About Us
The mission of Hospitality House is to end hunger in our community by providing food to those in need. Hospitality House works to fulfill this mission in two ways: by operating a food pantry that serves the residents of our immediate community—the Walled Lake school district and city of West Bloomfield—and by supporting efforts to fight hunger in the wider southeastern Michigan community by providing advice and aid to pantries in other cities.
Hospitality House first opened its doors on February 14, 2002. Since then, the pantry has grown phenomenally. In its first year of operation, Hospitality House served approximately 200 families while operating out of rooms borrowed from the First Baptist Church of Walled Lake. By 2004, the pantry had grown to the point where it needed its own 1800 square foot office/warehouse space. In late 2007, we expanded the office/warehouse to 3600 square feet. Hospitality House now distributes over 30,000 pounds of food to approximately 650 households every month.
When Hospitality House first opened, its services were limited to boxed and canned foods, but now, with the larger space, a walk-in freezer donated by the former Food Bank of Oakland County, and several other donated refrigerators and freezers, it has been able to expand into more nutritious fresh and frozen foods.
The food that Hospitality House distributes comes from a variety of sources. Much of it is donated by local school and church groups. Kroger and Costco donate day-old baked goods, and the Walled Lake Pizza Hut donates pizzas that the pantry divides and freezes. Also, Hospitality House is a member organization of Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan, which allows the pantry to purchase extremely low-cost food from Gleaners.
(A note on terms: Hospitality House is a food pantry, while Gleaners is a food bank. Both types of organization are necessary in order to distribute food to those in need. Food banks such as Gleaners receive large donations from corporations, break those donations down to manageable sizes, and sell the food by the carton to food pantries. The food pantries then distribute this food to clients. Food banks such as Gleaners do not distribute food directly to families.)
Updated July 22, 2009