Gogebic Health Foundation awards Erickson Grants

By CHARITY SMITH

[email protected]

Ironwood - The Gogebic Range Health Foundation has announced three recipients of the for the second year of the Jonathan A. Erickson Fund grants.

The awardees include the Emberlight Ambassador Leadership Program, the Wakefield-Marenisco School Youth Skatepark Project and the Gogebic County Sheriff's Department for Project Life Saver.

Andrea Bergman, executive director of the foundation presented two of the awardees with a check on Thursday morning.

Bergman presented the Wakefield-Marenisco Skate Club with a check for $6,000 at the newly founded skate park in Eddy Park near Sunday Lake in Wakefield. The skate park was the vision of a small group of Wakefield-Mariensco students and their teacher Chris Tweiten.

The students petitioned the city council to turn the former Eddy Park tennis courts into a skate park in October and the request was granted a few months later.

Tweiten said he is very grateful for the grant. He said the money will be used to by a couple additional pieces to round out the offerings of the park which he said is a rarity in the area. According to Tweiten, some kids from Marquette recently came to the area to use the skate park and said they were thrilled to have a skate park like this to use.

"I'm just thrilled to see what you guys do with this," said Bergman.

Tweiten said the kids told him that even though the park is not the biggest and the baddest around yet, it is their favorite because it is theirs and they started it from the ground up. He said the club has plans to hold skateboarding lessons and competitions in the park in the future.

"It's just good to see that they can put fourth the effort and have it come to be," said Tweiten.

The second check was given to the Gogebic and Iron Project Lifesaver. The check, for $8,000 was received by both Gogebic County Sheriff Ross Solberg and Iron County Sheriff Paul Samardich at the Gogebic County Sheriff's Office in Bessemer.

Project Lifesaver is a way for law enforcement and other officials to easily track down children with cognitive impairments, such as autism, and as well as seniors with Alzheimer's or dementia who may wander and get lost.

Solberg said he got the idea after the Houghton County Sheriff's Office started similar program.

According to Bergman the idea also stemmed from the passing of a local student in Ontonagon who had a mental disability and wandered away from his home in the winter of 2021.

Solberg said they will be receiving training in August and the program should be up and running by mid-September. He said the funds will allow them to purchase the equipment necessary to start the program which includes bracelets which can track the location of those that wear them and receivers which will be used by the search and rescue units in each county will have a receiver to be able to track their location. He said they should be able to purchase at least 30 of these bracelets, but if they need more they will order more.

Samardich said Iron County is pleased to be part of the project, too.

Bergman said that although the health foundation serves both counties this is the foundation's first project that will benefit both counties at once.

Solberg said that the sheriff's offices share services for GIANT and the local emergency SWAT team, so they thought it would be a good idea to work together for this as well.

The Jonathan A. Erickson Fund was established by Scott and Elaine Erickson to honor the memory of their son after he died by suicide. The mission of the fund is to create new programs and opportunities that engage people who experience mental health issues and to prevent suicides, said Bergman. She said the goal of the fund is to expand traditional and nontraditional programs and services for mental health care.