Sometimes, Long Islanders are too sick to feed themselves. Chemotherapy can leave them too weak to shop. Heart surgery can make standing at the stove impossible. In these moments, Long Islanders can turn to God’s Love We Deliver.

The 40-year-old community-based organization provides medically tailored meals, nutrition education, and counseling to individuals in Long Island and throughout New York. Founded in 1985 during the early days of the AIDS pandemic, God’s Love We Deliver now serves more than 10,000 meals per day — to clients living with chronic or life-altering illnesses and to their family, children, and caregivers.

“We want to make sure the person dealing with their diagnosis doesn’t have to worry about sharing their food or not having enough for the whole family,” explained Dorella Walters, Chief Business Development Officer at God’s Love. “We support people of all ages — anyone who needs help.”

Healing through food

Dorella was drawn to God’s Love We Deliver because she liked “the idea of helping people.” She shared, “I know that there are a variety of ways to do this. However, once I started working at God’s Love, the clarity was that our core competency was around food and nutrition.” Thirty years later, she is still with the organization.

“If a person has a lot of doctor’s appointments and things like this, food is one less thing for the person to have to worry about,” said Dorella. “Especially if they are taking medications or going through chemotherapy or radiation. Through God’s Love, this person will have food at home for when they come back from that appointment. Just pop it in the microwave or the oven. Everything’s been tailored to support you in that moment as that trajectory of the illness evolves.”

God’s Love supports individuals at every stage of their health journey and recognizes that success looks different for everyone. For some, it’s achieving self-sufficiency and making informed food and nutrition choices. For others, it may mean gaining access to SNAP benefits and learning how to shop on a tight budget. Whatever the path, God’s Love offers guidance and assistance.

Delivering enhanced support for Medicaid communities

Community collaboration is key to God’s Love’s strategy and success. Through its partnership with the HEALI Social Care Network and the support of New York State’s 1115 Medicaid waiver, the organization has been able to strengthen these critical community ties.

God’s Love partners with HEALI to deliver reimbursable enhanced food and nutrition services to eligible Medicaid recipients. Through HEALI, God’s Love screens Medicaid members for unmet health-related social needs, navigates them to care, and provides home-delivered meals, medically tailored meals, medically tailored groceries, and nutrition counseling and classes.

HEALI has been instrumental in helping God’s Love address one of its biggest organizational challenges: how to identify individuals with nutritional needs. Through the 1115 Waiver, HEALI developed a standardized screening and navigation tool that enables God’s Love to target Medicaid members in the greatest need of their services.

“HEALI really strategized, ‘How are the questions or screenings going to be asked?’” said Dorella. “How does a person then make a decision as to who they get referred to, and will they have the skillset to help move that person to the next level?”

Dorella notes that HEALI has also been crucial in helping God’s Love to proactively support at-risk individuals, which aligns with the broader goals of health plans and the state. “There are people probably not as sick now, but just on the cusp,” Dorella said. “Health plans and the state want to prevent people from reaching that crisis point — avoiding hospitalizations and emergency room visits.”

Proactively addressing community health needs

The partnership with HEALI has already catalyzed deep reflection at God’s Love on maximizing the impact of services as well as forming new collaborations and cultivating new opportunities.

“We’re super excited to be part of the Social Care Network,” Dorella explained. “We’ve had lots of conversations around what is a medically tailored meal versus other nutrition interventions. We don’t expect people to remain in one category of need forever — they should demonstrate improvement and transition to other levels of care. That’s where stronger partnerships with other CBOs, which HEALI helps facilitate, are critical.”

Dorella emphasizes that HEALI broadens the scope of God’s Love’s impact. “If we weren’t related to or connected to HEALI as an organization, then we’re an outlier,” said Dorella. “And the outlier can’t create an impact. But in working with HEALI and all of the member agencies, I think that’s true impact, and we’re excited about that. No one has time to waste time.”

To learn more about the incredible work of God’s Love We Deliver, please visit www.glwd.org.