Give & Take: Beyond a volunteer shift with God’s Love, We Deliver

Three years ago, just a few weeks into working at Prosek, I got an email about a volunteer opportunity with “God’s Love, We Deliver.” Eager to bond with some of my new colleagues, I admittedly signed up without knowing much about the organization. A few weeks later, I showed up to our morning “shift” at God’s Love and my colleagues and I were greeted with open arms. Now, three years later, hundreds of Prosekians have had this same experience – stepping into the doors of God’s Love, being welcomed with open arms and participating in the incredible work that they do to support the people of New York.

While I admitted to not knowing much about the organization prior to first volunteering there, I quickly grew passionate about their mission. God’s Love prepares and delivers medically tailored meals to New Yorkers who are homebound or too ill to cook for themselves. These meals – and all of their services – are completely free, regardless of income. They specialize in improving the health and well-being of people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses by alleviating hunger and malnutrition.

God’s Love was started as a response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Volunteers started delivering meals – often by bike – to people in Manhattan suffering with AIDS that were too ill to prepare anything for themselves. Since then, the organization has delivered more than 40 million meals across all of NYC’s five boroughs and surrounding areas. God’s Love has found that medically tailored meals help to lower hospitalizations, admittance rates, and healthcare costs, while improving patient satisfaction.

Since that first outing at God’s Love, I have been back countless times with different groups of colleagues and have even taken on the role of organizing these outings on behalf of Prosek. It is incredible to see everyone come together (hair nets and all) and jump right into the work in the kitchen. I have cut vegetables, cleaned tables, and made cookies – all in service of the people that God’s Love cares for. While we’re there to give our time to the organization, what I take from each experience is getting to spend quality time with my colleagues around the workstation and learn more about them in just a couple of hours than I ever would during a typical workday.

While we already knew the special kind of place God’s Love was from our experiences there, we felt it on a more personal level in February 2023, after one of Prosek’s former partners unexpectedly passed. Within a few days of his passing, God’s Love reached out sharing that they had made a generous donation in his name. He had loved volunteering there, and we were extremely touched that in our time of need, God’s Love was right there to lift us up, just as we always hope to do for them and the people they serve.

Our relationship with God’s Love is a living example of “give and take.” Every time we volunteer and give our time, we take away not only the feeling of having done something good, but also the gift of quality time spent with each other. And while God’s Love graciously takes our time, they give us the gift of a place to help our community, bond with each other and build a true “give and take” partnership.