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91-year-old World War II vet from Jamaica grateful for organization’s support serving meals

Athanail 5
Photo courtesy of God’s Love We Deliver

Serving and delivering prepared nutritious meals for more than 32 years, God’s Love We Deliver has provided exceptional service to its clients living with severe illnesses in the New York City Tri-State Metropolitan area.

For one Queens client, in particular, God’s Love has been tremendous on his path to recovery at the age of 91 after being diagnosed three years ago with stage 4 prostate cancer.

A resident of Jamaica, Richard, a World War II/Korean War veteran and former school teacher/principal has been receiving tailored nutritious meals for the past year after consulting with a registered dietician nutritionist from God’s Love, a non-sectarian organization, located at 166 Sixth Ave. in Manhattan. (Richard’s last name has been withheld for privacy reasons.)

“God’s Love We Deliver has been outstanding providing nutritious food. It’s clean, very tasty, and it’s appropriate for my particular illness,” said Richard. “When my wife was living, we both shared in particular meals and she has since passed away, and it’s a situation which has left me here at home. I utilize a wheelchair and a cane, and I don’t get around very much because of other particular illness.”

Richard served in the naval aviation, where he tested naval aircrafts at the naval air center in Maryland. When he was in the reserves and called to service, he served 14 months aboard a ship and wind up traveling to numerous bases, he said.

Additionally, he served 14 years as a teacher and nine years as an assistant principal, where he was a title one coordinator facilitating state and federal programs for children they served, he said.

“I then served four years as principal before I retired,” said Richard. “I served a total of 31 years with the Board of Education. I worked in the East New York area in Brooklyn.”

Thankful for life and God’s blessings, Richard said he wouldn’t have been able to function without God’s Love improving his health and strength.

Begun as an HIV/AIDS service organization, today God’s Love provides meals for people living with more than 200 individual diagnoses. The organization cooks and home delivers the specific, nutritious meals — free of charge — for their client who suffer from severe illnesses. All clients have access to unlimited nutrition counseling.

With the help of volunteers — more than 14,400 strong every year — God’s Love has been able to cook and deliver over 7,000 meals each weekday to neighbors in need. Volunteers work in the kitchen, deliver meals, package meals, work in the office, and help with special events, according to its website.

After a member of God’s Love informed Richard of their program, he became involved receiving assistance with fresh, frozen, prepared meals for the week, he said.

“During a lunch hour basically, I receive lentil soup with kale, carrots, black beans, chicken, rice and a roll, which is more than adequate for my particular needs,” said Richard. “During the evening meal, I have rice, carrots, lentils, string beans, chicken, sliced pork chops, kale and a tasty fish. After that particular dinner meal, I receive dessert, chocolate, coconuts chopped … a lot of things that are tasty — raisins, oatmeals, cakes and cookies. It’s done very carefully and very, very tasty.”

After being diagnosed with cancer in the 1980s and prostate cancer three years ago that left him in a weakened condition, Richard is now recovering after enduring radiation treatments and biopsies.

“Sometimes I feel like a pin cushion with so many needles in me but the food has been essential to my recovery,” said Richard. “I find them [God’s Love] very dedicated, concerned and very meaningful for the needs of not only myself but others in need of food. I have a situation where I cannot stand up and the food comes in a way that I can utilize it. God has been very good to me and thank god for all of his blessings to me. God’s Love has been tremendous in my recovery.”