Coronavirus: Andover High Schooler Fundraising For Lazarus House

ANDOVER, MA — Andover high school junior Avinaash "Avi" Janarthanan has been donating and organizing food drives for Lawrence's Lazarus House since he was in fourth grade. When he found himself out of school with time on his hands due to the new coronavirus, he decided to do what he could to support the organization. Lazarus House Ministries provides shelter, food and clothing to people in need.

Avi started a GoFundMe, which has already raised nearly $2,000 from 26 donors, in under a week. The current goal for the fundraiser is $10,000, Avi said.

"While many of us have access to necessities such as shelter, clothing, and food, not everyone is so fortunate," he explained. "During this turbulent time, the Lazarus House has been providing these basics to those in need through supplying meals, groceries, emergency shelter and more. Due to the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus, they are most in need of monetary donations, which will allow them to react and adjust to anything that comes their way quickly."

The GoFundMe is available here.

Lazarus House is facing a double challenge: preparing for higher need as people lose jobs and pay, and providing services while keeping staff, volunteers and patrons safe from the new coronavirus. Already, they have had to close their thrift store and cleaning service and stop using volunteers. Typically, they have 5,000 volunteer a year.

They have also switched from a grocery store-style food pantry and a soup kitchen to grab-and-go bags for meals and groceries. Executive Director Jeff Hassel said they're committed to keeping their emergency shelter and their food services open.

"Of course we're participating in social distancing and cleaning like crazy for the last two weeks, but still, just the fact that we're preparing meals on a grab-and-go basis, it causes a bit of fear in some of our families, Hassel said. "We're feeling that tension right now."

One measure they're taking is hiring more staff, so that they can rotate people in if permanent staff gets sick or otherwise needs time to rest. They've also committed to keeping on all their staff, including part-time employees who have other jobs that they may have already lost.

"When I hear of someone who does a GoFundMe for Lazarus House, they're making possible the hiring of new staff. They're making possible the distribution of food," Lazarus said.

"I believe its extremely important to get the community aware of this initiative because I know how caring and generous this community is," Avi said. "Even if the campaign does not get to $10,000, as long as we are able to provide even just one extra meal for someone in need I think it means a lot."

According to Hassel, currently fewer people than usual are using the food pantry, as they follow public health guidance to stay home as much as possible. But they expect an explosion in need in a few weeks.

"We expect, a little bit later on, a much larger number of people will be coming to us, in the recovery phase of covid-19," Hassel said, pointing to the economic damage that's been done to the service industry.

In addition to welcoming donations, Hassel encouraged residents to volunteer once the outbreak is over.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.