Winning the Reader's Digest competition was only the first step to funding a new breakwater
GRAND MARAIS -- It's been almost a week since Grand Marais won the Reader's Digest competition. It earned them $40,000 and it's going toward the reconstruction of their harbor's crumbling breakwater.
While thousands of people worldwide cheered for Grand Marais in the competition, few cheered as loudly as Janie Dowe. The resident sent daily email reminders to hundreds of supporters reminding them to vote.
When Reader's Digest announced that Grand Marais won the competition on her birthday, she said that was the only gift she needed.
"I felt elated," said Dowe. "I felt thankful, grateful to everybody that helped."
Township Supervisor, Jack Hubbard, said Grand Marais has gotten more than just money from Reader's Digest; their win has helped their cause gain popularity. Since the competition wrapped up, Grand Marais has received an additional $3,000 in private donations.
"We got several donations from competing towns and people that used to live in Grand Marais," said Hubbard.
While the small community may have won the battle, they haven't won the war just yet. With the $40,000 from Reader's Digest, they currently have $200,000 in their 'Save the Harbor Fund,' and they still need $1.8 million to build a breakwater.
So where will they get all that money? Hubbard is still hoping for help from state and federal government.
I've been working with Tom Casperson and with Amy Bergland out of Senator Levin's office on the federal side, so I'm hoping that between the state and the feds that they can come in and help us with somemore money on this," Hubbard said.
The township supervisor hopes that U.P. residents will write to our state and federal representatives in support of the new breakwater.
If you want to help out, you can donate to the harbor by visiting their website.
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