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.

Jeff Hassel , Executive Director

See, I am doing a new thing!     Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness     And streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19

It’s usually springtime in which new life blooms, but this year COVID has turned things upside down.

Spring was a time of closings, uncertainty, and isolation. Beginning in March, when the Governor closed all non-essential services, Lazarus House leaders began twice-weekly meetings to talk-out the needs of the community and planned our responses. Amid sick staff, food shortages, and many working from home, our mission became crystal clear: Focus on the provision of food and shelter. Food and Shelter: It’s what we do best and what our community needed (and still needs) the most. Here are some of the actions we took back in the Spring: We moved our shelter Guests to a hotel so families could have their own space and isolate. We hired a second team of cooks in the Soup Kitchen to deepen our “bench” of kitchen staff to ensure that COVID could not shut down our Soup Kitchen. We limited Food Pantry access to staff only, to keep that tight-knit team safe. We instituted daily check-in protocols for everyone entering a Lazarus House facility. With a heroic effort, our Food Pantry stalwarts increased our supply of donated food even as cars cued in mile-long food lines in some areas of the country. We prioritized keeping you informed of what we are facing and how you can help.  Through it all – you, our donors and friends, were generous, and we are grateful!

As an autumn chill has now broken the string of hot August days, we are beginning to see the results of the last five months of intense work to focus on the provision of food and shelter.

In these updates, I’ve written about the significant changes taking place at our Shelter on Holly Street. Right now, the shelter is bustling with incredible volunteers and contractors, working to complete the metamorphosis to our family Shelter!  We’ve updated all rooms and invested your generosity wisely so that our staff can provide the safety, comfort, education of children, and case management that each of our families will need. Watching the progress in these last couple of weeks has been like watching the flowers burst into beautiful bloom in Spring! In the next few weeks, our staff will come back to work, and leaders Carmen and Almarie will train everyone on the new protocols and procedures before welcoming our first family in October! After consulting with an expert in retail store reopening from TJX Corporation, we brought our thrift store managers back to work, with the plan to reopen the South Union Street store (that store only). We are not taking donations yet (check Lazarushouse.org in October for info about the reopening.) The Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry are each serving 56% more Guests than they did pre-COVID, and we expect that number to increase to 75% by November. Two weeks ago, the Food Pantry gave out bags containing shelf-stable groceries, bread, fresh squash, and cucumbers! Our few Food Pantry staff gave each one of the 1100 people who came that Wednesday three bags of food, and by the end of the day, they were exhausted from the effort. They do this week in and week out. Bless them, O Lord! Project Bethlehem WILL run this year, and I cannot imagine a better time to bless economically vulnerable families with Christmas joy! For information on how you can participate, click here.  We are paying attention to our facilities – in preparation for the reopening and our next 38 years! In the past three months, wonderful volunteers painted the entire interior of our main building – the Good Shepherd Center – a tremendous job. We hired professionals to clean the HVAC ducts in all our facilities and installed hundreds of energy-efficient lights for free, thanks to a grant from National Grid. The place is looking good! Our Development Team overcame all manner of social distancing requirements and pulled off a terrific golf tournament on August 31. Excellent work, team! As with the Boston Marathon, neither can we hold the Hike for Hope as an in-person event. This year, we are creating multiple challenge events over the weekend of October 23,24,25 and a "LIVE" 5K walk/run Saturday October 24 at 10 a.m.

It turns out that Autumn is a time of growth for Lazarus House.

The needs of the community are growing, we have invested in new ways that will boost our mission ability: To provide food and shelter to the people of Lawrence. At the same time, we are innovating so we can flex to meet the greatest needs of the community now and for the next 38 years. These days are full of promise for Lazarus House. God has blessed the work we’ve done to shore up our ability to provide food and shelter with dignity and care for each Guest during this time of crisis. And now, slowly and thoughtfully, we begin to open again! Our hearts remain full of love for God, our supporters and our neighbors, and we will continue to be a beacon of hope in the darkness of this crisis. Through it all, you have been with us, and we give God thanks for your generosity in these most challenging days. I ask you to keep your support coming; our Guests need the food, shelter, and care your gifts provide. May God bless you and grant our world the healing we so desperately need.

Reverend Jeff Hassel, Executive Director "Linking Arms … From a Distance"

Please continue to partner with us; Lazarus House is here for the long haul and we need you!

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.

Find out how you can help our Guests during this "season of safety & protocols" on or off site

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 recognize their inherent dignity and self-respect. We are concentrating our efforts to meet the basic needs of food and shelter for the people of Lawrence.

Thank YOU for your Profound Partnership