The fire which destroyed the House of Lazarus in South Mountain on April 25 was a major blow to the continuous and vital work performed by that organisation on behalf of so many in both North Dundas and North Grenville communities. With the exception of some food stored in walk-in freezers, everything HOL had in store at their warehouse and Food Bank was lost in the fire, and a new permanent home was urgently needed.
Since then, the two communities served by HOL have rallied to ensure that the aptly named House of Lazarus would rise again. Willis Kerr Contracting Ltd. have provided a temporary home for HOL’s warehouse needs at their premises in Mountain, and local businesses and individuals have made financial donations to enable their important work to continue.
Cathy Ashby, Executive Director of HOL, says that HOL has been working with North Dundas Township and the Eastern Ontario Health Unit to get the space ready to open as a food bank, hopefully within a month.
“We are humbled at the generosity of our community,” said Cathy. “Food and monetary donations continue to come in. This generosity is ensuring that people in our community receive the food that they need. We are very thankful that we live in such a great community.”
The Times has joined in the great effort to see HOL rise from the ashes and made a donation of $1,000 last week. “The Times serves both municipalities, so we thought it important that we do what we could to help HOL at this difficult point in their story”, said Maggie Boyer, co-owner of the Times.
The impetus behind the donation came from one our contributors. Peter Johnston. He thought it would be an appropriate gesture to make the donation in thanks to the regular and unpaid writers whose work is a regular feature of both the North Dundas and North Grenville Times. We are all part of these communities, and it was felt to be important that we also be part of the HOL recovery.
So, on behalf of Peter, Eva, Zara, John, Gord, as well as our letter writers and staff, a cheque was presented to HOL by Brandon and Peter. Anyone wishing to donate to the rebuilding of HOL’s work in their community, or to see the wide range of services provided by HOL, can do so at https://hol.community. Their new location can be found at 10506 Clark Rd., Mountain, On.
