What a year so far!
Greetings from Lighthouse Community Center. I am sitting right now in a very empty, quiet building. These past three months have been extremely challenging, confusing, and surreal. We decided to shut down and cancel everything starting on March 16, even before the stay at home orders began. This was a very hard decision to make, but we serve an extremely diverse group of people, many of whom are the most vulnerable to the Coronavirus, so we felt it as the best thing to do to protect those whom we serve. We started having many conversations on how to create and keep community without being able to come together.
Throughout the stay at home order we spent time calling, texting, and sending messages to those people who we had contact information for. We were able to deliver groceries and toilet paper to those who could not get out. We were able to talk with those who were lonely and feeling isolated at home, and we were able to create an online presence through facebook by posting articles, links to resources, and encouragement.
The best thing I saw happening during this time is hard to put into words. Throughout the week we see so many people, and work hard to create a safe space where community is built and friendships are made. During COVID-19 I was able to see the fruits of our labor. Every time I would call to check in on someone, they would tell me who they were checking in on, and who they were helping. I was able to see how many friendships had grown out of our time together, and that we really are creating community in our neighborhoods. And it continues to grow and spread, even when we are not having any programming, or meeting together.
Beginning in the middle of June we opened up Coffee Spot again with limited hours and outside only. This has been going well so far and it is great to start to see people after months at home. We also opened up our free table again, have been working through a lot of donations, and are so thankful to be able to bless people. We have also started kickboxing class back up on Tuesday nights, meeting outside. It felt so good to exercise together again, and it has been a great stress reliever for everyone who comes, and a great way to reconnect and feel a little bit of normalcy. The final thing we have started back up again is bingo on Monday mornings. The first time went pretty well, turn out was a little small, but again, it was so nice to reconnect with people and begin to feel a little bit of normal in our lives.
It gets me excited to continue to grow and reach more and more of our neighbors. To be able to experience more ways neighbors, strangers, and people from all parts of society, come together, form friendships, learn from each other, and work together to build and create a stronger, healthier neighborhood, city, and community. ---Shanna Grigoletti