Beacon House asks Yoopers to leave 'Legacy of Love' donation to fund new building
HOUGHTON — When the new hospital in Marquette opens in 2018, representatives from the Beacon House hope a new hospitality center will be opening with them.
They are raising money for a new 60-bed facility that will serve as a home away from home when loved ones are receiving medical care. Beacon House has provided 175,000 guest nights at their current location since 2002, but they will be 15 blocks away from the new hospital.
Hospitality House of the U.P. CEO Mary Dowling said, “The new hospital also won’t include the hospitality rooms and the program that we run, so people will have really very limited options of where to stay affordably.”
Beacon House is counting on individual donors since there aren’t the big corporate donors in the area that big cities have.
Dowling said, “Here in the Upper Peninsula, our major donors are the 311,000 people who live here. When they collectively come together with their couple dollar a month donation, that’s what adds up to be our major donors.”
They hope to break ground in 2017. You can donate at upbh.org/donate.