Open House at Beacon House

This week is National Hospitality House Week.

And the only such facility in the area opened its doors today to help the community learn more about what it does.

Beacon House on Third Street in Marquette is the only hospitality house in the Upper Peninsula.

Staff hosted a free hot dog cookout and tours of the facility this afternoon.

Many people who refer clients to Beacon House never get to visit the place.

Development director Brian Hartzell says physicians and other staff at MGH are so busy doing their own jobs that they don’t usually have a chance to see what goes on where many of their patients are staying.

Many patients who go to Marquette General Health System for treatment live outside the Marquette area.

Beacon House serves as a home away from home for them and their families.

It opened in 2002, and it serves about 10,000 people a year.

It’s also important that people know what the house does, since it has to get by entirely on community donations.