HOUGHTON - The Keweenaw Community Foundation is about making the local community better, but members of the organization think it's important to recognize the efforts of the groups they work with, and that was the purpose of a dinner and awards presentation Wednesday at the Michigan Technological University Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts.
Before the awards presentation, KCF Executive Director Barb Rose and other board members introduced representatives of three organizations involved with the KCF.
One of the newer of the 53 endowments with the KCF is the Copper Country Youth Hockey Endowment, and Brent Peterson said the local Hooked On Hockey program benefits greatly from the KCF.
Peterson said the program was started by local people who thought having something for local children to do in the winter was important.
"In our area, when the winters are cold, dark and long, why not play hockey?" he said.
Buying expensive hockey equipment is difficult for many families, and Peterson said the Copper Country Youth Hockey Endowment provides assistance for those families.
"We're trying to take the cost factor out of hockey," he said.
One of the older KCF endowments is the Keweenaw Family Resource Center, and Director Cathy Benda said the endowment helps the organization perform its function of providing support to children from birth to 4 years old.
Benda said how well a child develops intellectually is determined by what happens to them in those early years.
"The years between birth and 3 are the most important years for brain development," she said.
Benda said 85 percent of emotional and intellectual growth happens from birth to age 3, and the efforts of the KFRC are aimed at helping children develop as fully as possible, including providing parents with information about what the negative impacts, such as the effects of tobacco smoke and stress, can have on the developing child's brain.
"All moms need to have this information," Benda said.
The KFRC provides programs for newborns, play for older children and literacy, all of which help make the community better.
"If our community is thriving, our children are thriving," she said.
The KCF board of directors chose Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly as the endowment which most affected basic needs in the Keweenaw, and LBFE Executive Director Mike Aten spoke about the organization's Turn On the Heat program, which provides assistance to elderly low-income people.
Aten said the Turn On the Heat program came about as a result of discussions between himself and several other people. One of the first ideas for a fundraising effort was to sell Tootsie Pops, and $4,500 was raised.
"That's not bad for Tootsie Pops," he said.
Eventually, Aten said it was decided to have a concert as a fund-raiser, also, and the KCF provided a $5,000 to make it happen. The concert raised $28,000, which was split evenly with St. Vincent DePaul in Hancock and L'Anse.
Last year, LBFE had 900 volunteers provide 35,000 hours of service, which Aten said is the reason the organization is able to be so effective.
"What a community," he said.
After the speakers, the awards presentations were made, including: The most significant corporate gift from a non-profit, which went Portage Health, one of the original donors to the KCF; Most significant number of donations, which went to Omega House; and Volunteer of the year, which went to Matt Thyer of Up and Running, computer system and designer consultants.
Kurt Hauglie can be reached at khauglie@mininggazette.com.
