God's Love We Deliver, Inc.
Meals that heal, delivered with love.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
People affected by serious illness are often vulnerable to malnutrition, hunger, and isolation. Many of our clients subsisted on a low income before becoming sick. For others, their illness has devastated their personal finances and the ability to hold a job. Economic barriers, social isolation, and physical limitations prevent them from accessing food, and increase their risk for hunger and malnutrition. Our clients are overwhelmingly poor, with the vast majority living at or below the poverty level.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
The Home-Delivered Meal Program
God's Love We Deliver was founded in 1985 as a non-sectarian organization by a hospice volunteer who began to cook and deliver meals for people living with HIV/AIDS and on the brink of hunger and malnutrition. Nutrition counseling and education were added to our scope of services in 1992. By 1993, we were publishing illness-specific nutrition guides for clients and medical care providers. In 2001, we expanded the range of our services to include other life-altering illnesses including cancer, Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disease, and other illnesses. Senior caregivers became eligible for meals in 2005, and an expanded children’s meal program was introduced in 2010. In response to the continually increasing demand for our services, we launched an Expansion Campaign in 2010 to renovate our SoHo facility. Renovations were completed in 2015, allowing us to double our meal output and serve more people.
Our meal program cooks and home-delivers medically tailored meals for people who, because of their illness, are unable to shop or cook for themselves. We also provide illness-specific nutrition education and counseling to our clients, families, care providers and other service organizations. All of our services are provided free of charge without regard to income.
Our Client Services Specialists work with clients' health care providers to confirm medical eligibility, and once the required paperwork is received, clients typically receive up to 10 meals each week. Upon enrollment into our meal program, our dietitians speak with each new client to perform a nutrition assessment – asking clients about their health conditions, food restrictions (e.g. no dairy), treatment regimens, ability to chew and swallow, and any other information that will help our dietitians assess their nutritional needs and design a meal plan that is medically appropriate for that client. Our meal plans include renal, vegetarian, soft, pureed, and other options. Meals are prepared in our commercial kitchen by a staff of professional chefs with the help of 16,500 volunteers annually. Meals are delivered by paid drivers via refrigerated vans throughout New York City, in Westchester and Nassau counties, and in Hudson County, New Jersey.
With the commitment of 134 staff members and 17,000 volunteers, we now cook and home-deliver approximately 2.5 million meals annually for 10,000 individuals in households affected by serious illness throughout the New York City metropolitan area.
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of meals served or provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with diseases and illnesses
Related Program
The Home-Delivered Meal Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
God's Love We Deliver home delivers medically tailored meals to those too ill to shop or cook for themselves.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Current research has confirmed what we have championed for decades—that nutritiously tailored diets help prevent disease, alleviate symptoms and treatment side-effects, and restore health. God's Love We Deliver is the only food program in New York City that delivers individualized nutrition to vulnerable populations free of charge. We are dramatically different from a typical food bank or meal program, and uniquely suited to help improve the health of New York's most vulnerable and underserved residents. For example, physical disability and mobility are issues for many of our clients, so we deliver meals to clients' homes. Many clients suffer from diet-related disease complications due to diabetes, kidney disease, chemotherapy, and other diseases or treatment complications. Our team of registered dietitians provides counseling, and works with our chefs to prepare individualized nutrition plans. All of our services are individually tailored to meet the medical needs of people who are too sick to shop or cook for themselves.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We employ a range of strategies to improve the nutritional health of vulnerable populations throughout the New York City area:
• Home-Delivered Meals: Medically tailored meals are prepared in our fully-equipped commercial kitchen by a team of chefs, food service professionals and volunteers. Clients typically receive ten meals per week via one or more home deliveries by paid staff drivers. Our fleet of refrigerated vans ensures food safety during delivery.
• Nutrition Assessment and Counseling: Our Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) assess all new clients to determine specific nutritional needs. Reassessments occur every 6 months. With this information, our RDNs work with our chefs to design a tailored meal plan for clients and offer ongoing nutrition counseling. RDNs also write and distribute multilingual nutrition education materials to clients, service providers, and the general public. RDNs also collaborate with community partners to conduct nutrition trainings and cooking classes for patients, care providers, and marginalized populations.
• Grocery Bag Program: Clients who transition off our meal program may receive a weekly delivery of healthy foods and recipes. Our partnership with a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program provides fresh local vegetables for inclusion in the grocery bags during the growing season.
• Family Support: Our RDNs offer their comprehensive nutrition services to both clients and their children and senior caregivers.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Our individualized nutrition services play a unique and vital role in New York City's health care continuum. More and more care providers in our community are referring their patients to God's Love. Our work is life-affirming and life-saving, helping vulnerable people to live independent lives while reducing the risk of new or repeat hospitalizations. Our services include:
• Client Services: Our Client Services Specialists conduct comprehensive client interviews to confirm eligibility and enroll clients into our programs. Specialists also provide referrals to other community resources as needed.
• Home-Delivered Meals: Medically tailored meals are prepared in our fully-equipped commercial kitchen by a team of chefs, food service professionals and volunteers. Clients typically receive ten meals per week via one or more home deliveries by paid staff drivers or volunteers.
• Nutrition Assessment and Counseling: Our Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) assess all new clients to determine specific nutritional needs. Reassessments occur every 6 months. With this information, our RDNs work with our chefs to design a tailored meal plan for clients and offer ongoing nutrition counseling. RDNs also write and distribute multilingual nutrition education materials to clients, service providers, and the general public. RDNs also collaborate with community partners to conduct nutrition trainings and cooking classes for patients, care providers, and marginalized populations.
• Grocery Bag Program: Clients who transition off our meal program may receive a weekly delivery of healthy foods and recipes. Our partnership with a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program provides fresh local vegetables for inclusion in the grocery bags during the growing season.
• Family Support: Our RDNs offer their comprehensive nutrition services to both clients and their children and senior caregivers.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Recent accomplishments include the following:
• Our Nutrition and Kitchen staff recently expanded our menu with new soft diet options to enhance our services for people who, due to illness, have difficulty chewing and swallowing. Minced and pureed options are also available.
• In 2023 we marked the achievement of our 35 millionth meal delivered.
• Our Policy & Planning team leads an annual Advocacy Capacity Building Project National Symposium in Washington, DC to build grassroots support for food and nutrition services in communities across the country.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
God's Love We Deliver, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 10/20/2023
Terrence Meck
The Palette Fund
Term: 2019 -
Patricia Suh
Global Head of Legal, Bloomberg Media, Bloomberg LP
Term: 2023 -
Terrence Meck
The Palette Fund
Karen Naber
Seaport Global Securities
Blaine Trump
No Affiliation
Michael Kors
Michael Kors
Michael Anthony
Gramercy Tavern
Eric Leventhal
Spencer Stuart
Patricia Suh
Bloomberg LP
Ryan Tarpley
RLT Group
David Terveen
DK Display Corp.
Katy Williamson
RJKB Family Charitable Foundation
Claudia Wagner
Erich Anderer, M.D.
NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn
Jens Audenaert
WorkMarket
Mark Brashear
Jonah Disend
Redscout
Scott Durkin
Douglas Elliman
Roberta Graves
Black Enterprise BRIDGE Foundation
Desiree Gruber
Full Picture
Aerin Lauder
Aerin LLC
Mike Meagher
Seaport Global
Alfredo Paredes
Alfredo Paredes Studio
Tangela Richter
American Express
Ariana Rockefeller
Danielle Segal
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Sheridan (Dan) Wright
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 10/18/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.