Local volunteer group to bring family living center to the Soo
SAULT STE. MARIE — A local volunteer organization is planning on founding a homeless shelter in Sault Ste. Marie to support families in need of help.
Yooper Do-Gooders began as a small Facebook group with one member who wanted to help his neighbors. After just a couple of months, it has grown into a network of people across the Eastern Upper Peninsula donating their free time and money at a moment's notice.
Dean O'Brien of St. Ignace spent years searching for a way to give back to his community, wanting to make a bigger impact on the people around him. For two years he thought of ways to help out and even prayed for answers. In early 2020, he found his answer.
"I prayed to the Lord for over two years on how to help people, and the morning of Feb. 23, 2020 I woke up and I had an idea in my head," said O'Brien. "Within 10 minutes, I was able to make the Facebook page and pretty much knew everything I wanted to do with it, and then it took off from there."
The page quickly grew in size as it gained attention from local community members looking to help or from those in need themselves. Yooper Do-Gooders did not organize large scale volunteering events or projects, but instead focused on helping individuals.
People can ask for help of any kind on the page, and if it is possible to help them, the volunteers will find a way. Sometimes the organization helps people buy groceries, or fix plumbing issues.
"We will do just about anything anybody asks if we have the ability to; if somebody puts out here that they've got a plumbing problem, we'll go and try to take care, if somebody needs food, we'll give them food," said O'Brien. "If somebody has a utility bill they can't pay, even if we can't help we're going to try to help or point them in the direction of someone else that can help."
When somebody posts asking for help, another member will try to help them, and if they don't get help O'Brien will try to help them personally. O'Brien has personally filled hundreds of volunteer requests for various things, including buying and delivering groceries, and fixing household items.
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O'Brien has worked in construction for most of his life, and uses many of the skills he learned at his job to complete household projects for people who can't afford plumbers or carpenters.
Now, after three years, the Yooper Do-Gooder page has more than 7,000 members, an entire board of directors and sees dozens of people helped every week with various issues. Starting in St. Ignace, the page now has members from all across Northern Michigan, mostly in the Upper Peninsula.
Now that it has grown so large, the group has plans for its first major project, a family living center in Sault Ste. Marie.
The homeless shelter, to be called the Family Living Center, is planned to be located somewhere in downtown Sault Ste. Marie, and will be able to house 25 people at a time. The center will also have a food pantry, a clothes and coat closet, a daycare center and more.
The center is meant to give families a chance to get back on their feet, and will not provide permanent housing. Occupants will be able to stay for 30 to 90 days, and during that time will work with counselors and attend classes to help them find jobs and housing.
The group is currently looking for professionals to work at the center to help people get back on their feet with whatever programs they need.
Occupants will have chances to develop skills through different courses and programs. O'Brien even plans to move to Sault Ste. Marie himself and run the center as well as teach whatever skill programs he can.
"I want to retire and dedicate all my time to this center," said O'Brien. "I'm planning on moving to the Sault and running a lot of the programs myself."
The Family Living Center is planned to be operational next year.
— Contact Brendan Wiesner: BWiesner@Sooeveningnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Yooper Do-Gooders group to build temporary living center in Sault
