This year, there are seven (7) organizations competing for two (2) Bring-A-Bag Fund recipient slots for our 2026–2027 cycle. The Bring-a-Bag Fund is one way Keweenaw Co+op gives back to our community and promotes the conservation of natural resources at the same time. Every time a shopper brings their own reusable shopping bag or basket instead of using a new paper bag (provided by the co-op), the campaign fund is credited for each bag saved. The savings in the campaign fund are donated in six-month cycles to a local organization, group, or project selected by the co-op owners. Two recipients are selected each year.
You may select up to 2 organizations from the options below.
Explain how funds from Keweenaw Co+op’s Bring-a-Bag Donation Program would support your work and why your cause should be chosen.
Donor funds allow us to offer programs, such as classes, clubs, day camps, and special events, at low or no cost to everyone, and gives us the ability to award scholarships for programs that have higher enrollment costs. Kaleidoscope endeavors to ensure that finances are not an obstacle to participation in our programs.
Please share your organization’s mission, including its goals and impact on the community.
Kaleidoscope provides holistic support and engaging learning experiences to families through classes and community events. Current goals include increasing offerings during the summer and afterschool hours to give all local students opportunities to discover their passions ignite a curiosity for learning.
Explain how funds from Keweenaw Co+op’s Bring-a-Bag Donation Program would support your work and why your cause should be chosen.
The funds from the Bring-a-Bag donation will help keep our machines on the trails, with gas and upkeep.
Please share your organization’s mission, including its goals and impact on the community.
To keep your ATV trails well-maintained. and safe for all riders. With these extra funds we can grade and brush the trails to keep them safe. Our grant sponsor does not give us the funds for our grader and brush hog. We must find outside funding to keep these machines on the trails.
Explain how funds from Keweenaw Co+op’s Bring-a-Bag Donation Program would support your work and why your cause should be chosen.
Funds from the Keweenaw Co-op round up program would support our mission to protect the Keweenaw’s at-risk landscapes and to preserve our local traditions. The funds from the donation program would go towards securing land in the Keweenaw tip for public access, improving public amenities, and creating sustainable recreation opportunities
Our cause supports grassroots leadership and community management to preserve public access to the Keweenaw for generations to come. We work together to decide how our community’s natural and recreational resources are managed and utilized.
Please share your organization’s mission, including its goals and impact on the community.
Keweenaw Outdoor Recreation Coalition (KORC) brings together individuals, businesses, and outdoor recreation, conservation, and community organizations to secure permanent public access to at-risk land in the Keweenaw. KORC works on conservation and outdoor recreation projects with local clubs and units of government, the State of Michigan, and the DNR to better manage and expand the existing Keweenaw Tip land and protect public land for conservation and public recreation.
Our members come from a variety of backgrounds, from resource professionals and hospitality workers to students and retirees. All manner of outdoor enthusiast is involved because we are all concerned with what is at stake—the potential loss or degradation of the vast landscapes found in the heart of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
Explain how funds from Keweenaw Co+op’s Bring-a-Bag Donation Program would support your work and why your cause should be chosen.
Funds from Bring-a-Bag would support Keweenaw Pridefest by helping to pay for various costs associated with putting on the 500-person event. This includes printing, signage, first aid supplies, compensation for musicians, photography, and volunteer food. Keweenaw Pridefest fosters a sense of community and belonging for LGBTQ+ people in the Keweenaw. They can be their authentic selves without the fear or judgment that comes with being a queer person in a rural area. Public displays of LGBTQ+ acceptance are hard to come by. Keweenaw Pridefest, and other pride events, allow the community to show their support for equality and LGBTQ+ people.
Please share your organization’s mission, including its goals and impact on the community.
Keweenaw Pridefest celebrates the LGBTQ+ community in the Keweenaw and western Upper Peninsula. The purpose of this event is to increase visibility of the LGBTQ+ community, foster connection in the region, and celebrate LGBTQ+ people in the Keweenaw. Pridefest features live music from local and regional performers, food from local businesses, and booths hosted by local nonprofits and community organizations. To facilitate community building, we provide arts and crafts, lawn games, face painting, and a decorated photo area. This is a free, all ages event and is open to the public.
Explain how funds from Keweenaw Co+op’s Bring-a-Bag Donation Program would support your work and why your cause should be chosen.
The Ontonagon Theater of Performing Arts would use these donated funds to supplement the costs associated with our youth theater programs. In 2026, we would use the funds to supplement the cost of two specific programs, The Missoula Children’s Theatre and our week long summer theater day camp. Both live theater programs are open to any school aged child (homeschool or public/private school) and offered to our area’s youth at no cost so any and all children can participate. OTPA believes it is important to remove the financial roadblocks associated with youth programs. In other words, we never want to see a child unable to participate in a youth theater program due to an associated cost. In order to continue offering all of our youth programs for free, OTPA relies on donations from generous community members and organizations who see the value in allowing kids to participate in live theater programs regardless of economic status.
Please share your organization’s mission, including its goals and impact on the community.
The Ontonagon Theater of Performing Arts’ mission is to bring live performance art to our small-town community and promote local artists throughout Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, with a focus on providing free interactive programs for our area’s youth.
Pewabic Street Community Garden Website
Explain how funds from Keweenaw Co+op’s Bring-a-Bag Donation Program would support your work and why your cause should be chosen.
Funds from Keweenaw Co+op’s Bring-a-Bag Donation Program would aid in buying supplies such as seeds and fertilizer to support the Houghton fourth-grader school garden project as well as funding for further educational programs such as gardener mentorships, gardening classes hosted by or attended by our gardeners, food processing and cooking events using produce from the garden, and local arts projects such as educational signage for our pollinator garden. Our work is dependent on funding to continue the educational work we have been doing since our founding. Your donation would allow us to improve and spread local knowledge about healthy food and healthy communities.
Please share your organization’s mission, including its goals and impact on the community.
Founded in 2007, the Pewabic Street Community Garden is a volunteer project providing a beautiful, peaceful, and friendly garden space in central Houghton for people of all local communities to gather, garden, and grow. The garden brings people together and is located in Houghton, Michigan on a vacant section of Pewabic Street near the old Houghton High School lot and the Houghton County courthouse. The garden’s mission is to foster community, improve local access to healthy food, and develop and spread local gardening knowledge. We provide volunteer opportunities as well as educational opportunities for local schools through volunteer work days, hosting a school garden for Houghton Middle School fourth graders, and inviting Michigan Tech food science, ecology, and art students to learn in our space and from our gardeners. We have hosted master gardener tours as well as plant and seed swaps locally. We use organic and sustainable gardening principles. Our garden helps to beautify and diversify the local plant and plant-lovers community as well as improve knowledge about gardening and healthy living.
Woodland Hill Preschool Website
Explain how funds from Keweenaw Co+op’s Bring-a-Bag Donation Program would support your work and why your cause should be chosen.
Funds from this opportunity would directly support our ability to provide enriching, high-quality early learning experiences. As a small nonprofit, we rely on community support to sustain and grow our program. This is especially critical in the current pre-k landscape, where many other programs are provided with additional state funding to help run their operations.
Specifically, funding would help us:
• Enhance classroom materials and play-based learning environments
• Maintain safe, engaging indoor and outdoor learning spaces
• Support program improvements that respond to the evolving needs of children and families
Investing in early childhood education has a lasting impact. The skills children develop in preschool—communication, emotional regulation, collaboration, and curiosity—set the stage for future academic success and well-being.
Woodland Hill Preschool should be chosen because we combine a long-standing legacy of excellence with a deeply personal, community-centered approach. We are not just a preschool—we are a place where children, families, and educators grow together. Your support would directly impact local children during one of the most critical stages of their development, creating benefits that ripple throughout the entire community for years to come.
Please share your organization’s mission, including its goals and impact on the community.
Woodland Hill Preschool is a nonprofit, cooperative early childhood program dedicated to providing high-quality, play-based education for children ages 3–5. For more than 65 years, our school has been a cornerstone of the Copper Country community, helping young learners build strong foundations for lifelong success.
Our mission is to nurture the whole child—supporting intellectual, social, and emotional growth through hands-on, experiential learning. We believe that children learn best through play, exploration, and meaningful interaction with their peers and environment. This approach fosters creativity, confidence, problem-solving skills, and a lifelong love of learning.
As a cooperative preschool, families are deeply involved in the classroom experience, creating a strong sense of community and shared investment in each child’s development. We are currently one of the only programs available locally that offers a part-time educational program for 3-year olds, as well as one of the only programs that provides shorter learning days for the 4-5 children, which we believe is important for the early learning process.
The impact of our work extends beyond the classroom. By preparing children socially and academically for kindergarten and beyond, we help strengthen the broader community—supporting families, fostering school readiness, and contributing to a healthier, more connected next generation.