By GARRETT NEESE

gneese@mininggazette.com

HANCOCK — Local nonprofits are getting more than $850,000 this week from the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation’s Giving Tuesday campaign.

The global campaign to encourage philanthropy takes place every year on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. This was the seventh year Copper Shores has held the campaign locally. In 2023, it raised $857.200.24, within 1% of last year’s total.

Groups have been arriving at the Copper Shores headquarters in Hancock to pick up their checks starting Thursday and continuing until Monday. Copper Shores matched up to $250,000 in donations.

“It’s been fun to see the non-profits come in, and you know this money’s going to make an impact,” said Michael Babcock, director of marketing communications for Copper Shores.

Friday morning, he gave a check to the new director of the Baraga County Shelter Home, who told him their $15,000 would help them meet their budget for the year.

“We just had the Keweenaw ATV Club come in here, and you know the work they’re doing is helping families and friends make memories that are going to last a lifetime,” said Michael Babcock, director of marketing and communications.

The Keweenaw ATV Club received a check for $4,922 in their first year in the program.

“It came up, and I said, ‘Why not give it a try?'” said Kitty Beleck, the club’s vice president.

The group will put the money towards fixing trails. This spring, the club will be working on the first mile of the High Rock Trail, where 11 culverts are being installed. They’re also working on the trail from Vansville to Gay.

“It’s always been a snowmobile trail,” said Michael McMahon, the club’s president. “But we’ve been applying for the summertime use of it, and we finally got all the permits on that.”

Within the next two years, the club hopes to get the route designated as part of the state trail system, which will open up funding from the Department of Natural Resources.

The club hopes to be part of the campaign in future years. The trail system takes money to maintain, McMahon said, pointing to the $11 million needed to repair the flood damage to the state’s Lake Linden-to-Dollar Bay.

“You can spend $10,000 a year on gravel, and the grading,” McMahon said. “It’s just a maintenance issue keeping that up.”

Through seven years Copper Shores’ Giving Tuesday program has raised $3,631,423.75 for nonprofits from Baraga, Houghton, Keweenaw and Ontonagon counties.

“I’m shocked every year at this, how many people step up and make donations and how many local people step up and make these donations,” Babcock said.

More than 2,500 donations came in this year, in myriad ways. Some people stopped by with cash or check donations. There were multiple avenues online, from debit cards to Venmo. People also used methods like donor-advised funds and stock transfers.

New this year was Paypal, which accounted for about half of online donations.

“That’s just a lot of different arrows that point in the same way, and it’s getting them all to line up with each other,” Babcock said. “So it’s a lot of work. And our finance team did a great job making sure that every penny went exactly where it needed to go.”

Within the next week or two, Copper Shores will start looking at planning 2024’s campaign and seeing if any adjustments are needed. Last year’s new Giving Tuesday event that let the public meet with non-profits at the Copper Country Mall should be returning, Babcock said.

“Hopefully next year, we’re able to bring that back and help these nonprofits spread awareness of what they’re working on,” Babcock said.

To learn more about the campaign, go to coppershores.org/givingtuesday.