By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
On Wednesday Lighthouse Charities Team (LHCT) held an open house along with a ribbon cutting to celebrate the non-profit’s full ownership of the building they have been operating out of at 6918 Broadway in Galveston.
The building was donated to LHCT by the Del Papa family. There were a few repairs that needed attention before the donation was finalized and John Bertolino, the current president of LHCT, shared were all addressed by the generosity of the Del Papa family.
LHCT has been helping people out in good times and bad times for 42 years, originally founded by Dick and Horacene Dugrid. The couple started with feeding volunteers for the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon at their insurance office which was built in the shape of a lighthouse.
From there the idea of helping people who were helping other people blossomed and the couple took their culinary arts skills along with their hospitality to build a unique charity organization.
Troubled waters brought out by hurricanes, tropical storms, pandemics and all the other hardships that have hit the region brought growth for LHCT services. They expanded adding cooking equipment, mobile kitchens and team members.
But then tragedy struck when Dick was taken home to be with his heavenly father and the team was caught out in a storm they had not yet faced—how would they continue without him?
“When Dick died we were worried about the future of Lighthouse Charities,” said one team member. “But it’s all worked out and we are as strong as ever.”
Horacene though grieving the loss of her husband, didn’t give up and neither did the devoted team members, and so the legacy of the couple’s vision continues to thrive. As the team celebrated the building acquisition, they also honored Horacene for her years of inspirational leadership and tens of thousands of hours serving people.
If you would like to be part of a team of people who do things like roast turkeys for the community’s many Thanksgiving dinners or prepare food to serve when the next natural disaster strikes and other assortments of meals that they prepare to serve the community, you can find them at https://lighthousecharityteam.com. If you would like them to prepare a meal for your nonprofit event you can also reach out to them.
