Cherry Republic’s December giving campaign focuses on need for housing

From staff reports

Each December, Cherry Republic launches a “31 Days of Giving” campaign, which in the past has supported farmers, environmental and renewable energy initiatives, and land preservation. During the first week of December 2025, the Glen Arbor-based company reported in a blog post that it is giving to organizations working to reduce the tremendous shortage of housing in Northern Michigan.

The problem is particularly acute, especially here in Leelanau.

“Leelanau’s median home price is $757,500, which means a household would need a combined income of approximately $197,160 to afford a home in our county. But the median income is only $71,232. Thus, many residents pay more than 50% of their income on housing. And a large portion of the workforce must make a long commute from outside Leelanau because they cannot afford to live in the county.

“How does this lack of housing affect us? Our region lacks employees in every industry.  Our region lacks an adequate amount of businesses to handle basic services most communities take for granted like putting in docks and running gas stations. Our community lacks a normal amount of families to fill our schools.

Cherry Republic’s solution is to “donate money to groups working on housing solutions.” and “use Cherry Republic’s own resources combined with a defined amount of donations to patiently create a pool of rental housing.”

So far this month, the company has donated checks for $20,000 to Homestretch Non-profit Housing, $40,000 to Housing North, $20,000 to Northwest Michigan Community Action Agency—Homeownership Center, $20,000 to Peninsula Housing, and $50,000 to the Cherry Republic Sugarloaf Project to create four year-round rentals for workers.

Cherry Republic reports that it currently owns homes that rent to two year-round employees with families and 24 seasonal employees.

“One home we own houses a political refugee family from [Central America] that the St. Phillip Neri Catholic Church in Empire introduced us to,” the blog post states. “At first the church asked if we could hire the husband to work for us, then, we hired [his] wife while they lived in the church’s quarters for a short time, but now we even house them and their two children.

“A second home of Cherry Republic’s is rented to a single woman who is a valuable staff member in our headquarters. Her husband died after becoming a paraplegic in an accident that left her estate in debt. She is still recovering financially and unable to pay market value.