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Dear Friends,
They say, “April showers bring May flowers” and with it comes the anticipation of new life and opportunities. As we started April, we undertook a huge project that required a great deal of preparation and staff support, enabling guests to shop better and faster and allowing us to enhance our inventory management system. This project required us to re-register more than 15,000 families and individuals! Our staff were well trained and equipped to tackle the project and will have it completed in under 2 months! A real miracle and herculean task. During April, Sr. Marie and I got a chance to celebrate with Food Bazaar and St. John’s University basketball teams as they teamed up for the “Free Throws for Meals” program designed to help raise awareness about hunger in the community. Together the teams and Food Bazaar raised $10,000 to benefit our emergency food programs. A special thanks to Suzanne and Ed from Food Bazaar, Tyler from St. John’s and of course the athletes at St. John’s University!
As we enjoy the beautiful weather we are reminded of the upcoming “26th Annual Johnny’s Angels Awards Dinner to be held at Giando’s on the Water. This year we are so delighted to recognize the truly outstanding commitments of Most. Rev. Robert Brennan, Bishop of Brooklyn, and a St. John’s alum and an early volunteer at Bread and Life, who will receive the Johnny’s Angels Award, Nunzia Manuli, Chief of Staff, St. John’s University who will receive the Dr. Pamela Shea Byrnes Award, and our friends at Food Bazaar who will receive the Community Service Award in memory of the Sr. Bernadette the founder of Bread and Life. These honorees truly follow in the footsteps of Vincent DePaul and serve others with compassion, joy, and respect. They are worthy of the awards bestowed on them and thank them for their continued commitment to living out the gospel message to love and serve others and to do so with joy.
As we get closer to the end of another fiscal year, we count our blessings, realizing the critical work we do each day does make a significant difference in the lives of those around us. With donor support we live out the Works of Mercy daily feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, visiting with and praying for the sick and imprisoned, counseling one another and putting up with one another, all in the name of mercy. We live out the gospel message when we do these things for the least among us. Our reward is knowing that we are working to make our world a bit brighter, less violent, and more loving. Thank you for joining us and know that you do make a difference at Bread and Life.
With gratitude,
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