Organization and project leaders who accepted Community Pride and Community Spirit grants from Old Mission Bank include (back row, from left) Lisa Myers of Michigan State University Extension for the Chippewa County 4-H Program; Ann Green, DeTour Reef Light Preservation Society (DRLPS) public relations and communications chair; David Bardsley, vice president of the DRLPS; Dianna George of the Soo Theatre Project Endowment; with David E. Firack, president and CEO of Old Mission Bank; Michele Fiering, business manager of the Great Lakes School of Wooden Boat Building; Dave Lesh, executive director for the Great Lakes School of Wooden Boat Building; Stan Schmitigal of the Pickford Historical Society; Marc Johnson, assistant fire chief of the Pickford-Marquette Townships Fire Department; (front row, from left) Sarah Morrison of the Pickford Community Wellspring Endowment, Colleen Arbic of the Soo Theatre Project Endowment; Sue Atkins-Wagner of the Chippewa County Community Foundation, and Rick Shapero for Les Cheneaux Community Foundation's Community Library and Cultural Resource Center Endowment. (Photograph courtesy of Wes Kleir) Nine Eastern Upper Peninsula projects and organizations received grants totaling $6,000 at a Wednesday, January 17, awards presentation by Old Mission Bank in Sault Ste. Marie.

Four, $500 Community Pride Awards were given to the Les Cheneaux Community Foundation to support its Community Library and Cultural Resource Center Endowment Fund; the Pickford Area Historical Society to provide financial support for its cataloging project; the De Tour Reef Light Preservation Society to help provide matching funds for a Michigan Lighthouse Assistance Program grant the organization recently received for a new dock crane, and The Great Lakes School of Wooden Boat Building for its effort to preserve the wooden boat heritage of the Eastern Upper Peninsula region. Community Pride awards are given to recognize each organization's efforts to preserve and restore local heritage, and to provide educational enrichment and employment opportunities to area citizens.

Community Spirit Awards were given to five Chippewa County organizations. Chippewa County Community Foundation received $1,000 for its Soo Theatre Project Endowment. The Foundation also received $1,200 to disburse to the Pickford Community Wellspring for endowment programs. The Wellspring is a fund of the larger Chippewa County Community Foundation, but serves as Pickford's own foundation, and makes grants to charitable and nonprofit activities.

The Pickford-Marquette Townships Fire Department received an $800 Community Spirit Award to help buy a smoke-making machine to simulate actual fire conditions for training the department. Chippewa County 4-H Program received a $500 grant that can be spent on all area 4-H youth programs, showing clinics, and training. The Chippewa-Luce-Mackinac Community Action Agency Walk for Warmth received a $500 grant for its Chippewa County fund drive to provide money to offset needy people's heating bills.

David E. Firack, president and chief operating officer of Old Mission, distributed the awards January 17. He created the awards in 2000 to recognize projects and volunteer efforts that benefit local communities, to reward community involvement, and to recognize people and organizations from the Eastern Upper Peninsula who "make a difference in the lives of others."

"These awards are in recognition of each group's dedication to the preservation of community, our safety, and enjoyment of life, which relies so heavily on the spirit of our area volunteers who give unselfishly of themselves," Mr. Firack said.

Old Mission Bank was formed in 1999, and has a main office in Sault Ste. Marie, and branch office in Pickford. The Pickford office will relocate to a new, larger building in downtown Pickford February 19.