Deer and Turkey on the Old Mission Peninsula | Jane Boursaw Photo
Deer and Turkey Confab in Tim and Jane's Driveway | Jane Boursaw Photo
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Looking for ways to help out your neighbors in our OMP community? Here are a few ways to help as we all get through this COVID-19 pandemic together.

Old Mission Peninsula School (OMPS) Families

Since the school closed on Friday, March 13, 2020 – per Gov. Whitmer’s executive order – the OMPS PTO (more info about the PTO here) has been supplementing the neediest OMPS families with Meijer grocery gift cards. Many students rely on daily lunches and snacks at school, and other families are needing to commit limited finances elsewhere right now with unexpected unemployment, tighter budgets, and less access to fund and food supports off the Old Mission Peninsula.

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“We are primarily collecting for our Family Assistance Fund online,” says PTO President Debra Hartley, “but we’ve also had generous donors drop off or send a check to my home, which I deposit remotely into our OMPS PTO checking account.”

She says the PTO has distributed more than 30 Meijer grocery cards thus far. “We’re facing the next phase of distribution and will need to continue fundraising efforts,” she says. To date, new donations have covered about half of the gift cards, with existing PTO funds covering the other half.

If you’d like to help support these OMP families, here are a few ways:

  • Donate online at the OMPS PTO’s fundraising page: https://omps-pto.square.site
  • Drop off or mail a donation check made payable to “OMPS PTO”:

OMPS PTO, c/o Debra Hartley
1634 Moonrise Court
Traverse City, MI 49686

Donation receipts are also available upon request.

Help a Family With Food, Cash and Diapers

Old Mission Peninsula United Methodist Church (check out their website here) has received a request for help with food for a young family with two little ones, ages 5 years and 8 months. Since there is no one at the church most of the time these days, church member Wendy Warren is accepting donations of both food and money, on the church’s behalf, at her farm stand at 2705 Island View Road.

There is a donation box at the stand for nonperishables, and cash donations may be dropped into the stand’s cash box, after enclosing them in a clearly marked envelope.

Donations will continue through Friday, April 3, 2020. Favorites of the kids include Honey Nut Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, Raisin Bran, Fruit Loops, canned pastas (Beefaroni, etc.) and pea soup. They can also use bread, juice and milk. Other needs include Pampers Diapers, size 4, and Baby Formula Enfamil Gentlease.

Supplies for Local Healthcare & Emergency Workers

Our local healthcare workers are in need of multiple items, including n95 masks, hand sanitizer, disposable gloves (especially non-latex), wipes (bleach or antimicrobial) and more. Click over to Munson Healthcare’s website here for the full list of items needed and how you can donate.

They are also grateful for the donation of hand-sewn masks, both elastic band and tie-style masks. Ensure that the fabric is tight-knit or tightly-woven, breathable and water-repellent. Click here to download the instructions for creating hand-sewn face masks (courtesy of Phoebe Health Systems), and watch a helpful video here.

Hand-sewn masks must be dropped off at one of the designated drop-off sites. The Traverse City site is:

Goodwill Northern Michigan
2779 W. South Airport Road
Traverse City, MI 49684
Monday – Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.

Locally on the OMP, our Peninsula Fire Department is in need of hand sanitizer. If you have any hand sanitizer that you can donate, please contact Fire Chief Fred Gilstorff at (231) 223-4443 or (231) 463-0330, or email [email protected].

If you know of other needs in the community, feel free to email me at [email protected], or leave them in the comments section at the bottom of this story. Thank you!

Also Read…

SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL NEWSPAPER: I started Old Mission Gazette in 2015 because I felt a calling to provide the Old Mission Peninsula community with local news. After decades of writing for newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, I really just wanted to write about my own community where I grew up on a cherry farm and raised my own family. So I started my own newspaper.

Because Old Mission Gazette is a "Reader Supported Newspaper" -- meaning it exists because of your financial support -- I hope you'll consider tossing a few bucks our way if I mention your event, your business, your organization or your news item, or if you simply love reading about what's happening on the OMP. In a time when local news is becoming a thing of the past, supporting an independent community newspaper is more important now than ever. Thank you so much for your support! -Jane Boursaw, Editor/Publisher, Old Mission Gazette

To keep the Gazette going, click here to make a donation.

To view or leave comments on this story, click HERE.

Bay View Insurance of Traverse City Michigan

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