(WXYZ) — Since this pandemic hit more than six weeks ago, people have been losing their jobs, waiting on stimulus checks and unemployment relief, and it has left many families in southeast Michigan unable to take care of their basic needs.
As part of The Rebound Detroit, we want to focus on a volunteer who is helping fill the void for food insecurity and so much more.
The ills of the Covid-19 pandemic are not just visible in the ER or the makeshift morgues. It’s on the faces of people lining up for food everywhere fearful if the virus doesn’t make their children sick hunger pains will.
"I’ve seen other family members struggling to keep food on the table and by that with me coming to get food I can be able to help," Lanaih Harris, an 8th grader, told us.
Lanaih was so worried for her family that she to Greenfield Union School to pick up meals being donated outside of the school on a Saturday and she’s not alone.
Adam Murphy is the director of the non profit Focus Detroit.. He says the Detroit Public School Community District has set up feeding sites around the city for kids and whole families during the week.
"On weekends sometimes children in the neighborhoods don’t get food. We’re here to fill that gap and provide food for Saturdays and Sundays," he said.
With nearly 1.5 million Michiganders living food insecure and the number of unemployed over a million, the need for help is surging.
So this food is vital. Luckily this week, Diane and Chris Michalakis, a GM retiree, donated the food.
I got the stimulus that I don’t need, I collect Social Security, so my wife and I decided to put it back into the community," he said.
Volunteers assemble lunch bags, enough to feed about 100 people. Local churches and restaurants help too.
Adam moved here from Boston in December. After graduating from the seminary.
But no training could have prepared him for the suffering, or the grateful reaction to his kindness.
After handing out meals outside the school, we followed Adam on his home delivery route for families who would otherwise go without.
Additional Coronavirus information and resources:
Read our daily Coronavirus Live Blog for the latest updates and news on coronavirus.
Click here for a page with resources including a COVID-19 overview from the CDC, details on cases in Michigan, a timeline of Governor Gretchen Whitmer's orders since the outbreak, coronavirus' impact on Southeast Michigan, and links to more information from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC and the WHO.
View a global coronavirus tracker with data from Johns Hopkins University.
Find out how you can help metro Detroit restaurants struggling during the pandemic.
See all of our Helping Each Other stories.
See complete coverage on our Coronavirus Continuing Coverage page.
