Five years ago this month, the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed how Lighthouse provides services to the most vulnerable members of our community. Faced with the pandemic and a surge in the demand for emergency food and shelter, we called upon you, our community of supporters and friends, for help – and you rose to the occasion.

Many wonderful volunteers came forward. We worked together wearing masks and other protective gear to sort and pack food and get it to those who needed it most. Almost overnight, we went from serving 500 to 5,000 households each week. Five years later – there’s still an increased need even though COVID-19 funding and support has ended.

COVID also impacted the way we provide emergency shelter. Lighthouse changed our model from the SOS rotating emergency shelter at local churches and synagogues to a hotel model, until we ultimately shifted our approach and opened our family shelter building in Pontiac. We went from serving approximately 30 people each night to 150 – and the need still remains five times greater today despite more limited resources and shelter space.

The pandemic exposed the tenuous safety net in our country and strengthened Lighthouse’s resolve to bring a bold vision to life that will alleviate poverty for more people in Oakland County.

We continue to move forward with our Lighting the Way Campaign to expand our Pontiac campus and create a comprehensive center for Oakland County residents in need. With national homeless numbers at the highest levels in history, and families with children impacted the most, our plan includes permanently increasing our family shelter capacity from 70 to 160 beds — with individual apartments for each household, so families can chart a new future and achieve stable housing. We’re also building a Social Supermarket, Economic Opportunity Center, Cafe, Community Development Capital Fund, Runaway and Homeless Youth program facilities, and more.

In addition, we’ll be breaking ground on several major affordable housing projects this year to help address the affordable housing crisis. You help to make this all possible.

At a time when funding and policy changes are creating a great deal of uncertainty for nonprofit organizations like ours – we are more grateful than ever to our community of supporters who step up and show up no matter the challenge. Please consider supporting Lighthouse as we work to meet our community’s needs now and in the future.

Click here to make an impact.

The post Five Years Later, COVID-19 Need Remains appeared first on Lighthouse.

Each year, as the weather turns colder and the holidays approach, the urgent need for food and shelter in our community builds. The numbers of children, families, seniors and individuals in Oakland County living on the edge has increased dramatically during COVID-19, and while things have opened up a bit and life continues on, many are still struggling.

The post Lighthouse needs help to meet urgent needs as pandemic drags on – The Oakland Press appeared first on Lighthouse.

There’s still time to help collect 1 million bottles and cans to support Lighthouse

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, pop cans and bottles have been piling up in garages and sheds across the state for several months. Bottle returns were suspended back in March because of the coronavirus.

As a result, many Michiganders have amassed a stash they can’t wait to unload – if it wasn’t for the long lines and limited return hours they’re expected to face come June 15, when many retail redemption machines are set to roar back to life.

Now, there’s another option – Project Can-Do, a chance to donate some or all of your stockpile to Lighthouse.

“We’re hoping to collect 1 million bottles and cans by the end of the summer,” says Lighthouse Development Director, Russ Russell. “So far, the response has been great. People have been so generous. They’re coming by with cars full of cans.”

Money raised through Project Can-Do will help us provide food and shelter for metro Detroiters hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve more than doubled our emergency shelter capacity and we’re serving thousands of children, families, seniors and individuals each week with emergency food. The increased costs, along with the postponement of fundraising events, means we need your help now more than ever.

Volunteers collect clean returnables from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at Webster Elementary School, located at 640 W. Huron in Pontiac.

According to the Michigan Department of Treasury, all retailers with bottle return facilities located at the front of the store or housed in a separate area and serviced exclusively by reverse vending machines requiring minimal or no person-to-person contact must resume the collection of returnable beverage containers no later than June 15. .

In addition, retailers may, at their discretion, take any or all of the following steps:

• Limit the number of beverage containers that may be returned by a single individual per day to a deposit refund amount of $25.
• Establish special or limited hours of operation for bottle return facilities.
• Limit the number of available and operating reverse vending machines.
• Periodically close bottle deposit facilities as needed for cleaning and supply management.
• Implement such other procedures or restrictions as each retailer may determine are necessary or advisable to promote safety and/or efficiency.

Donating to Lighthouse could save you time and hassles – and make a difference for thousands of metro Detroiters in need.

Thank you to all who have donated so far!

The post Southeast Michigan Crushing Project ‘Can-Do’ appeared first on Lighthouse.

Lighthouse has been servicing community members in the area for 48 years now. Their work centers on building communities that drive to end homelessness and help people become self-sufficient. They gather food and distribute it. They create and offer shelter for those in need. They take care if their neighbors.

Despite the new COVID-19 world we all live in, Lighthouse and the volunteers who help carry out selfless missions have kept at it, knowing that help is needed more now than ever before

The post Frontline Heroes: How Lighthouse of Oakland County continues to serve community amid pandemic appeared first on Lighthouse.

Understanding cultural sensitivities has always been important. But now, during COVID-19, it’s relevance is even more paramount. People of color have been victims of the novel coronavirus in greater numbers than others and the need to help them and their families is growing every day.

The post Lighthouse: Helping the Hispanic community during COVID-19 appeared first on Lighthouse.

2,000 food boxes filled with perishable food will be distributed starting this week from Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church in Clarkston and St. David’s Episcopal Church in Southfield

PONTIAC, Mich. (June 2, 2020) – Lighthouse, a Pontiac-based nonprofit dedicated to fighting homelessness and poverty, is expanding its COVID-19 emergency food distribution efforts across Oakland County to meet the urgent, increasing need for food caused by the global pandemic.

This week through the end of August, 2,000 food boxes filled with 20 pounds of perishable items, including fresh fruits and vegetables, will be distributed from St. David’s Episcopal Church in Southfield and Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church in Clarkston to up to 1,000 households per week from each location. (Please see additional distribution details below.)

“Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church is grateful to be partnering with Lighthouse for this worthwhile project,” said Mission & Outreach Development Pastor Bob Hegdal. “Food insecurity is something that has no borders or lines, touching people in every community and we want to be an asset for the region in helping address this basic human need. We are committed to helping impact this issue in our community, region and beyond.”

This effort will increase Lighthouse’s total food distribution to 3,400 households a week representing nearly 10,000 individuals. The fresh produce is part of the USDA’s Farmers to Families program and is being provided by a network of more than 1,000 growers to help keep the food supply chain intact and prevent fresh, perishable food from going to waste.

“The COVID-19 crisis has hit local families hard and no one knows when it will end,” said Lighthouse CEO Ryan Hertz. “We are truly thankful to our partners, donors and supporters, who are enabling us to dramatically increase the amount of food we’re distributing, and the emergency shelter we’re providing to some of the most vulnerable members of our community. The addition of these perishable food boxes will help local families tremendously.”

Lighthouse has also increased its emergency shelter outreach from 32 people per week to more than 75 individuals during COVID-19. Emergency shelter is being provided using local hotel rooms while the rotating shelter, which moves from congregation to congregation each week, is unable to operate. Recent reports indicate nearly 24-percent of the state’s workforce is unemployed as a result of the economic fallout from COVID-19. That’s putting a tremendous strain on the budgets of local families who need additional support to put food on the table each week.

Families and individuals in need can call (248) 920-6000 and press the number 2 to sign up for the Wednesday or Thursday food distribution, or simply show up between 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Distribution sites for perishable food boxes are as follows:

Wednesdays from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. starting June 3, 2020

Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church

6805 Bluegrass Drive

Clarkston

Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. starting June 4, 2020

St. David’s Episcopal Church

16200 W. 12 Mile Road

Southfield

In addition, Lighthouse continues to lead a massive food distribution operation in partnership with Oakland University and 72 congregations and organizations including Oakland Schools and the Pontiac Community Foundation.

To request food delivery assistance or to volunteer, visit mycovidresponse.org or call Lighthouse at (248) 920-6000 (press the number 2).

For those who can safely leave their homes to pick up food, Lighthouse continues to distribute food, household items, and other basics from the following sites:

• Lighthouse in Pontiac: 46156 Woodward Ave.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Lighthouse in Clarkston: 5850 Dixie Hwy.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Lighthouse St. David’s Food Pantry: 16200 W. 12 Mile, Southfield

Monday- Friday, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

3 WAYS TO HELP RIGHT NOW:

DONATE:

An online fundraising campaign continues to raise the funds needed to fuel the emergency response for as long as the COVID-19 crisis continues. Donations can be made via HandUp by clicking this link or visiting www.lighthousemi.org/Covid-19.

DROP OFF FOOD DONATIONS:

Lighthouse in Pontiac, 46156 Woodward Ave. (DOOR B)

Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 3:00p.m.

Lighthouse in Clarkston, 5850 Dixie Highway

Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

VOLUNTEER:

• Volunteers are needed to help pack food boxes.
• Volunteer Drivers are needed to deliver food boxes to up to five households at a time.
• To protect all involved, Lighthouse and Oakland University have implemented strict volunteering rules, guidelines, and procedures.
• Register to volunteer and learn more here.

The post Lighthouse Expands COVID-19 Emergency Food Distribution appeared first on Lighthouse.

South Oakland Shelter, also in Michigan, has paid for motel rooms to house people, said Ryan Hertz, president and CEO of Lighthouse, the social services organization behind South Oakland. “We started immediately raising funds to cover the cost of the rooms,” he said, describing a crowdfunding effort Lighthouse is running.

Lighthouse sets up “rotating” emergency shelters in churches or synagogues in Michigan, each of which can hold between 30 and 35 people at a time, Hertz said. Donations and grants have allowed the organization to pay for hotel and motel rooms for residents and increase capacity.

The post Homeless shelters are running low on cash and volunteers as coronavirus spreads – CNBC appeared first on Lighthouse.

ROCHESTER, Mich. (April 3, 2020) – Lighthouse, a Pontiac-based nonprofit dedicated to fighting homelessness and poverty, Oakland University and Pontiac Community Foundation announced today they have joined forces in a collaborative effort with several other agencies to expand emergency food distribution to Oakland County residents in need during the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) crisis, fueled by a new $300,000 grant from United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

Since the outbreak began, Lighthouse and its partners have assisted more than 3,000 individuals — including more than 1,424 children — as they work round-the-clock to meet the soaring demand for assistance.

“While these are difficult and anxious days, we are inspired by the efforts of Lighthouse and the many others working tirelessly to serve individuals, families and children in our community,” said Oakland University President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz. “In times of need, we are coming together, sharing university resources and consolidating efforts in the true spirit of community.”

The emergency food packaging and storage operation was moved to Oakland Center on the Oakland University (OU) campus in Rochester to meet the increasing need and to ensure the continued health and safety of volunteers. Lighthouse recently purchased 13,000 pounds of food to distribute and quickly needed to replenish those supplies. The most recent purchase of 27,000 pounds of food from Meijer on April 1 filled two Gardner-White trucks. Lighthouse will receive $10,000 in additional donated food from Meijer.

The Oakland Center on OU’s campus is the epicenter of the packing effort. Home delivery is also now being coordinated so that households, including seniors, at-risk populations, and those without transportation, can receive food and supplies while remaining at home.

“We are truly grateful to United Way for Southeastern Michigan for funding this life sustaining initiative and to Oakland University and our many partners who are working so hard to help the most vulnerable members of our community,” said Lighthouse CEO Ryan Hertz. “This partnership will expand our efforts so we can get more food more quickly to a greater number of families who need it most. With the extra space at OU, we can also increase the number of volunteers working at a safe distance from one another during this frightening pandemic.”

To request assistance or volunteer, visit mycovidresponse.org or call Lighthouse at (248) 920-6000 (press the number 2).

For those who can safely leave their homes to pick up food, Lighthouse continues to distribute food, household items and other basics from the following sites:

·       Lighthouse in Pontiac: 46156 Woodward Ave.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

·       Lighthouse in Clarkston: 5850 Dixie Hwy.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 3 p.m.

·       Lighthouse St. David’s Food Pantry: 16200 W. 12 Mile, Southfield

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Access to pantry services has increased and the amount of food being provided will expand beyond a one-week supply if donations are maintained to support the volume of food needed. Lighthouse is purchasing much of the food at or below cost from Meijer, Gleaners and other sources to ensure a variety of fresh, healthy options.

Other collaborating organizations involved in this effort include: Oakland Schools, Micah 6 Community, Timberland Landscape, Oakland County Sheriff PAL and the City of Pontiac. Gardner-White and Two Men and a Truck continue to deliver food boxes to Lighthouse’s satellite locations.

3 WAYS TO HELP RIGHT NOW:

Donate

An online fundraising campaign is underway to raise the funds needed to fuel the emergency response for as long as the COVID-19 crisis continues. Donations can be made via HandUp by clicking this link or visiting www.lighthousemi.org/Covid-19.

Drop Off Food Donations:

·       Lighthouse in Pontiac, 46156 Woodward Ave. (DOOR B)

Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 3:00p.m.

·       Lighthouse in Clarkston, 5850 Dixie Highway

Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m

·       Gardner-White – Auburn Hills only, 4445 N Atlantic Blvd, Auburn Hills

Monday-Saturday, 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Volunteer

·       To protect all involved, Lighthouse and Oakland University have implemented strict volunteering rules, guidelines, and procedures.

·       Volunteers are needed to help pack food boxes.

·       Volunteer Drivers are needed to deliver food boxes to up to five households at a time.

·       Register to volunteer here.

The post United Way Awards $300,000 Collaborative Grant; Lighthouse and Oakland University expand COVID-19 Emergency Food Response appeared first on Lighthouse.

Lighthouse COVID-19 Update – 4/2/2020

As residents are being asked to “stay in place” and businesses are closing their doors, dedicated Oakland County nonprofits are rising up and working together to increase services to our neighbors in need throughout the COVID-19 crisis, but we need your help. Many of those served are among the most vulnerable, with pre-existing conditions that increase their risk of contracting and experiencing the more severe effects of COVID-19.

The Oakland County COVID-19 Emergency Food and Shelter Response Team includes Lighthouse, The Alliance for Housing, City of Pontiac, Gleaners, HOPE Adult Shelter, Honor Community Health, Micha 6, Oakland County, Oakland Schools Homeless Student Services, Oakland University, Pontiac Community Foundation, and Pontiac Meals on Wheels.

Creating program contingency plans and a coordinated COVID-19 response has been key in continuing to help those in need while limiting the risks of contracting and spreading the virus. Thanks to the support of hundreds of donors and numerous community partners, the following emergency plans have been put into place.

Expanding Emergency Food Distribution

-With Oakland University serving as the emergency food storage and packaging hub and Lighthouse purchasing much of the food at or below cost, the collaborative is able to serve more people with more food. Over 3,000 individuals have already been served.

– Home delivery is being coordinated so that households, including seniors and those without transportation, can receive food and supplies while remaining at home.

-Gardner-White Furniture and Two Men and a Truck have donated their time and equipment to transport food boxes to three distribution sites including Lighthouse offices in Pontiac and Clarkston, as well as St. David’s Episcopal Church in Southfield.

-Increasing food donations through amazing donors, food drives, Meijer’s Simply Give program, and more.

Expanding Emergency Shelter

-Moving Lighthouse’s emergency shelter to our Pontiac location to ensure the safety of our clients, volunteers, and staff. We are eternally thankful for our congregational support during this temporary transition.

-Lighthouse and HOPE Adult Shelter working together to provide non-congregate shelter via hotel rooms for families, healthcare workers, and symptomatic individuals experiencing homelessness throughout Oakland County.

-Partnering with the County to ensure Lighthouse and HOPE Adult Shelter clients are provided three daily meals.

——————————————————————————————–

Thank you to United Way for Southeastern Michigan for providing our first $50,000 match and contributing $300,000 to to support specific needs of the collaborative, and to McGregor Fund for their $50,000 challenge to help us serve those most in need.

To donate to our emergency fund, please click here.

The post Lighthouse – COVID-19 Update appeared first on Lighthouse.

When you talk about the coronavirus or symptoms of the illness, the need to quarantine is often mentioned. But what if you can’t? What about the population of people who have no place to call home? Where do they go? 7 Action News Reporter Andrea Isom shows how the needs of metro Detroit’s homeless population are being met by Lighthouse and how more people are facing that harsh reality. To learn more or contribute to our efforts, visit lighthousemi.org

The post Lighthouse COVID-19 Emergency Food Packing Moves to Oakland University (WXYZ) appeared first on Lighthouse.