Laketown Township donates expired AEDs to help Wes Leonard Heart Team

LAKETOWN TWP. — A local municipality is helping a Fennville-based nonprofit with its mission to provide lifesaving tools to schools and organizations across the state.

Laketown Township recently donated a pair of expired automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to the Wes Leonard Heart Team.

The nonprofit can use the expired AEDs to lower the cost of new AEDs, which it donates to other organizations.

The Wes Leonard Heart Team was formed after the death of Fennville student athlete Wes Leonard, 16, who died from cardiac arrest after making a game-winning shot in a basketball game at Fennville High School in March 2011.

Since its formation, the nonprofit has donated more than 400 AEDs to Michigan schools and has certified more than 2,500 people in CPR and AED training.

An AED is the only way of restoring a regular heart rhythm during sudden cardiac arrest. When Leonard collapsed in 2011, an AED was nearby, but didn't have a working battery.

Laketown has two AEDs — one at township hall and one at Felt Mansion. The township’s devices expired and were replaced at the end of 2022. Township employee Brett Grams contacted the Heart Team, who said they could use the old devices to help others.

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The devices will bring in $100-$275 for the nonprofit. That money will go toward funding more than 70 requests for AEDs around the state.

Fennville will host its 12th Annual Wes Leonard Never Forgotten Basketball Game on Saturday, Feb. 18, against Saugatuck at Fennville High School. Funds raised at the event go toward AED donations for schools and organizations.

— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @SentinelMitch.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Laketown donates expired AEDs to benefit Wes Leonard Heart Team