The Lord’s Pantry Delivers

In the early 1990s three women met at a support group in Westchester. They had one thing in common: each had a son who had died from complications due to AIDS.

After Joan McGovern’s son, Tommy, died in 1990, friends and family sent contributions to God’s Love We Deliver, a Manhattan organization serving close to 300 meals a day to people living with AIDS. So many contributions that Joan decided to drive down to the City and visit. Afterward, she realized that she needed to do something in her own community in Westchester.

As Joan puts it, “The AIDS community [in Westchester] was drifting along and no one was helping.” By the summer of 1991 Joan convinced her friend Frances, who had lost her son, Peter, a few years before, to help her make meals in Joan’s kitchen. Ann Weiss, who lost her son, Jimmy, also got involved.

Soon afterward The Lord’s Pantry was born. Today it is a non-denominational, non-profit, devoted to delivering meals to homebound people living with AIDS.

The three women could not make all the meals themselves, so they solicited donations from corporations. Restaurants donated a lot of food back then, too, according to Joan, but they tended to be quiet about it. “AIDS was still stigmatized.”

Their organization grew rapidly, so they moved into the kitchen at St. Bernard’s Parish in White Plains. Today all the meals are made there. The cook prepares between 100 and 120 dinners—all by 5pm—giving new meaning to “making dinner.” A staff of volunteers delivers three meals a day—from Monday to Friday and most holidays—to many parts of Westchester County.

Some things have changed over the years. They do not take food donations or food from restaurants anymore. Joan needs to ensure that the meals are all home-cooked and nutritious. They feed the man or woman living with AIDS, as well as their families and friends living with them. Her clients fluctuate, too. A few years ago she had many more women as clients, but she sees mostly men today. She has not seen any children clients for some time.