Photo courtesy of Liam Kieliszewski From left, Gavin MacDonald, Jeremiah Schuster, and Nick Poli. MacDonald and Poli of the The Sunset Project are seen presenting a $5,000 grand prize to Schuster for his film 'Mother River’ at the Thunder Bay International Film Festival in January.

ALPENA — The Sunset Project turns five years old this year and its founders are using this special occasion to reflect on what the journey has been like for the nonprofit and where it is headed in the future.

The Sunset Project is a local nonprofit that serves Northeast Michigan, specifically Alcona, Alpena, Iosco, Montmorency, Ogemaw, Oscoda, and Presque Isle counties. The nonprofit promotes mental health awareness and facilitates creative initiatives throughout the region.

Nick Poli, one of the nonprofit’s founding members, said the inspiration for creating the nonprofit came after a friend, Sawyer Boyd, took his own life. Poli and two other friends, Gavin MacDonald and Kevin O’Brien, started The Sunset Project in 2021 as a way to commemorate their friend and make a positive change in the community.

“At that point in our lives, we were pretty affected by his death and were looking for a way to kind of remember him and make sure that his legacy lives on,” Poli said. “As time went on, we continued to look for opportunities to do that.”

Poli added that Boyd was a creative individual, and that legacy informed the direction to which the group of friends took the nonprofit’s mission.

“Sawyer was incredibly creative and was a really outside-of-the-box thinker,” Poli said. “Obviously, he had struggled silently with his mental health for some time and so we started looking for ways that we could try to make an impact … offering some more resources for the community that is typically a pretty, resource poor area.”

Poli said that the trio of friends created a “dual mission statement” which was focused on community development and creative placemaking efforts, while addressing the mental health concerns of Northeast Michigan.

“That has given us an opportunity over the last five years to really develop that thinking and continue to find new ways that we can impact both at the individual level through our mental health work within schools and our Northeast Michigan Wellness Initiative program,” he added.

Poli said that The Sunset Project focuses on creating opportunities to support mental health awareness in the community rather than providing mental health services.

“We certainly don’t want to come off as someone that is doing that kind of really tough work,” Poli said “But, we are absolutely full-heartedly in support of the work that they do and we want to try to rally a broader community understanding of mental health.”

Poli added that looking to the future, The Sunset Project aims to be a sustainable nonprofit that continues to advocate for mental health awareness and creative placemaking projects.

“I think right now we’re really committed to sustainment of the organization,” he said. “So looking at our projects, looking at the ways that our programs are set up, and making sure that those things can continue long into the future.”

Since its conception, the organization has developed three core programs which aim to bring awareness to mental health in Northeast Michigan communities.

The Sawyer J. Boyd Creatives Grant program focuses on supporting recipients through mentorship, enabling recipients to create original works within a spectrum of mediums.

The FOCUS45 program focuses on the development, implementation, and support of placemaking projects in Northeast Michigan. Poli said that FOCUS45 is a program that has a broader reach for the community.

The Northeast Michigan Wellness Initiative (NEMWI) is a program that aims to raise awareness, end stigmas, and provide education about mental health through school outreach efforts and community events.

The Sunset Project will celebrate the past five years at their annual Brighter Horizons Fundraising Event on May 3.

Those interested in attending should visit thesunsetproject.org.

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.