PONTIAC, Mich. – An emergency food supply for Oakland County families is getting dangerously low.
Lighthouse in Pontiac distributes nonperishable food items to families and pantries across the county. Now, they’re calling on the community to get help in replenishing their shelves.
“This is really worrisome, this is definitely an emergency,” said Angela Gill, food program manager at Lighthouse.
Lighthouse is where people who live or work in Oakland County go when they have nowhere else to turn.
“Making decisions between prescriptions, ‘can I afford my medical coverage this week, can I eat?’ So that’s why we’re here,” Russell Estill, food program director at Lighthouse, said.
They serve 5,000 households a month from the emergency food warehouse.
“Gleaner’s is one of our largest partners, Forgotten Harvest; they supply a lot of our fresh items but when it comes to nonperishable items, the pantry staples that people are really using as the core of their meals, those are purchased, donated items,” Gill said.
The supply of those items is so low that they had to limit families to one box of food a month instead of two.
Program leaders believe there are multiple factors that are causing their supply to dip.
“There’s a lack of funding currently, the rise in food costs so what we could purchase previously is now increased in the rate that we would receive it at,” said Gill.
She also cited the lack of donations after the holidays.
“The numbers are still increasing and unfortunately the food isn’t,” Estill said. “For example, we’re averaging between 190 to 200 new households, people that want to join the program.”
Now, they’re leaning on the communities generosity to limit the impact on the families that depend on them.
“We’re just really hoping and praying it doesn’t get to the point where we cannot serve our recipients,” Estill said.
To donate or drop-off food, click here.
Below is a list of items they need:
- Macaroni and cheese
- Cereal
- Canned fruit
- Canned corn and beans
- Peanut butter
- Jelly
- Canned soup
- Canned chili/ stew
- Canned meat - tuna, chicken, etc.
- Canned ravioli or spaghetti
- Boxed potatoes
- Pasta sauce
- Dry pasta
- Rice
- Granola bars
- Variety of snack foods
- Powdered or condensed milk
- Boxed prepared meals