WHITEHALL — The White Lake Community Fund enjoys giving away money to local nonprofits so much that Monday's announcement of the new batch of grant recipients included one - the White Lake Food Pantry, stationed at Lebanon Lutheran Church - which received money without applying for it.
Beth Pickard, an outgoing board member, said that thanks to local donors, the fund had more money available to give away this round than it had earmarked for applicants, so the pantry received a $10,000 grant. Doug Ogden, Lebanon Lutheran pastor, was on hand to accept the gift.
Ogden said about 150 families are served each week at the food pantry, and volunteers are active all the time to make sure the pantry's shelves are well stocked for local families. (There is a full story about the pantry in the Nov. 21 issue of the Mirror.) Nearly all clients at the pantry are from the Whitehall, Montague or Holton school districts, Ogden added. Just over half of the pantry's ministry is food, with the rest being relationship building and referring clients to other local organizations that help people in need.
White Lake was not the only food pantry granted a gift from the fund this round, as the Trinity Lutheran Church Community Food Pantry, based out of Trinity Lutheran in New Era, also received a $10,000 donation, which will be used to buy food for the pantry. Lisa Payne, who oversees the pantry, said thanks to the generous rate at which the pantry is able to purchase food from Feeding America, the donation will enable the pantry to bring in about 62,000 pounds of food.
"We give out more food than any pantry in the West Michigan area," Payne said, noting that the pantry's bi-weekly distributions include 8-10 pounds of meat among many other products.
The Trinity Lutheran pantry serves families from all over, including the White Lake area but some families as far away as Spring Lake, Ravenna and Bitely, Payne said.
Another grant was given to Lakeshore Keepers, in the amount of $6,975. The grant will enable the organization to update video equipment at the White River Light Station, which it oversees, to match the capabilities of the equipment at other Lakeshore Keepers stations. Executive director Jack Greve said about 5,000 visitors came to climb the tower at the White River station in its 150th anniversary season, and over four times more view the webcam that gives visitors a look at Lake Michigan from the lighthouse.
Ian Martin of the Arts Council of White Lake-Nuveen Center was on hand to accept a $6,500 grant, which will help the ACWL-Nuveen continue to put on its education classes. Martin said 70% of the classes funded by the grant are adult education classes, and that over 5,000 adults, many of them from the White Lake area, took classes at the center last year. He noted that with the state funding schedule not always reliable, he was thankful the WLCF ensured that those classes can continue to be funded.
An emotional Joe Hekkema accepted a $15,000 grant from the WLCF on behalf of Samaritan Way, which is being matched by the Community Foundation of Muskegon County to total $30,000. The statewide nonprofit - it also operates in Greenville and Manistee - has an office on Apple Avenue in Muskegon, but the grant money, Hekkema said, will enable Samaritans Way to do more outreach in the White Lake area, including bringing a mobile unit here once or twice a week. He said the nonprofit's vision is to provide more services to rural communities such as the White Lake area. Hekkema said the nonprofit works to provide services to those who have experienced substance use disorder and addiction, and many of the employees, Hekkema included, have gone through those struggles themselves. Among the services Samaritan Way provides are peer recovery coaching, support groups, outpatient therapy and counseling, medication-assisted therapy, and help pursuing housing opportunities.
The Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp received $5,000 in funding to help provide scholarship money to area students who want to attend. Development coordinator Stacy Farmer shared that next summer will be the camp's 60th season. The camp hosts 12-day sessions that give students an opportunity to study several types of performing arts, including visual art, band, choir, creative writing, theater and more. Farmer said she recalls one student from last year's camps for which the money was a decisive factor in helping make it possible for the student to attend.
The final gift was a $6,000 gift which will fund a consultant from Detroit coming to town to give training in cybersecurity for students and parents. The classes will take place at NBC Middle School and will be open to students of both Montague and Whitehall schools. Montague marching band director Emma Greenwood was not present at the meeting, but WLCF board member Greg Hillebrand presented on her behalf. He joked that it was his last year overseeing grants and he was proud to have helped Greenwood double the money of her request.
The WLCF has been in operation since 1979, and gave away $144,590 in grants to local nonprofits this year alone.
