{"id":3572,"date":"2022-09-21T21:05:13","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T01:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/54.235.7.55\/?post_type=news-items&#038;p=3572"},"modified":"2022-11-03T21:05:27","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T01:05:27","slug":"lighthouse-celebrates-partners-during-2022-annual-meeting","status":"publish","type":"news-items","link":"https:\/\/lighthousemi.org\/news-items\/lighthouse-celebrates-partners-during-2022-annual-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Lighthouse Celebrates Partners During 2022 Annual Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"modal-ready\"><p>The past few years have been a time of monumental growth for Lighthouse. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we served about 10,000 people a year at our two food pantry locations. That number nearly tripled last year alone. Along with the increased demand for emergency food, came an overwhelming need for emergency shelter, rental assistance, affordable housing, and other basic needs support. Today, Lighthouse is assisting more people than ever before.<\/p>\n<p>To highlight our growth and the partners who support our lifechanging work, Lighthouse held our 2022 Annual Meeting on September 13th under a big tent at Kirk in the Hills in Bloomfield Hills. In addition to providing updates to the community, we also presented awards to some of the people and organizations who help make Lighthouse\u2019s mission possible.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe degree of the challenges that the people we serve face, whether it be hunger or other manifestations of acute poverty, are so immense\u2026 that it sometimes feels like, despite all the support, it\u2019s an impossible task,\u201d says Lighthouse President and CEO Ryan Hertz. \u201cThis organization is the result of not just today\u2019s efforts by our dedicated team and all of those who serve on our board, volunteer, and contribute, but a combined 85-plus years of work and passion and people looking out for one another in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>2022 award winners who were recognized include:<br \/>\n\u2022 Mission Possible Award: Genisys Credit Union<br \/>\n\u2022 Corporate Partner Award: Borg Warner<br \/>\n\u2022 Foundation Partner Award: The Carls Foundation<br \/>\n\u2022 Congregation Partner Award: Christ Church Cranbook<br \/>\n\u2022 Community Partner Award: Pontiac Housing Commission<br \/>\n\u2022 Municipality Partner Award: City of Oak Park<br \/>\n\u2022 Outstanding Service Award: Melanie Grund<br \/>\n\u2022 Volunteer of the Year: Amazon<\/p>\n<p>In addition to increasing food distribution, during the pandemic Lighthouse completed Coolidge Place, a 64-unit affordable and supportive housing development in Oak Park, and began renovating Carriage Circle, a project that will redevelop 234 public housing units in partnership with the Pontiac Housing Commission. There is now a new family shelter where the Lighthouse PATH program was previously housed and a new emergency food warehouse in Pontiac at the site of a former Gleaner\u2019s warehouse facility.<\/p>\n<p>Among the event\u2019s speakers was Jessica Helton, a former Lighthouse client who shared her story about coming to Michigan 8 months pregnant and discovering South Oakland Shelter back in 2004. Jessica read a poem she wrote about the challenges she faced while experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWalking, but with nowhere to go.<br \/>\nHungry, but with no food to show.<br \/>\nPain in my feet, an ache in my heart,<br \/>\nI want to find a home, but I don\u2019t know where to start.<br \/>\nBut, worst of all, is the feeling no one cares.<br \/>\nI keep getting sent away, I roam everywhere\u2026<br \/>\nThe cycle continues day after day.<br \/>\nYou need to someone to help you to not be a stray.<br \/>\nYou then hear of a homeless shelter.<br \/>\nYou get food and a shower and feel much better.<br \/>\nYou have a social worker who understands he or she helps you get on your feet again. God bless our shelters and all the people who show love,<br \/>\nYour deeds will be rewarded from Our Father above.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During the meeting, Lighthouse also honored two members of our Board of Directors who recently served their final terms. John Townsend served on the board from 2013-2022 and Paddy Lynch served from 2017-2022.<\/p>\n<p>Looking ahead, Lighthouse will continue its work serving as a beacon of hope, providing food, shelter, and support to people across Oakland County.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we head into yet another holiday season, we at Lighthouse are very aware our neighbors are in great need. We field hundreds of new calls each week, many from people who have never asked for help before. Increased costs due to inflation such as rent, fuel, food and utilities are overwhelming our lower income families, leaving many with nowhere to turn,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cYour help is critical to our ability to help these families get through the holiday and winter months. Please join us in making sure our neighbors\u2019 requests for help have the answer they need so no one is turned away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To join our mission and support our ongoing efforts, visit: lighthousemi.org.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"featured_media":3573,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"xn-wppe-expiration":[],"xn-wppe-expiration-action":[],"xn-wppe-expiration-prefix":[],"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news_categories":[121],"class_list":["post-3572","news-items","type-news-items","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news_categories-events"],"acf":{"photo_gallery":{"gallery":[[]]}},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lighthouse Celebrates Partners During 2022 Annual Meeting - Lighthouse<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lighthousemi.org\/news-items\/lighthouse-celebrates-partners-during-2022-annual-meeting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lighthouse Celebrates Partners During 2022 Annual Meeting - Lighthouse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The past few years have been a time of monumental growth for Lighthouse. 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