New York City AIDS service organization GMHC has partnered with food delivery company DoorDash to provide meals and jobs to people living with HIV, according to a press release from GMHC. The initiative will last throughout 2021.

When COVID-19 struck last spring, GMHC began offering services remotely to its nearly 10,000 clients, often through phone or video. Its on-site meal program, however, morphed into GMHC on the Go, a program to deliver nutritious meals to the homes of GMHC clients.

Meanwhile, DoorDash describes itself as a technology company that facilitates door-to-door delivery by connecting customers (people ordering food) with merchants (restaurants and grocery stores). Customers order food via the DoorDash app or website, and DoorDash employees referred to as Dashers deliver the goods.

Through the GMHC partnership, DoorDash will offer training and employment opportunities to GMCH clients wanting to earn extra money as Dashers. Because Dashers can set their own hours, the job offers a flexible way to earn extra money.

“Both food security and employment are critical to ensuring the health and well-being of our clients,” said GMHC CEO Kelsey Louie in the press release about the partnership. “DoorDash’s support will help sustain our services to address these vital needs.”

According to a DoorDash Impact report, 84% of Dashers in the United States worked fewer than 10 hours a week in 2019. A profile of Dashers found that 55% of Dashers are women; 9% of Dashers have a disability that keeps them from working full-time; and on average, the Dashers work fewer than four hours per week.

“This COVID-19 pandemic has robbed so many people of economic opportunity,” said John Horton, DoorDash’s head of public engagement, in the GMHC press release. “Ensuring that GMHC’s clients have access to food and work is absolutely essential to helping our communities make it through this crisis.”

Horton added: “GMHC is a storied organization that for nearly four decades has been on the front lines of the fight against the vicious epidemic of HIV/AIDS. When the rest of society stigmatized and discriminated against those suffering from that epidemic, GMHC carried their voices forward time and time again.”

Last summer, GMHC launched a campaign to sell face masks to help those in need. For more see “HIV Groups and Celebs Want You to ‘Distance Yourself From Hate’ [VIDEOS].” Learn more about the organization at GMHC.org.