Every winter, home furnaces switch on for the next few months. But for some households, heat still comes from wood fuel. In Michigan’s Copper Country, Little Brothers’ volunteers help many of these homeowners keep their homes warm while taking care of the hard work for their elderly friends.
From the southern parts of Houghton County and into Keweenaw and Baraga counties, Little Brothers volunteers deliver firewood to seniors. Chuck Schaeffer helps out at the wood lot in Chassell throughout the year. He says it’s not unusual for homes in the region to still use wood fire heating because of the high costs of propane or to convert home heating systems.
“I believe we delivered 139 loads last year. I’m pretty sure that was the figure. And each load, each truckload, is two-thirds of a cord. So we can give one individual up to three loads. And it’s considered kind of unusual when you talk to other people, but there’s a lot of people that burn wood up here. When they get too old to prepare it themselves or chop it and split it and whatever, that’s where we come in,” said Chuck Schaeffer, a volunteer with Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly.
Little Brothers has some of the wood for the program donated by lumber companies in the region. Volunteers then take the trunks and cut and split the wood into manageable sections for homeowners to use. Tom Suchenek says this summer he’s been at the wood lot four to five days a week to split lumber.
“You can see logs here, those were cut in the spring. These that were all cut up were cut last year. And then they deliver them and then we have a guy, Jerry, who cuts up the logs. And then they leave them in a pile like that and then I come and split them,” said Tom Suchenek, a volunteer with Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly.
Doug Wyble has volunteered with the Little Brothers firewood program for close to seven years. He says many fraternities from the Michigan Tech campus make trips to chop wood during the school year. Other organizations in the community visit the lot too. He adds the program could not find the number of volunteers they need without the leadership of Debby Hart.
“It’s nice because, you know, like Debbie says, I got three wood deliveries. We know how to do it so well now, we just go to the office and we grab the book, the keys. We know most of the people we deliver to. I mean, one of the greatest parts about doing this is just meeting these people by delivering firewood to them. They’re just amazing. And meeting the people, Little Brothers that work there are just amazing people to me. You get conditioned, know what to do, and you can just go do it.” said Doug Wyble, a volunteer with Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly.
Little Brothers hopes to encourage the next generation of volunteers in the Copper Country to get involved with the organization. The firewood program will need volunteers to help out at the lot throughout the winter to load up the trucks and deliver wood to households. Other programs such as medical transport help get seniors to doctors’ appointments.
People can learn more about volunteering with Little Brothers this week by joining the organization at a Thanksgiving meal site or delivery headquarters. Doug and Tom both started out in the Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly Thanksgiving kitchen years ago and now help Debby Hart with the firewood program.
More information about volunteering with Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly is available online.
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