June '17 Donations Go to Kids' Food Basket

Our donations this quarter go to the Muskegon branch of Kids' Food Basket, whose mission is to attack childhood hunger to help kids learn well and live well. Their strategy for fulfilling that mission is simple too: They feed kids. Over 800 kids every weekday in Muskegon and Muskegon Heights. 

Other nominees this quarter were Canteen 450, which serves coffee, water, sandwiches and snacks to firefighters and other first responders at emergency scenes, and our December 2015 winner the Hope Project, which works with the victims of sex trafficking.

Hope to see you at our next meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017, at the Sherman Bowling Center. Come join us as we cross the quarter-million-dollar threshold! 

YMCA's "Pool School" Earns Our March '17 Donations

The Muskegon YMCA wins our donations this quarter for their Safety Around Water program. Also known as "pool school", this program teaches water safety to third-graders around the county. That's an important topic in a community like ours where our "swimming pool" is a Great Lake and where drowning is the number two cause of death among children in the county, and we're proud to support them.

Other nominees at our March meeting were Muskegon Community Radio and the Muskegon-Oceana Community Action Partnership.

We'll be very happy in our new home, the Platinum Room at the Sherman Bowling Center. The facility is terrific, the sound system perfect, and the staff are very friendly and helpful. We're very grateful to General Manager Don Veltman and Event Coordinator Danielle Samuel for donating the space, without which we could not continue to do our good work. Stop in and bowl a line sometime to say thanks!

Sacred Suds Wins a Nail-Biter

Our March 2013 winner, Sacred Suds, won our donations again this quarter as we kicked off our sixth year of supporting local charities -- by one vote.

Sacred Suds,  project of Community EnCompass, provides laundry and shower facilities to those in need. They also offer hot and cold meals and a technology center with computers, printers and internet service, and volunteers provide tax preparation services during tax season. They plan to use our donations to help put a new roof on their building and buy some new commercial washers and dryers to replace aging ones.

Our worthy runners-up this quarter were The Arc Muskegon, our June 2014 winner, and first-time presenter Muskegon Community Radio.

Remember, our next meeting is March 8, 2017, in our new venue, the Sherman Bowling Center (map).

November 30 ends our fifth year!

Our meeting on Nov. 30 will end our fifth year of working together to support local Muskegon County charities. We will pass $220,000 in donations!

That meeting will also end our time at Fricano's Muskegon Lake. We're grateful for their generous donation of their conference center free of charge on 20 Wednesdays over those five years.

And we're excited to announce a new and very generous offer from Sherman Bowling Center to host us in their banquet hall -- also free of charge! What a terrific way for them to give back to the community! They're just minutes off of Business 31 (map). They'll serve drinks and food to those who want it, too. And in case you're wondering, yes, they have open bowling hours on Wednesday nights, so think about staying a while after our March 8 meeting.

Men and Ladies of Honor earns our Sept '16 donation

Our newest recipient is Men and Ladies of Honor. The mission of this group, which also won our donations in September 2014,  is to "develop passionate followers of Jesus Christ by training and mentoring youth ages 11-17, mostly at-risk & fatherless, in principles of chivalry, honor, moral excellence and courageous leadership."

Other presentations Wednesday evening at Fricano Place were Meals on Wheels and two-time winner Family Promise of Muskegon County.

If you weren't able to attend the meeting, please send your check promptly to Bill O'Brien. And please join us in December as we start our fourth year and push toward a quarter of a million dollars donated to worthy organizations right here in Muskegon County.  

Our June winner is the Father Jack Foundation

Four years after first earning our donations, the Father Jack Foundation has done it again. This terrific outfit helps people in need pay for utilities, medical bills, home safety repairs, auto repairs and many other types of emergency needs.

Other nominees in exceptionally tight voting this quarter were Meals on Wheels and our September 2014 winner Men and Ladies of Honor.

Step Up wins this quarter

Our March 2016 choice is Step Up. This new organization provides housing to young adults who are aging out of the foster care system.

Other nominees this quarter were Girls on the Run and our September 2013 winner, Family Promise of the Lakeshore.

Come join us in June as we cross the $200,000 threshold!