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From left: Ray Biggs, president West Shore Bank; Shawn McDonald, WSB building and supply manager; LPD Capt. Mike Haveman; LPD School Resources Officer Conor Gallihugh; Jeremy Holmes, WSB senior vice president/chief operating officer; O’Nealya Gronstal, executive director of Lakeshore Food Club; Serena Kuhn, WSB Ludington main branch supervisor; Christine Lamb, WSB vice president/Mason County retail market manager; Mike McDonald, WSB building and supply maintenance.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
LUDINGTON — The Ludington Police Department, West Shore Bank and the Lakeshore Food Club are teaming up again this year for the second annual Pigs for a Cause Auction. Scheduled to be auctioned will be a butchered pig and a quarter of a cow that were purchased by West Shore Bank during the West Michigan Livestock Council auction at the 2024 Western Michigan Fair.
The auction will take place between noon and 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13 with bidding taking place on a dedicated Facebook event page (click here for the page.)
Funds raised by the auction, along with additional money that was raised during Giving Tuesday, will pay for holiday meal shopping for over 2,000 Mason County families.
In 2023, the inaugural Pigs for a Cause Auction raised $6,950, which included $2,000 for the quarter of beef and $1,400 for the pig. Additional money was donated to the auction.
Organizers hope to raise at least that amount this year. Those funds, along with $14,000 raised by Lakeshore Food Club during Giving Tuesday — which included a considerable donation from Hardman Construction — will provide gift certificates to local families who can use them to shop at Lakeshore Food Club, 920 E. Tinkham Ave., or one of two pop-up farmers’ markets that will be held in Scottville and Custer.
The pop-up markets will be located at Mason County Central and Mason County Eastern schools. Participating families have been identified by personnel at Ludington Area Schools, MCC and MCE.
“During the pop-up events families get to shop for the items they need for their holiday meals,” said O’Nealya Gronstal, executive director of Lakeshore Food Club. “This is not a food distribution event where all the items are already boxed. This gives people choices.”
Participants will be able to obtain turkey or ham, along with fresh vegetables from local farms, milk, eggs, canned goods, and other items.
Gronstal said the pop-up events in Scottville and Custer are pilot programs.
“My hope is to have more events like this and to do more collaborative events throughout the county,” Gronstal said.
One of the partners in the events will be Caritas Food Pantry at St. Mary’s Church in Custer.
“We are very excited and grateful to have Caritas Food Pantry on board with us.”
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