KEEPING YOU IN THE KNOW
about how COVID-19 is affecting our people, our programs, our methods of delivering essential services like food and shelter,
and how you can help us
continue to serve our Guests during this time.
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Jeff Hassel , Executive Director |
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During this time, when COVID upends our world, “job #1” for Lazarus House is the provision of food and shelter for those in need. The safe operation of our Soup Kitchen, Food Pantry, Shelter, and Capernaum Place transitional housing program have been and will remain our priorities for as long as COVID lasts. Thank you for your continued support.
I commend the work of our Food Pantry and Soup Kitchen teams who have figured out ways to stay open and bless our community with a wide variety of groceries and hot meals every week. I celebrate the faith organizations, individuals, foundations, and businesses who have blessed us with their financial donations and food. THANK YOU!
Most days, I stop into the Soup Kitchen to say hello to the staff and ask in a booming voice, “Cuales el menu para hoy?/What is the menu for today?” I have seen with my own eyes that the quality and quantity of the food we provide in the Soup Kitchen is high. Every day our goal is to serve a hot, well-balanced, nutritious meal to those who are hungry, and we are meeting that goal.
The Food Pantry has expanded its staff to handle the increase in the number of Guests – many new faces – coming each week. Our farmer friends and gleaners within Massachusetts are delivering fresh produce to us as they harvest their crops. “How much do they deliver, you ask?” Our pantry staff distributed Two and a half TONS of fresh produce to our Guests each Wednesday in July!
Renovations continue at the Shelter, with new washers and dryers, a commercial dishwasher, and a thorough cleaning of our HVAC ducts on tap for the next couple of weeks. We remain grateful to the many hands and donors who make these renovations possible. As our Shelter leaders prepare to reopen, the things that keep them awake at night are the COVID protocols and program adaptations that we will need to have in place to care for our guests and our staff. We are reconfiguring our shelter into five family suites – each with a bathroom, bedroom, and living room – to reduce the likelihood of COVID transmission.
An enormous challenge revolves around the education of the children in our care. Some 23 children live in our Capernaum Place facility. Their parents – as parents everywhere – are struggling to figure out how to balance days at school, days of remote learning, and how to return to work. We must invent new ways of providing the vital programming that stabilizes, strengthens and encourages our Capernaum Place and Shelter Guests.
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FOR THE PROTECTION OF ALL |
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DUCT CLEANING TO KEEP STAFF, GUESTS AND VOLUNTEERS HEALTHY |
To protect everyone who enters a Lazarus House facility, we have created strict protocols. If you were to enter a Lazarus House building, we would walk you to a COVID reporting station. There you will be asked to take your temperature using a |
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Looking ahead to a bright future of service
As we look toward the next decade of the ministry, I see clearly that the Soup Kitchen will remain at the heart of what we do. With that in mind, we will invest in the much-needed renovation and re-equipping of our Soup Kitchen. This process is just now getting underway, and within a couple of months, we will have our scope of work and budget in place. A unique and exciting feature of our plan is to incorporate our culinary training program into Soup Kitchen operations, so in addition to educating future cooks and chefs, our culinary program will bless our Guests through the food they will prepare. We’ve also just signed a contract with a company called Charity Tracker that will help us manage our data and utilize this information to improve the services we offer. It is one thing to assume that what we do makes a difference in the lives of our Guests; it is a thousand times better when our data points to what is working well and what we need to change for the good of our Guests.
Since most of our administrative staff are working from home, this is an ideal time for us to make improvements to the Good Shepherd Center. The Holy Rollers Paint Crew from South Church, Andover repaired and painted the walls of the entire second floor of the GSC. I just signed contracts to replace all lights and fixtures in all of our buildings with energy-efficient units at no charge, thanks to funding from National Grid. For the first time since we moved into the building, we can block-off whole areas without disrupting our staff and get in there to make impactful improvements, using volunteer labor as possible, to take you, us, and our Guests into the next 25 years!
Fundraising
Since April, our development team has been planning for our signature fundraising events: the Drive For Dignity Golf Tournament, the Hike for Hope, and the Sharing our Bounty Gala. The rules are continually changing, and what seems stable in June has changed in July. We’ve almost sold out our golf tournament, so your support is there – Thank You! That said, the challenges are many. In the last week, Governor Baker reduced the number of persons permitted to gather outside from seventy-five to fifty, and the town of Andover decided not to allow the Hike for Hope to go forward as a live event. We understand these decisions and are creating options that I am sure you will enjoy – even if these events look different than last year.
Blessings,
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Reverend Jeff Hassel, Executive Director
"Linking Arms … From a Distance"
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A REMINDER OF OUR TEMPORARY PROGRAM CHANGES:
- The City Shelter is now closed and our Lazarus House Shelter leaders have been successful in their efforts to provide housing for our Guests until September when our Shelter reopens.
- The Soup Kitchen continues using a “meals to go” breakfast and lunch Monday through Saturday.
- The Food Pantry continues Wednesday food distributions using a “groceries to go” format.
- We have closed our Thrift Stores until further notice.
- We have closed our Sewing Program until further notice.
- We have closed our Culinary Arts Program until further notice.
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We have suspended our regular Volunteer Program until further notice, and are inviting volunteers to work in small groups on specific projects - contact marcy@lazarushouse.org
- Lazarus House leaders continue to make necessary changes, as recommended by the State of Massachusetts and the CDC, to the way we serve, sanitize facilities, use personal protective gear, and operate. We are keeping safety for all at the forefront of our minds and actions.
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Please continue to partner with us; Lazarus House is here for the long haul and we need you!
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HOW YOU CAN HELP
Pray for Lazarus House -
for the health and well-being of the staff who are committed to keep serving through this COVID crisis – no matter how long it lasts.
Pray for our Guests
and the Lawrence community – the economic and health realities of COVID have impacted our community in deep and painful ways. It will be a long recovery even after a vaccine becomes available.
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Find out how you can help our Guests during this "season of safety & protocols" on or off site
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LAZARUS HOUSE – A Beacon of Hope in the darkness of poverty and homelessness.
In this era of COVID-19, Lazarus House continues its mission to help women, men, and children living in poverty restore their dignity and self-respect. We are concentrating our efforts to meet the basic needs of food and shelter for the people of Lawrence.
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Thank YOU for your Profound Partnership |
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