Presque Isle Electric and Gas Co-op President and CEO, Tom Sobeck, presented a check for $2,500 to Women’s Resource Center of Northern Michigan (WRCNM) to help fund Safe Home playground upgrades made as part of the 2017 Leadership Little Traverse community service project. Pictured receiving the check are (from left), Elise Tippett, WRCNM Therapist; Angie Linsenman, WRCNM Therapist and Counseling Program Director; Izabela Babinska, LLT member; Sobeck; Nikki Devitt and Dan Calloway, LLT members.

Women’s Resource Center of Northern Michigan’s (WRCNM), Safe Home provides a secure and supportive place to stay for women and their children experiencing the perils of domestic abuse. Because the Safe Home playground was in dire need of updates, Leadership Little Traverse (LLT) class of 2017 members decided to embrace it as their community service project.

LLT members, along with WRCNM staff, submitted a grant application to secure $2,500 in funding from Presque Isle Electric and Gas Co-op through their Communities First Fund. The purpose of the fund is to support benevolent and philanthropic needs of people and organizations in the co-op’s service area. An independent Board of Directors meets quarterly to determine projects to fund using money collected from co-op members who voluntarily donate the ‘round up’ amount on their utility bill to the next whole dollar. The Communities First Fund has donated more than $1.37 million back to the communities they serve.

The Communities First Fund grant, donations and two fundraisers helped raise enough dollars to complete the Safe Home playground project.

WRCNM provides a variety of supportive services for women, children and families in Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Emmet and Otsego counties. For more information on WRCNM programs and service call the main office at (231) 347-0067 or call the 24-hour crisis line at (231) 347-0082.