The Salvation Army continues to serve during novel coronavirsus pandemic
Salvation Army of Livingston County takes very seriously our call to "meet human needs" and have done just that over the past month of the noveal coronavirus pandemic.
In only 24 days, March 17 - April 17 , The Salvation Army of Livington County:
--Served 3861 prepared meals through the Mobile Lunch program (at lunch sites and delivered to homeless families)
--Had 2130 people visit our Mobile Lunch program
--Provide 9406.5 pounds of food through our Pantry
--Provided breakfast, lunch and snack boxes for 637 Howell School children
--Had 144 volunteers that provided over 429 hours of service
This is in addition to providing relief for any family or individual in need of our normal assistance programs.
As the pandemic continues and the needs of the community change, The Salvation Army steps in when they can. Over the past couple of weeks, The Salvation Army of Livingston County encountered another need, people that could not get to a food pantry or grocery store. After planning and preparation, last week we started a pantry delivery service.
“Shortly after affordable transportation became limited, we started receiving phone calls from people that could no longer get to a pantry due to lack of transportation and other reasons,” said Major Prezza Morrison “We knew something needed to be done to ensure all residents of Livingston County were still able to receive food. After brain storming and some test runs, we determined that we are able to provide a pantry delivery service.”
The delivery service is an appointment-based program that will deliver a box of shelf-stable food items to those in need with the priority being persons with no transportation first, seniors second and all others to follow. Persons in need must live in Livingston County and have no form of transportation or meet one of the other limited qualifications. After completing the online request form, those requesting the delivery will be contacted within 48 hours to determine if they meet the criteria.
“We recently received an email from a family in need. There were children in the home and due to an automobile accident, the single parent was not able to drive or work,” said Major Morrison “Now without income they really depended on the community resources but had no way of getting them. Afraid the children may go without, they frantically contacted us to see what we could do. At that time, we were not providing delivery service, however we could not let a family go without. That was our trial run which helped us decide that we could do this.”
To sign up for the delivery service individuals should visit www.SalvationArmyLivingston.org where they will find a form to complete and submit. Once the form is submitted someone will contact the individual within 48 business hours. Completing the form does not guarantee a delivery. Due to the limited staff onsite, The Salvation Army prefers those seeking assistance to complete the online form verse calling the office.
The Salvation Army is seeking monetary donations to help with these additional programs. The estimated cost for all of the new programs and services is about $50,000 more per month.
To donate in-kind or monetary donations contact April Dertian at 517-295-4344 or april.dertian@usc.salvationarmy.org.
Donations can be dropped off at The Salvation Army Corps location Monday- Friday 9am-3:00pm, 503 Lake St, Howell 48843, mailed to P.O Box 647, Howell MI 48844 or donated online www.SalvationArmyLivingston.org
New information is posted regularly, and we may change to better serve the needs. For up-to-date information check out our Facebook page: Facebook @SalvationArmyLivingston
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