Caring for Our Neighbors and Our Community        

Dear Friends of the Bay Harbor Foundation,

We are proud to say that the Bay Harbor Foundation has been awarded a score of 96% from Charity Navigator, the nation’s largest and most reliable charity rating organization. Our Executive Director has been volunteering full time and staff has volunteered additional time each week, and we work every day to lower our costs so that our donors can give to the Foundation with confidence, knowing that their generous contributions will be used to make a real and lasting difference.

Families in the Little Traverse Bay Region continue to struggle to make ends meet. The increasingly high costs of food and other basic necessities means that families that were once able to put food on the table are now relying on food pantries to get by. Meanwhile, those same food pantries are struggling to meet the increased demand after three years of high needs. To help ensure that no family has to go hungry in the Little Traverse Bay Community, we are continuing to seek funding to support people compromised by hunger.

In addition to the high cost of food, high fuel prices have meant that for patients in rural areas of Emmet and Charlevoix Counties who require regular treatment for cancer or diabetes are struggling to afford the cost of fuel. Some patients have even had to skip treatments because they didn’t have enough money to cover the cost of fuel. In response, the Bay Harbor Foundation has provided support to the patient assistance funds at our local hospital so that cancer patients can receive the treatment they need.

These and other efforts are meeting immediate needs, and we are also supporting the future of the Little Traverse Bay Community through our undergraduate and vocational scholar programs. These scholarships are available to the children and grandchildren of Bay Harbor employees, as well as the employees themselves. In addition to helping the scholarship recipients themselves, we are also helping Bay Harbor employers find and retain valuable employees by offering these workers and their families the opportunity to earn a college degree, or obtain technical certifications, that will benefit them and improve their quality of life.

Our work succeeds because the generous support of donors like you allows us to serve our community. Please help us continue our work by making a donation to the Bay Harbor Foundation, so that together we can continue to care for our neighbors in the Little Traverse Bay Community.

Sincerely,