New Beacon House to be named after Mariucci Family

MARQUETTE — The Hospitality House of the Upper Peninsula recently became closer to breaking ground on a new facility on the future UPHS – Marquette campus: the Legacy of Love Capital Campaign has just reached about $800,000 in pledges, thanks to a local celebrity.

Steve Mariucci and his family made the first pledge to the Legacy of Love Capital Campaign. The family pledged $150,000 at that time, but now the Mariuccis have doubled their pledge.

“My family and I are very honored to be involved in such a great humanitarian project as Beacon House,” said Steve Mariucci in a Beacon House press release. “We are thrilled that Beacon House has brought such comfort to thousands of U.P. families in their time of need. With 250,000 guest nights already provided over these past 16 years, we have all the evidence we need that moving forward with this new location is one of the most important and critical decisions we could make. I’m not just along for the ride; I’m in it to win it for all the people of the U.P. who are going to need it someday.”

In honor of the $300,000 pledge, the Beacon House Board of Directors has unanimously voted to name the new building the “Steve Mariucci Family Beacon House” when it is built.

“He is 200 percent committed, literally, since he just doubled his pledge, but our board has been talking about this for a long time, that we needed to show our gratitude and appreciation for what he’s done for us,” said Mary Tavernini-Dowling, CEO of the Hospitality House of the Upper Peninsula in an interview with ABC 10. “We thought ‘There’s just no way that this could be the anything else Beacon House, except for the Steve Mariucci Family Beacon House.'”

Beacon House is now about a quarter of the way to their $3 million goal to break ground on the new house. The organization has set a goal to have that amount in pledges by the end of 2018.

“Everyone can help us build this Beacon House. It’s a numbers thing. I’ve had so many people come up to me and say ‘But, I only have $100 over five years,’ I said ‘There’s no only. Whatever you have that you want to give to help us do what we’re trying to do, we’re grateful and they’re going to add up.’ It’s going to add up, that’s the beautiful thing about math. All of those $5 and $10 and $20, they will add up, and I know by December 31st, the number will be $3 million and we’re going to do this,” added Tavernini-Dowling.

The next fundraiser for the Beacon House is the Reverse Draw Raffle in May at the Marquette Regional History Center. More information on the capital campaign can be found HERE.

For updates on the Beacon House’s efforts or activities, click HERE to visit their Facebook page. Tavernini-Dowling also encourages people to visit Beacon House and do a tour if they aren’t sure what services Beacon House provides for the community.