A Whole Lot of Bagels and Carrots

Thanks for all the get well wishes yesterday. I'm feeling much better today. I spent the day on the couch and slept for an hour and a half during the afternoon and it seems to have passed. I hate ever being sick, but at least this was a quick hit.

I wrote this a few days ago but haven't gotten it up yet. I'm sure you're thinking: bagels and carrots? They don't go together! And you're right. But that's what I spent my Sunday morning with anyway.

Grace and I volunteered at Gold's Love We Deliver, through the Urban Girl Squad. Going into it I knew a few things about GLWD.

1. They make and deliver food to people who are too sick to shop and/or cook for themselves.
2. There is a NYRR race every November that supports the organization.
3. Joan Rivers is on the board of directors.

We arrived at the building on 6th Ave at 9:45am and met up with a bunch of other women there with the UGS. Emily, the volunteer specialist, gave us an overview about the organization then we watched a really moving video that explained the history of the organization and who they help.

GLWD was founded in 1986 by Ganga Stone and Jane Best in order to deliver healthy, prepared meals to HIV/AIDS patients in New York City. As treatments for AIDS and HIV were developed, the mission of the foundation evolved to also help people suffering from other serious illnesses. They also deliver meals for the children of patients so the family can eat healthfully. All of the meals are healthy and nutritious because these patients need this food to overcome their illness and gain strength. There is never a waiting list, each client gets 10 meals a week and a personalized cake on their Birthday. GLWD also provide nutrition counseling and have published nutrition guides.

There are fewer than 80 people on staff at GLWD, so a lot of the work is done by volunteers. A great amount of the funds are raised through donations and many restaurants in the city support the organization as well. Individuals, organizations and companies can volunteer.

The video we watched

Once we had learned the history and got our safety lesson (you must wash your hands about a billion times, wear hair nets, aprons and gloves to keep germs off the food), we headed down to the kitchen. While others in our group were peeling onions, my first job was to wrap bagels. It's a good thing, too, because most of the time, I start tearing up as soon as I start on an onion! I have to say, after wrapping at least 200 bagels, I think I'm now a professional! After that, I got to pick up a knife and a peeler to attack a major bag of the biggest carrots I've seen. I mean, these were huge carrots, but our table went through those two bags in less than 20 minutes. We were on a roll. And before I knew it, it was almost 1pm and we were cleaning up.

I met some great people and I'm so glad Grace and I were able to volunteer together. It was a great experience and especially love the fact that we were doing something to truly help people just get through each day. It's so exhausting to be sick, especially if you're on your own, and GLWD is literally saving lives.

Here are some pics from the day courtesy of GLWD. You can see more of the fun HERE.

I really encourage you to learn more about God's Love We Deliver, and think about donating or volunteering with the organization. It's really amazing and selfless work that they're doing every day.

• What's your favorite way to give back to your community?
• Do you have good knife skills in the kitchen?
• Do you tear up when peeling & chopping onions?

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Today's workout -
easy 45min elliptical
3x10 cable pull twists
3x12 overhead tricep extensions
3x10 front arm raise
100 crunches
2x40sec planks
stretching