they think about the whole person. On Thanksgiving and Christmas each client is given an extra meal so they can invite a friend to spend the holiday with them. They receive special baskets on Thanksgiving with sparkling cider, cheese, nuts, candies. They receive a blackout box and a blizzard box each year that has nonperishable items so that they can get by for a few days if for some reason God's Love can't deliver to them. Each client receives a birthday cake on their birthday. The compassion and care of the organization is incredible. 

There are all kinds of opportunities available from meal delivery, to baking, to packing, to prep, to office work. The shifts are available from 6:30am - 9pm every week day and opportunities on Saturdays and Sundays as well. I hope you'll join me!  http://www.godslovewedeliver.org   

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