NEW YORK – This year’s Love Rocks NYC benefit is as star-studded as ever, with headliners Paul Simon, Mary J. Blige and Elvis Costello, and hosts that include Whoopi Goldberg and Julianne Moore.
But organizers say the sold-out event, set for Thursday night at New York’s Beacon Theatre, is taking on additional significance this year. It marks the 10th Love Rocks concert and the 40th anniversary of God’s Love We Deliver, the nonprofit that provides medically tailored meals to New Yorkers that need them, at a time when federal cuts to food programs have increased demand for that work. And the more difficult fundraising landscape makes events like Love Rocks, the nonprofit’s biggest of the year, even more essential.
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Greg Williamson, the concert producer and real estate broker who has executive produced all the Love Rocks NYC shows with fashion designer John Varvatos and events producer Nicole Rechter, said the reduced federal support to fight food insecurity has made artists more interested in helping out.
“There has always been a reason to support this cause, if you can,” Williamson said. “But during the times we’re living in, people are very aware of (federal cuts).”
The Love Rocks shows have raised $65 million in the past 10 years, which translates to about 6.5 million meals that God’s Love We Deliver can offer, Williamson said. But the events have also raised the profile of the charity and its mission, enabling it to attract more volunteers and more partners.
“We’ve cracked the code on using music to raise money and raise awareness, which is not an easy thing to really do effectively and it’s not an easier thing to do year after year,” Williamson said. “That means more than I’m fully conscious of because it’s just hard to wrap your head around it.”
The proceeds from this year’s Love Rocks NYC concert and its livestreaming at loverocksnyc.com is set to be the biggest single fundraiser in God’s Love We Deliver’s history. And it comes at a time where the nonprofit is taking on its biggest expansion, opening a new distribution center in Brooklyn last month and launching its new 40 Forward capital campaign to better utilize the space to serve more meals more efficiently.
Terrence Mack, God’s Love We Deliver’s president and CEO, said that the group has worked hard to diversify its funding base over the years and only relies on federal grants for a small percentage of its work.
Because God’s Love We Deliver began serving meals to HIV-positive patients before expanding to anyone with a chronic illness, the nonprofit has always strived to be more in control of its finances rather than depending on governmental funding that could change depending on what administration is in charge. Currently, about 60% of the group’s annual budget comes from philanthropy – money from individual donors and other nonprofits.
Mack said that, so far, God’s Love We Deliver hasn’t seen any cuts due to the Trump administration. “We’ve been really lucky,” he said. “I think we operate in a sweet spot with this administration because ‘food as medicine’ is something that they are talking about and that they’re keeping front of mind when it comes to the health and well-being of this nation.”
What sets the organization apart, though, is its volunteers, Mack says. “The care, dignity and compassion that we bring to our clients through food, but also through that human connection is so important,” he said. “Of course they love our food and they’re so grateful that they’re not hungry… But it’s all about feeling, about knowing, that they’re not alone.”
Actor-philanthropist Liev Schreiber, in celebrating the 40 millionth meal donated by God’s Love We Deliver in the New York area last year, said that the nonprofit is “a testament to New Yorkers and how they step up.”
“It’s one of the things I love about this city,” he said of the organization.
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