I’ve got mixed feelings about the Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes organization deciding to make a leap into the officialdom of nonprofits by hiring its first executive director.
On the one hand, I’ll miss referring to the Friends as an all-volunteer organization. There is power in the statement, which declares that every dollar donated will go directly toward preserving and improving the lakeshore.
On the other hand, it’s time. The Friends group counts among its supporters more than 500 volunteers who give a combined 11,000 hours to better Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It was a fledgling organization when I returned to Leelanau County in 1997, three years after it formed. The organization seemed and remains blue-collar to me, understated compared to its mission. I can’t recall flashy fundraisers or pleas for financial help.
