Delila Nadal says she never stops working - from picking up phone calls to unloading food from trucks and unboxing it - because she says her work is imperative to a hungry community.

Nadal is the director of the Staten Island Community Partnership, a program under The New York Foundling that provides social services to anyone struggling.

Its food pantry is held weekly at different locations on Staten Island. A giveaway at the West Brighton Community Center helps feed around 80 families.

"We are setting up our table for the pantry. We have some frozen meats. We have some options of chicken," she said. "It's going to a family that is going to be able to provide their family with some substance and a nutritional meal."

Many of the recipients are of Hispanic descent. Nadal is a mix of Puerto Rican and Dominican heritage and grew up in the New York City Housing Authority's Berry Houses.

During her childhood, both she and her mother would regularly visit local food pantries to obtain free food. Growing up without enough to eat is something she says she truly understands.

"My mom being thrown a box or bag to her, she wasn't really treated like a person, and neither was anybody else on the line, and so actually our pantry is different in the aspect that we do personal shopping," she said.

Her ties to the New York Foundling go back decades, when the nonprofit organization placed a foster child in need with her mother - supporting a baby girl in their family until the child's parents could take her back.

"We were able to provide a foundation for a little baby that just needed some structure in their life, and it just made us as a family just feel complete," she said.

Now, she is following in her mother's footsteps, supporting the organization and serving the Staten Island community.

"They come to us for assistance - not all the time can they afford to go out and purchase their basic necessities and their nutritional benefits, and so we're here to help them," she said.

The bulk of the donations come from Food Bank for New York City, and some donations come from ShopRite on Staten Island.

In addition, Nadal says she depends on $50,000 a year from private funds in order to help run the facility, which serves about 3,000 families yearly. 

"They are aware of the need there is, and I am very thankful to them," Martha Garcia, who benefits from the food pantry, said through an interpreter.

Nadal hopes to continue making a difference within her community, and motivate the next generation to follow in her footsteps.

"Go out there and help as many people as you can to make the world a better place," she said.