The Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan is located at 100 N. Ripley St. in Alpena.

ALPENA – In a press release on Tuesday, the Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan (CFNEM) announced the recent establishment of the Lake Huron Fund. According to the release, the fund will support the health of Lake Huron.

CFNEM states that the fund is a permanently endowed fund that will provide grants to nonprofit organizations with initiatives that aim “to protect, preserve, and enhance Lake Huron’s health through CFNEM and its Affiliate Foundation service areas.”

According to the release, the CFNEM seeded the fund with $25,000 and donations from individuals and businesses will help the foundation support projects like rain gardens, storm runoff management, wildlife management, and invasive species removal across the Lake Huron shoreline and watershed.

“Lake Huron is so much more than just a body of water,” CFNEM Executive Director Patrick Heraghty said in the release. “It provides drinking water for more than three million people, supports fisheries and water-based recreation, and is a key component of our regional economy. The Lake Huron Fund was created so the Foundation and our community can build a permanent resource to ensure that we can preserve, protect, and enhance Lake Huron and its watershed, and do our part in northeast Michigan to sustain this precious natural resource.”

Heraghty states in the release, as well, that the CFNEM “has been proud to be part of the Lake Huron Forever initiative since it launched in 2019, having been part of the planning, promotion, and granting, and now through this endowed fund.”

“The new Lake Huron Forever Fund will specifically support projects in Alcona, Alpena, Cheboygan, Crawford, Iosco, Montmorency, Ogemaw, Oscoda, and Presque Isle Counties – all of which fall within the Lake Huron watershed,” the release states.

“We have been honored to play a role in protecting our shared waters of Lake Huron, and are encouraged by the number of communities, both in Michigan and Ontario, Canada, that have stepped up to take an active role in its protection,” Heraghty said in the release.

Donations to the new Lake Huron Fund can be made at cfnem.org.