Emilie Jacques, marketing associate for Copper Shores Community Health Foundation, presents a check for $30,762.62 from 2024’s Giving Tuesday campaign to Copper Shores Meals On Wheels Clerk McKenzie Hart, Program Assessor Jessica Mills and Program Director Kathleen Harter, on Friday. (Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette)

HANCOCK — Friday’s announcement was a milestone eight years in the making.

The Copper Shores Community Health Foundation’s annual GivingTuesday campaign for local nonprofits raised more than $1 million for local nonprofits, the foundation announced Friday morning.

The $1,072,937.49 total includes $872,937.49 in community donations, plus $200,000 in amplification funds from Copper Shores. That money went to a record 49 local nonprofits.

“We are grateful for the trust in Copper Shores to facilitate this charitable giving and the opportunity for us to advocate for organizations that do so much to make this a better community for everyone,” Copper Shores President/CEO Kevin Store said in a statement.

Throughout Friday, representatives from the nonprofits visited the Copper Shores office to pick up their checks — first gigantic dry-erase ones for photos, and then the actual checks that will change the lives of the people they serve.

Copper Country residents gave the most to Omega House. Executive Director Michael Lutz said he was “totally blown away” by the support from the community, demonstrated by a record $160,484.69 in this year’s campaign. The Houghton hospice celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, has serviced almost 900 families, and is seeing about 60 residents a year.

“This money really goes right back to the community and helping future hospice residents who want to reside at Omega House and maybe couldn’t afford it,” he said. “This will provide everybody the opportunity to stay at Omega House, whether they have a large portfolio or not. We are open to the community, and the community knows that, and the support is just validation of all of that.”

That demand has only been growing as the Baby Boomer generation ages. For nearly a quarter of the year, Omega House was filled to capacity. Some of this year’s donations may go towards expansion; deliberation on that will start this year, Lutz said.

“The need is there, and we’re going to position ourselves so that we can handle everything that this community needs,” he said.

The money will go into Omega House’s endowment, which over the past five or six years has funded more than $300,000 of infrastructure projects, including new boilers, a generator and renovations to the building. It is also used for community outreach through Omega House’s grief support program — and potentially more programs on the way.

The $30,762.62 Copper Shores Meals on Wheels received was its best yet, marking a 23% increase over last year.

It helps the program address its waiting list, which stands at three to five months. While a grant helps with food costs, Meals on Wheels still has to contend with the costs of fuel, the cups and trays in which meals are delivered and the staff needed to handle the growing demand.

“Those costs never stay the same,” said Program Director Kathleen Harter. “They’re always continuing, incrementally increasing. Add that to when I first started three years ago, we had about 160 seniors that we were serving. We’re at 300 now on a daily basis.”

In addition to helping serve more people, the donations also help Meals on Wheels improve the capacity for the people who already use it.

“We might find a senior that’s been receiving five meals a week every year, suddenly now their need is increased, and now they need meals seven days a week,” Harter said. “So we might increase that capacity.”

The Barbara Kettle Gundlach Shelter’s $53,486.93 was a near-record for the shelter, which provides a refuge for victims of domestic violence, whether partners or family members.

“It’s something that we don’t count on, because you just never know,” said Mary Niemela, the shelter’s executive director. “And it’s great to know that there’s so many people in our community that will continue to support us.”

The money will be used to build a fence around the shelter to give the victims and their families a greater sense of security. It also funds direct services such as power and water bills.

The shelter will celebrate its 45th anniversary in May with an anniversary dinner at Geno’s. The need continues to be high throughout the community, Niemela said.

“We’ve always been busy,” she said. “I can’t even remember how long it was that maybe we didn’t have somebody in shelter…. That’s why we’re there, and I don’t see it ending. I don’t see it dropping down.”

The 49 non-profits include many participating in GivingTuesday for the first time. One is Oak House, an adult foster care home for adults with disabilities that gives them education to be able to move into their own apartments. It raised $22,752.63 in its GivingTuesday debut.

“We have some projects that we needed to start complete,” said Executive Director Tery Sayatovich. “We run on donations, mostly, and so we decided to attempt this, and we had neer done it before. So we thought, ‘What the heck. Give it a shot.'”

Through prudent spending, they’ve been able to take on increased costs without raising rents enough to pinch residents, Sayatovich said. With the money they raised this year, they’ll be able to fix Oak House’s stairway, which has been falling apart “one plank at a time,” said Assistant Director Melanie Salo.

“We used to do fundraising once a year before COVID, and we wouldn’t even bring in 5% of what the community just decided to give out of their hearts,” Salo said. “So we’re very thankful.”

Sayatovich said she feels “very blessed” by the donations.

Will Oak House make GivingTuesday an annual tradition?

“Heck yeah,” Sayatovich said. “It can only get better, right?”