Make Pere Marquette Accessible for All!

My friend Stephen Draft-Peppin and I are working on getting a grant from the Community Foundation for Muskegon through their "Love Your Community" contest.  From the contest description: "Inspired by Peter Kageyama’s message encouraging citizens to declare their love for their community, we will award grants to six projects that demonstrate and share the love! Examples of these “love notes” include last year’s winning projects such as Movies on the Beach, a Play It Forward benefit concert for the Snurfer Sculpture, Portraits of White Lake photography class & exhibit, and more. All of these ideas were created by the people, for the people, using $500 to get them going."

Our project is about making Pere Marquette (in Muskegon, MI) more accessible for those in wheelchairs, strollers, or limited mobility.  We would like a ramp/dock going from the base of the pier into the breakwater area where the water is calmer and beach is smaller.  This would allow a person in a wheelchair to get right up close to the water.  Right now there is a walkway going from the restrooms out to the beach, but it stops short of meeting the water.  So someone in a wheelchair would still have to manage going through the sand somehow.  Another piece to this is that the pier itself is next to impossible for someone in a wheelchair or stroller to get down due to the uneven ground.  This really needs to be smoothed out.  We can't possibly do this all with only $500, but we're hoping this will draw more attention to the problem and the powers that be will do something about it.  It's worth a shot!

So to vote for our project please click on this link and then click "like" beneath the picture.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151176291418605&set=a.10151176290668605.469748.100319078604&type=3&theater

Thank you so much for your support!! 

Additional photos from our project: