Giving back to our local communities is something we take very to heart. As the seriousness and devastating impact of the 2020 COVID pandemic became apparent, leadership at Great Lakes decided to take action to help our suffering local restaurant and hospitality industry workers. What started as a grass roots effort to raise much needed funds for our local sole proprietors, service staff, and back of the house workers has resulted in the formation of Local Love (501c3). The initial purpose of Local Love was to identify individual members of our local foodservice communities that we can truly make an impact on as many are still struggling or who had major setbacks due to business closures, limited gathering, and in some cases pivoting their operations from indoor dining to delivery and take out.

To date Local Love efforts across 3 divisions – Detroit, Madison, WI, and Kalamazoo have raised well over $100,000 in funds for individual restaurant owners and workers to help them pay rent, operating expenses, or any other needed personal bills.

Local Love continues to evolve and has branched out to raising funds for victims of natural disasters such as the Kentucky Tornadoes in 2022. Other local Michigan businesses have joined to partner in the Great Lakes West Local Love charity, and we expect these efforts to assist needy members of our local communities will continue for many years!

Find out more about Great Lakes West current efforts and community needs here: www.locallovekzoo.com