Switching focus for COVID-19 response

LCO, March 2020

In early March, as concerns grew over the COVID-19 outbreak, Lighthouse Center Bakery (LCB) decided to temporarily close the bakery and café to avoid risk exposure to customers and crew. A week later, Oregon declared a state of emergency as the COVID-19 pandemic set in. As other businesses followed suit with closures, some commented on LCB’s proactive stance in staying ahead of the game.

LCO swung into action to organize for social distancing as LCB wound down its operations. Then we were inspired to help those in need during the pandemic. We decided to go out there and help, and do it responsibly.

We made calls to the community to find out what help they needed. During this unprecedented emergency, charity organizations in the area were pulling together to collaborate efficiently to serve the community.

Food pantries and homeless shelters told us they had no bread at all. Grocery stores and food banks were unable to donate bread to these charities because distribution chains had been affected.  On top of that, more people were expected to need help as unemployment increased.

LCO volunteers decided to use the commercial kitchen at LCB to bake bread and desserts and cook soup for the food pantries and homeless shelters. Food hygiene is always important to us, and we are taking extra care to completely adhere to the COVID-19 health and safety regulations published by the health department.

And just like that we shifted gears from running a bakery and café to ramping up our charity operations to serve those in need.