Helping Love Take Action…Locally
Through our Philanthropic Advising program, The New York Community Trust administered the New York Life Foundation’s Love Takes Action Awards in celebration of the organization’s 175th anniversary. Senior Program Officer Marlyn Torres oversaw the awards program (and coincidentally was a graduate intern at The Trust in 2000). To learn more about how you or your institution can take advantage of our philanthropic advisory services, please contact Kerry McCarthy at kem@nyct-cfi.org.
“One of the best things about this awards program was the stories of resilience in the face of adversity it uncovered.
During the pandemic, a hospital chaplain had a mission to ensure that ‘no one dies alone.’ She continued to meet patients in person, providing compassionate care to the ill, regardless of their faith.
An immigrant pizzeria owner provided free food to the hungry, inspired by his Sikh faith and his own experience of being homeless.
The Trust helped us run the Love Takes Action Awards program, which honored these two selfless individuals and 33 others around the country for going above and beyond in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We engaged our agents and employees in the nominating process, which resulted in the selection of these community leaders and accompanying nonprofits who received general operating support grants.
I immensely enjoyed working with the team at The Trust. In addition to helping us shape the program (and then reshape after the pandemic hit), they worked with us to develop the application, manage a team of reviewers, and make the grant decisions.
We received an overwhelming number of nominations and touching stories. The fortitude and humanity of nominees was so inspiring and truly illustrated ‘love taking action.’”
We are grateful for the New York Life Foundation’s investment in our organization and to Eugene Lutz, managing partner of New York Life’s Westchester General Office, for recognizing Belkis Crowe for her extraordinary community service during COVID-19, which brought about this grant, and will change many lives for the better.”
— Randi Shubin Dresner,
president & CEO, Island Harvest Food Bank