Crossroads Community Services NYC

The intersection of food equity and LGBTQ+ history is rooted in a simple act of community care by a hospice volunteer named Ganga Stone.

During the height of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, the stigma surrounding the LGBTQ+ community, gay men had devastating effects. Folks were routinely cut off by families or denied entry to grocery stores. Cut off by society, the community became self-reliant.

In 1985, Ganga was asked to deliver a meal to a man dying of AIDS. Upon seeing his weakened condition, she recognized the need for nutrition alongside medical treatment for the patient to survive and founded God's Love We Deliver, a foundation of food equity.

It’s the understanding that nutritious food is a baseline human right, and that community care is a necessity when systems fail.

At Crossroads, we carry on this mission to ensure everybody eats!

We’re celebrating fatherhood and the incredible dads at the heart of our community!

From our dedicated volunteers, staff and guests, we wish a celebratory day to all the fathers balancing work, caregiving and community building!

Thank you for everything you do!

Juneteenth began on June 19, 1865, two and a half years after the emancipation proclamation, when enslaved people in Galveston, TX were finally notified of their freedom!

At Crossroads Community Services we believe that true dignity means having your basic rights met, and food justice is a part of ongoing equality!

June is national fresh fruit and vegetables month, marking the peak of the growing season!

At Crossroads’ Community Services we are dedicated to providing nutritious food to our neighbors.

While fresh fruit and veggies are essential to a healthy diet, they are often the most expensive grocery item. That’s where our vital partnership with City Harvest comes in! Thanks to them, we receive a pallet with just under 2lbs of weekly produce deliveries that help to stock our pantries, and support meal services, making access to healthy food possible.

Access to nutritious food goes beyond preventing hunger, but supports health, dignity and well-being. Plus, food rescue efforts mean less food waste.

Together we can combat food insecurity and ensure everybody eats!

As the school year comes to an end and we head into the summer months, many of our neighbors lose access to daily free breakfasts and lunches.

With NYC families falling short by an average of $205 per week on groceries, more parents look to our kitchen to help.

For the 1 in 4 children in NYC experiencing food insecurity, we remain a consistent place of additional support.

We are here all summer long to serve up a nutritional meal with dignity!

Over 20% (or one in five) LGBTQ+ New Yorkers face food insecurity due to systemic disparities in housing, employment and healthcare.

At Crossroads Community Services we stand proudly with our LGBTQIA+ neighbors.

We believe love is love, and everyone deserves to be treated with dignity, respect, and have a seat at the table.

When our community comes together, everybody eats. With the help of our volunteers, we were able to exceed our April numbers in every category.

This past month we served over two thousand warm breakfast meals to our guests this month. Starting off the day with a warm cup of coffee and a delicious nutritious meal keeps our neighbors going on days when life gets hard.

Want to join our community for June? Click our link in bio to sign up as a volunteer or enroll in a monthly donation.

“In a city like New York, I think food access programs like these are so important to make sure that our most vulnerable neighbors are being fed” - Elizabeth Robillard

Elizabeth has been volunteering with the Crossroads Community Services team for four years during our breakfast services. She learned about our organization through one of our sandwich making events hosted by her company. Walking past our breakfast lines on her way to work each day made her want to help.

We’re so grateful she joined us and continues to be a shining example of what it means when a community comes together!
We love our corporate sandwich making volunteer groups, if you’d like to learn more about enlisting your company, check out our website.

For many of our senior neighbors food insecurity goes beyond the rising cost of groceries, it’s about accessibility.

As New York City’s senior boom reaches 1.55 million, older adults have become the most vulnerable group to food insecurity.

At Crossroads’ we believe all of our senior neighbors should have access to a warm meal, a pantry full of nutritious groceries and dignity.

With the help of our volunteers and donors we continue to create a safe place where friendly faces greet our guests and support the growing needs of our community!

Today we remember those who gave their lives in service to our country.

At Crossroads Community Services, we honor their legacy through our service to others by showing up for our community with food, resources and support for those who need it most.