October 30, 2014

More than 250 dedicated Citymeals case management agency, meal center staff and volunteers were honored for their outstanding service to New York City’s homebound elderly at the 2014 STAR Awards. The ceremony was held at Encore Senior Center in Midtown Manhattan.

Some of our winners included:

• Anthony, who began delivering meals at Encore when he was just sixteen years old. Now – ten years later – Anthony is a Friendly Visiting Coordinator. In the time he has been working at Encore, he has only missed two days of work.
• Dwayne, a meal deliverer who had the unexpected chance to show just how much he cares. One day during a delivery, he realized one of our meal recipients had fallen. Dwayne called 911 and helped the meal recipient relax by letting him know he would wait with him until help arrived.
• Sky, a driver who always spends extra time with meal recipients in need of special attention. Every day, Sky delivers meals to a recipient with dementia, places the meal on her table, opens the meal and places a fork with a napkin next to the tray.
• Carlos, a meal deliverer who goes above and beyond the call of duty on a daily basis. Whether he needs to climb 20 flights of stairs because the elevators are out or figure out ways to get into buildings with broken buzzers – some of them for years – he always makes sure our frail aged neighbors receive their meals.
• Susan, Luke and Ryan, volunteers recognized for their dedication to frail aged New Yorkers. Luke began delivering meals with his mother, Susan, when he was just three years old. He quickly became a familiar face to his homebound elderly neighbors in Staten Island. Luke later recruited his younger brother, Ryan, to volunteer with him every Saturday morning. Now the brothers deliver meals while their mother drives and waits in the car. One morning, Luke was taking longer than expected to deliver a meal, so Susan went to the house to check on him. She was happy to find Luke and the meal recipient enjoying tea together at the kitchen table.

Citymeals Associate Executive Director & Chief of Programs and Community Affairs Rachel Sherrow explained, "We host the STAR Awards every year to acknowledge the many accomplishments of the people that provide nourishment to our most vulnerable neighbors. All of them – including drivers, deliverers, cooks, case managers and program managers – are integral to our success. We couldn’t be more grateful for their commitment."