Michael Kors Donates $5 Million to God's Love We Deliver

NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2012 /CNW/ - For over 30 years, Michael Kors has been passionately dedicated to numerous philanthropic organizations. Now, he will surpass all prior endeavours with a $5 million donation to God's Love We Deliver (God's Love), the New York-based non-profit organization that cooks and delivers individually tailored meals daily to people living with severe illnesses throughout New York City, Newark and Hudson County. This gift serves as one of the largest single donations to a social services organization in New York history and will enable the God's Love We Deliver team to do its life-affirming work. In early 2013, God's Love will commence a major renovation of its facility in SoHo. In recognition of the gift, God's Love will re-name its building "The Michael Kors Building". Over the course of one year, God's Love serves 1.1 million meals. Thanks to the generosity of Michael Kors, it will be able touch even more lives.

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With this donation, God's Love has now surpassed the $20 million mark on its expansion campaign goal of $25 million, and will use these funds to more than double its current headquarters, expanding into a 41,000-square-feet LEED certified space complete with herb gardens and an extended kitchen. The hardworking God's Love team of dedicated staff and nearly 8,000 annual volunteers will be equipped to prepare its 21,000 meals weekly using fresh herbs and other local ingredients. The new building will also enable God's Love to engage in more community work with clients, such as cooking meals together in a top floor demonstration kitchen. The gift was announced on October 15, when Michael was honored with the 2012 Golden Heart Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Golden Heart Awards Dinner.

"God's Love does life-changing, life-saving work, and it's been an honor working with the team throughout the years," says Kors. "There are so many people living with cancer, HIV/AIDS and other serious illnesses who need the care and the assistance God's Love offers. My support for the organization is lifelong and I am proud to be a part of the God's Love family."

Michael began his work with God's Love We Deliver over 20 years ago. Each year he has increased his unwavering dedication to the organization tenfold. This past July, God's Love announced "Michael Kors Month" in honor of the designer's long-standing support. Throughout July, employees of Michael Kors had the opportunity to volunteer at God's Love during their regular workday. Drawn from a workforce of over 400 employees in the New York and New Jersey corporate offices, the volunteers assisted in preparing meals in the God's Love kitchens.

"We are extremely honored to receive this remarkable gift from our dear friend Michael Kors. This gift is historic. It is the single largest private gift we have ever received and makes our building expansion project a reality," said Karen Pearl, President and CEO of God's Love We Deliver. "We are delighted to be naming our expanded home 'The Michael Kors Building' and are grateful to Michael for his more than 20 years of life-sustaining support."

About Michael Kors
Michael Kors is a world-renowned, award-winning designer of luxury accessories and ready to wear. His namesake company, established in 1981, currently produces a range of products through his Michael Kors, KORS Michael Kors and MICHAEL Michael Kors labels, including accessories, footwear, watches, jewelry, men's and women's ready to wear, and a full line of fragrance products. Michael Kors stores are operated, either directly or through licensing partners, in some of the most prestigious cities in the world, including New York, Beverly Hills, Chicago, London, Milan, Paris, Munich, Istanbul, Dubai, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

About God's Love We Deliver
God's Love is the New York metropolitan area's leading provider of life-sustaining meals and nutrition counseling for people living with severe illnesses. Begun as an HIV/AIDS service organization, today God's Love provides for people living with more than 200 individual diagnoses. God's Love cooks and home delivers the specific, nutritious meals a client's severe illness and treatment so urgently require. Meals are individually tailored for each client by one of our Registered Dietitians, and all clients have access to unlimited nutrition counseling. God's Love supports families by providing meals for the children and senior caregivers of its clients. All of the agency's services are provided free of charge, and in its history of more than 25 years, God's Love We Deliver has never had a waiting list. For more information, visit www.godslovewedeliver.org. Follow God's Love on Facebook and follow them on Twitter, @godslovenyc. God's Love is a non-sectarian organization.

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SOURCE: Michael Kors

Mary Fontamillas, VP, Public Relations, MICHAEL KORS, [phone], [email protected]

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