Michael's Place Marks 25 Years of Free Grief Support in Northern Michigan

When Chris Dennos's 14-year-old cousin Michael died from illness, his family had nowhere to turn in northern Michigan. They carried that loss without support, and the gap stayed with Dennos.

In 2001, she co-founded Michael's Place in Traverse City alongside founding executive director Mindy Buell, a handful of board members, and a shoestring budget. The goal was simple and radical for the region: free bereavement support for anyone who needed it. Twenty-five years later, the organization is the only grief support center of its kind north of Lansing, and last year alone it reached nearly 5,000 adults, teens, and children across 17 northern Michigan counties.

That scale is built on a lean foundation: eight staff and more than 100 volunteers sustain six programs, every one of them free to families. The offerings span age-specific peer support groups, a family center on Veterans Drive, Robin's Nest programming for children as young as three, and direct school interventions when a death disrupts a classroom. The school work has become one of the most visible parts of Michael's Place's mission in Grand Traverse and surrounding counties, where rural districts rarely have a grief response plan in place before tragedy arrives.

Buell, who has led the organization since its founding, is direct about what that preparation gap costs. "We help them create their grief crisis team, so they have a plan in place and a trained team and they know what to do," she said. "And the difference between a school that has a plan and one that doesn't is night and day."

Sustaining 25 years of free services has demanded sustained community trust. Dennos, who served as board president for 16 years before continuing as a board member, put it plainly: "Over the course of 25 years, we have been able to get the community to trust us and believe that we are spending their money properly. And that's not a given for a nonprofit."

The anniversary year carries new momentum. Michael's Place is launching a podcast with host Amy Smart and sound engineer Mark Wilson, and will release an updated School Grief Crisis Manual and Training for educators and first responders. A butterfly release is planned for this summer, and the annual Restoring Hope Fundraising Luncheon is set for September 30.

The 25th anniversary celebration takes place Friday, April 24 at the City Opera House in Traverse City. Families seeking free grief support, and schools or clinicians looking to set up a response plan before a loss escalates into chronic trauma, can reach Michael's Place at 1212 Veterans Drive, Suite 100, Traverse City, or at mymichaelsplace.net.