Portage Health Foundation donates nearly $400k to local organizations

HANCOCK — Thursday was a day of giving in Hancock. Fifteen non-profit organizations were presented with nearly $400,000 for the holidays. thanks in part to the Portage Health Foundation’s Giving Tuesday event.

Whenever there’s a need for a search and rescue team in addition to police and emergency personnel, there’s another group that always responds in Houghton County, no matter the time of day or the temperature outside. Superior Search and Rescue team is a group of 35 volunteers, and on Thursday morning they received a check for $6,464.

“We do not charge for our services at all, so getting funding is kind of hard for us,” said Darian Reed of Superior Search and Rescue.

Sometimes, when school children are on Christmas break they don’t have enough to eat. That’s when groups like 31 Backpacks step up and deliver groceries to them. They were presented with a check, for $18,049, to keep their services going.

Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly delivers food and checks on the areas aging population. This week the Portage Health Foundation gave them a check for $101,375.

“So this year what we did, we had 100-thousand dollars that we challenged the community to put their money where their heart was and come to support the organizations that we had partnered with this year,” said Kevin Store, executive director of the Portage Health Foundation.

They matched the amount of money given by the community to give to non-profit groups vital funds to keep going. This year they were also able to help out the Omega House. It’s an alternative to hospice care and offers a place for terminally ill patients to go when they’re low on money. The Portage Health Foundation presented them with $65,324.