A total of seventeen Leelanau County businesses received grants to aid their recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic through the Regional Resiliency Program (RRP) administered by Venture North. Eleven Leelanau Township businesses and another six across the entire county received these relief grants.

First up: Six small business grants in the county were funded by the Consumers Energy Foundation, Cherryland Electric Cooperative and the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation. The Leelanau Peninsula Economic Foundation Board partnered with Venture North by reviewing grant applications and providing recommendations. To be eligible, all RRP applicants must be private businesses with nine or fewer fulltime employees.

“Many small businesses continue to overcome the challenges of being closed and losing revenues, profits and reserve capital,” says Laura Galbraith, president of Venture North. “In a number of cases, businesses are finding it extremely difficult if not impossible to purchase the inventory they have routinely sold, forcing them to either wait for an undetermined amount of time or align with new suppliers and products. In addition, the global supply chains are nowhere near providing the same level of products and services as they did pre-pandemic for many reasons.”

She adds, “Small businesses are the economic engine in rural Northwest Michigan and make up the majority of all businesses in our region. We could not be more grateful for the philanthropic contributions of funding, talent and time during these extraordinary times that has made the RRP possible.”

Grant recipients in the county were:

Chateau Fontaine, Lake Leelanau
Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate, Empire
Hannah’s, Lake Leelanau
Leelanau Tea, Suttons Bay
Moses Window Cleaning, Suttons Bay
Sun Dog Kennel, Bingham Township

Eleven other businesses specifically in Leelanau Township also received RRP grants through a grant round supported in part by the Leelanau Township Community Foundation (which can use funds exclusively for initiatives within the township).

Says Galbraith, “The Leelanau Township Community Foundation has been one of the strongest partners since the RRP began in 2020. The Township is fortunate to have a community foundation dedicated to their quality of life and well‐being.” Galbraith says that the eleven grants were made possible through the Community Foundation’s award of $25,000 in addition to an allocation of $5,500 from a contribution made to the RRP by the Cherryland Electric Cooperative and $15,000 from Venture North. The entire $45,500 was converted into grant awards of up to $5,000 to small businesses located in Leelanau Township.

These grants went to:

Abundance Catering
New Bohemia Café
Green Spirit Living Farm
Hallstedt Homestead Cherries
Northern Light Cleaning
Northport Physical Therapy
Overlook Orchards
Studio 106 of Myrtles
The Tribune Ice Cream and Eatery
Willowbrook Mill

Pictured: A window message at The Tribune Ice Cream and Eatery in the village of Northport amid the pandemic.