Annual Holiday Tradition Continues Under Strategic Partnership Between Goddard Riverside and Isaacs Center Began Earlier This Year to Help Provide Meals and Resources on Both Sides of Central Park
CONTACT: Brad Weekes | BWeekes@kivvit.com | 347.207.2048
Hundreds of Community Members Come Together to Cook, Serve, and Distribute Thousands of Meals Distributions to Fight Food Insecurity
New York, NY – Today, Goddard Riverside and Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center, distributed over 2,000 meals with the help of hundreds of local volunteers to residents of the Upper East and Upper West Side. The new strategic partnership between Goddard Riverside and Isaacs Center resulted in the largest coordinated holiday effort to date, providing meals to both sides of Central Park. Holiday meals to New Yorkers are an annual tradition for both organizations and are critical as the New York City faces a food insecurity crisis.
Goddard Riverside and Isaacs Center began their strategic partnership this past Spring with the goal of building a stronger human services sector. The alliance takes place at a critical time as New York City continues fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and faces an eroding social safety net. As community-based nonprofit organizations that have operated for over 50 years, Goddard Riverside and Isaacs Center have areas of expertise and community programming that complement each other; allowing them to offer a holistic and unique model of human services.
“Every year, Holiday Meals is a special time for us and allows us to help those most in need. This year we are fortunate to work alongside Isaacs Center to coordinate our efforts and provide meals as our City faces a devastating food insecurity crisis,” said Roderick Jones, Executive Director of Goddard Riverside. “We are fortunate to have a strong strategic partnership with Isaacs Center to help make sure New Yorkers do not go hungry this holiday season.”
“I am deeply grateful for our staff, the team at Goddard Riverside, and our amazing volunteers, whose tireless dedication continues to provide hope and access to those too often left behind, particularly during the holiday season,” said Gregory J. Morris, President and Executive Director of the Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center. “Our communities are still reeling from the effects of the pandemic and addressing food insecurity remains a vital part of the City’s road to recovery. Now more than ever, New Yorkers need a strong social safety net and the support of community-based organizations.”
Through the strategic partnership Goddard Riverside and the Isaacs Center, expanded programming will help build better solutions to the City’s long-standing issues like that of food insecurity. Currently 1.6 million New Yorkers are struggling to put food on the table for themselves and their families; the pandemic has only worsened an already dire food insecurity crisis. The human services sector has been at the forefront of combatting food insecurity for decades, with service workers in the kitchens providing meals to the hungry and the staffers delivering food to homebound seniors.
On- the- ground community-based human service organizations, like Goddard Riverside and the Isaacs Center play a vital role in addressing the root causes of these critical issues facing NYC. This strategic partnership will implement a new multi-generational solutions model that tackles these issues. This model approaches community and family wellbeing by working with children and adults together to promote sustainable, lasting positive outcomes for entire New York City communities.
About Goddard Riverside
For more than 100 years, Goddard Riverside has been committed to investing in people and strengthening community by meeting New Yorkers’ most essential needs. Goddard Riverside provides comprehensive educational, cultural and recreational programs for New Yorkers of all ages, including early childhood education, after school, employment support, college access, youth programs, homeless outreach, senior centers and legal assistance.
About Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center
Since 1964, Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center has committed to its enduring mission to promote social and physical well-being and encourage self-reliance and dignity throughout every stage of life. Each year, Isaacs Center engages more than 6,000 vulnerable New Yorkers through educational programs for school-aged children, supportive services and connections to educational and career pathways for at-risk young adults, and life-sustaining meals and programs for older adults.