Beacon House holds community tours

MARQUETTE — The Upper Peninsula is known for its tourist destinations. And today, one of the U.P.’s most important resources held tours of its facility, showing off their building and resources to the public.

Hundreds of people came to the Beacon House for a tour of the grounds. They were able to see rooms where hospital patients and their families stay, the community kitchen, and more.

Beacon House CEO Mary Dowling said the tour was a part of National Hospitality House Week. Across the nation, over two hundred houses next to hospitals have just one mission: provide a safe and affordable place for people to stay during a medical crisis.

“We’ve been doing this for well over 15 years. We’ve been in this building for 15 years and running the rooms for the last four or five (years),” said Dowling. “What we do every day is just absolutely wonderful. It fills your heart to know that when people are in a medical crisis that we can give them one less worry.”

And to top off the tours at the Beacon House Block Party, anyone who stopped by was able to get a little lunch, courtesy of Copper Crust Pizza. The hospitality house is inviting the public to tour their rooms at UP Health System – Marquette on Thursday.