Supporting community through live music: Emergency Fund expands to Benzie

Photo: Chris Skellenger, Patrick Niemisto and Mary Sue Wilkinson perform in Benzonia.

By Ross Boissoneau

Sun contributor

For over a decade, the Empire Area Community Emergency Fund (EACEF) has addressed sudden financial need, one note at a time.

Last year, the Benzonia Area Community Emergency Fund (BACEF) followed suit. The two non-profits offer a financial hand to those in need, with all their funding coming from a once-a-month source: area venues hosting a concert, where the musicians eschew their usual fee and the fund collects donations.

“We’re doing this so there isn’t a coffee can on the grocer’s checkout with a photo of the people,” says Gerry Shiffman, co-founder of the Empire Area Emergency Fund. He and his wife moved to Empire in 2010; two years later he found himself performing with fellow EACEF founder Chris Skellenger, along with Pat Niemisto, at the Empire Village Inn. The trio raised $445 in just two hours.

They formed the Empire Area Community Emergency Fund as an offshoot of the Empire Community Center, and continue to hold concerts the last Sunday of the month. The various musicians and the venue donate their time and space, respectively.

Art’s Tavern in Glen Arbor will host the next EACEF concert on April 27, from 4-6 pm, and feature Jim Crockett and the Beach Bards.

Inspired by its neighboring community, last year the Benzonia Area Community Emergency Fund hosted its first concert, providing a similar service for residents of that area. “I love it. It is one of our most exciting programs (providing) direct community impact,” says Kristin Fleetwood, executive director of the Mills House, which serves as the presiding non-profit for the Benzie fund.

Both provide for emergency aid, without putting the family in need on display. “Their anonymity is protected,” says Shiffman.

That’s done through a program where a friend or neighbor nominates them to the organization and explains their immediate need: They’re behind on their rent or mortgage and in danger of becoming homeless. Their car needs repair so they can get to work, but they can’t afford to get it fixed. Their roof is leaking, their furnace is broken, they have an immediate medical need and can’t afford to miss work.

Shiffman says that people experiencing a financial downturn or emergency find it difficult to advocate for themselves. “They would not ask for help,” he explains. Instead, others do so, giving voice to someone with little voice, as Shiffman puts it. Once a form detailing the circumstances is submitted to the group, a committee from the organization meets with the nominee and delves into their circumstances to determine the need and how it can assist.

Given its success since that first show—all told, it has raised and disbursed over $250,000 in the 13 years it’s been in existence—Shiffman says the project received interest from other communities. He and Skellenger made presentations to Cadillac, Fremont and Benzie, but only the lattermost opted to proceed. “It helped us that Empire had done it,” says Fleetwood.

The funds are administered by the two non-profits acting as fiduciaries, The Empire Area Community Center and the Mills House respectively. And while non-profits can derive income from various means, including applying for grants and such, the emergency funds both look to a single source for funding: monthly concerts by performers who donate their time.

“Our first concert, over 50 people attended,” says Fleetwood, generating over $1,000.

Shiffman says the emergency fund isn’t meant to address long-term needs; it exists to assist those suffering from an immediate need, one that if not taken care of could plunge the recipient into a financial hole that would be nearly impossible to dig themselves out of. “That’s what we target, not a chronic need,” Shiffman says.

The Empire Emergency Fund serves those in Empire, Honor, Lake Ann and Glen Arbor. The Benzonia Emergency Fund services residents of Honor, Beulah, Benzonia, Frankfort, Elberta and Thompsonville. The only overlap is in Honor, where nominations are taken on a case-by-case basis.

While every cent of the proceeds from the concerts presented by the Empire group goes to support those in need of assistance, the Benzie program earmarks 30 percent of its concert proceeds to the Mills House, with the remaining 70 percent for emergency needs.

Fleetwood says while some BACEF shows are at the Mills House, numerous other venues in the county offer space for the concerts as well. Five Shores Brewing, Upriver Pizza, St. Ambrose and Stormcloud Brewing are among the other entities which have hosted the shows. They typically take place the second Sunday of the month; the next concert is an exception, on May 4 at the Mills House featuring Robin Lee Berry.

Shows for the EACEF, which doesn’t have a home base, have taken place at Joe’s Friendly Tavern, Broomstack Kitchen & Taphouse, Lake Ann Brewing, Little Traverse Inn and numerous other locales around the county. Its concerts take place the fourth Sunday of the month, with its next show April 27 at Art’s Tavern in Glen Arbor featuring Jim Crockett and the Beach Bards.

For more information on the funds or upcoming shows, you can visit MillsCommHouse.org and click on the Emergency Fund link at the top. For the EACEF, go to EmpireAreaCommunityCenter.org and click on Emergency Fund for information or Concerts for the upcoming schedule.