OUR COMMUNITY

L

ocal nonprofit Lighthouse, 
which helps the fight 
against homelessness and 
poverty in the community by 
providing food, shelter, transi-
tional housing, affordable hous-
ing developments and other ser-
vices, has pivoted and expanded 
to accommodate the increase in 
the local community’s needs due 
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Early in the pandemic, emer-
gency food distribution shifted 
from being supplemental to 

being entirely essential, not only 
needing to provide to more 
families, but also providing them 
with everything they need all at 
once in a safe, no-contact man-
ner. 
“That meant home delivery 
for some people, working with a 
broad base of volunteers to coor-
dinate delivery of food boxes to 
households across the county,
” 
said Ryan Hertz, the Jewish pres-
ident and CEO of Lighthouse. “It 
also meant expanding the num-

ber of sites where we distribute 
food and partnering with other 
pantries to distribute our food 
boxes through them.
”
Since the beginning of the 
pandemic, Lighthouse’s emer-
gency food efforts have increased 
tremendously, from serving 
about 300-500 households a 
week to around 5,000 a week. 
Before the pandemic, Light-
house provided emergency 
shelter out of churches and 
synagogues with guests moving 
week-to-week to different con-
gregations to provide those ser-
vices. That immediately became 
unsafe, and the agency realized it 
needed to pivot.
The emergency shelter pro-
gram moved to hotel rooms 
to keep clients, volunteers and 

partners safe. Shelters became 
unsafe due to potential COVID 
exposure.
Through Lighthouse’s crowd-
funding platform, HandUp, a 
campaign was created to raise 
$25,000 for unanticipated costs 
associated with moving its shel-
ter into another format. 
United Way for Southeast 
Michigan committed $50,000 
to try and push the campaign’s 
goal to $100,000. Several other 
groups then provided a match 
as well. Between governmental, 
corporate and foundation sup-
port, plus individual donations, 
the campaign raised about $3 
million by the end of 2020.
“
All of that funding went to 
purchasing food wholesale and 
for our food distribution work, 

The need for emergency food and 
emergency shelter services has 
increased dramatically.

Pivots, Expands Ef
 orts 
During Pandemic

20 | JANUARY 13 • 2022 

Pivots, Expands Ef
 orts 
Lighthouse

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

A volunteer delivers 
food to a family’s home 
in Pontiac. Lighthouse’s 
Thanksgiving food 
distribution provided 
food boxes to 2,000 
families.

