Ben Garbcz/Daily Mining Gazette The final information session from Copper Shores regarding the millage request for the Meals on Wheels program was held Tuesday at the Orpheum Theater. Kevin Store and Kathleen Harter were present to answer any questions attendees had and give a presentation.

HANCOCK — Copper Shores held its eighteenth and final informational session regarding the 2025 Elder Nutritional Millage Proposal at the Orpheum Theater Tuesday. The nonprofit organization held multiple information sessions in an effort to provide its collected data and information regarding the Meals on Wheels program and what benefits it proposes to provide. If the proposal were to pass at the Tuesday’s election, Houghton Country property owners would be taxed up to one mill to expand program services further into the county’s more rural areas and provide services to seniors currently on the program’s waiting list.

Copper Shores says the program currently covers 190 miles daily in deliveries serving more than 300 seniors on nine routes. The program also provides a social aspect between the delivery driver and senior, and even outside the delivery with weekly Meet and Eat events which bring seniors together for a meal.

Copper Shores CEO Kevin Store held these sessions throughout the county with many citizens in attendance to hear the presentations. He said the general feeling towards the program from those attending has been a genuine interest to understand the needs that exists.

“There’s a lot of people that are expressing support for the meals from our elders,” Store said. “There’s also people that are concerned about the increased tax, and rightly so. And then there’s also some folks that have expressed their concerns about just the overwhelming amount of issues that are on this August 5 special election ballot, and what does that mean in terms of their personal property tax?”

At the meeting there was a presentation given by Store and Meals on Wheels Program Director Kathleen Harter regarding statistics collected by Copper Shores and personal accounts from the program’s recipients and their families. Intertwined with the presentation were audience questions and their personal accounts. Alison Comparin shared her mother has been on the Meals on Wheels program for three years, and two or three months ago her mother fell in the kitchen. The Meals on Wheels delivery driver heard the fall and was able to provide assistance to her and then the organization contacted Comparin. “I definitely think that Meals on Wheels goes more than just the meals aspect [with] having someone there coming multiple times a week,” Comparin said.

Several instances like this have occurred in which delivery drivers have come across seniors during or after a medical emergency and their presence allowed them to call for emergency services. Surveys taken from Meals on Wheels recipients share 54 percent of them like that the delivery drivers check on them each day and 59 percent stated the program helps them feel connected with the outside world.

There was a variety of questions directed at Store and Harter. Hancock City Manager Mary Babcock asked if federal funding has impacted what the group currently can provide, and that the millage is not going to be able to be enough to subsidize what is needed.

“We know that based on the numbers that you see in the information that we put out based on our 23 audited financials that we have, that amount technically is already going down our contract with UPCAP for 24-25 is $272,027,” Store answered. “If we are even at our rate that we’ve been consistent with, we do get a small percentage of donor or a participant contribution, about $125,000 a year over 95,000 meals. It’s a buck a meal, plenty of meals. It’s not enough to make a big difference. But we’re not knocking that. So between all that, maybe about $400,000 that we get to support the program, we’re underwriting that right now at about $900,000 to a million dollars.”

Store brought up a question that has been asked at prior sessions, which is why can’t the organization use its endowment to cover the cost? He explained the endowment is not like a retirement fund.

“You spend your entire retirement fund in a two, three year period, and you forget about the next 20 years that you’re hoping to live with — it’s the same thing with our endowment,” Store said. He later added if Copper Shores were to solely fund the meals program alone with an endowment, it would need to be $30 million to $35 million of an endowment just to set aside for the program for Houghton County. According to the Copper Shores website, the investment policy only allows 4 percent of a withdrawal of the endowment per year, giving the annual budget of around $3 million. The current endowment of Copper Shores sits at approximately $75 million according to its website.

One of the audience members asked if any money raised from the millage would go to things such as new vehicles. She said there have been rumors suggesting Copper Shores is looking to purchase vehicles. Store explained this was not the case and purchases such as vehicles would come from separate fundings outside the millage.

Store believes the sentiment surrounding the issue of providing Meals on Wheels services is one of strong support for the request and organization, but a little hesitation in a tax increase. He explained that after all the sessions he honestly cannot say he feels 100 percent confident the measure will be approved by voters, and once again cited other ballot issues. The other ballot issues for Aug. 5 include millages for the Copper Country Intermediate School District and a millage for the Houghton County jail, and Canal View. Store said people have told him they are not going to vote in support of it, but it is not because they do not believe in the organization but rather they cannot afford it.

“I can appreciate that and I can respect that. The August fifth (election) is going to be a nail biter of an afternoon to see what actually happens with it,” he said.

If the millage is accepted by voters, the wait list of new senior recipients will be included into the program and how to provide the services to new parts of Houghton County. If the millage does not pass, Copper Shores will review how much longer it can support the program.

“I don’t see us walking away from the program in its entirety, but the hard part is we know that the level of financial support that we have for the program doesn’t cover nearly the need that exists in the county, and we’re going to have to find an appropriate level of support that we can give and and maybe not be able to serve everybody, but serve as many people as we can,” Store said.

More information regarding the millage request can be found at coppershores.org.