Little Brothers holds Open House in new facility Local Little Brothers volunteers and members of the Capital Campaign Committee for Little Brothers' new Hancock facility celebrate its opening of with a ribbon cutting on Friday, Aug. 24. Pictured are, from left,  Ron Helman of Chassell, who helped spearhead the campaign; Committee Member Abbey Green of Calumet;  Herman "Winks" Gundlach, committee co-chair; Annie Murray (scissors) of Lake Linden, volunteer; Marilynn Hamar of Chassell, committee co-chair; Hancock Mayor Jim Martin; and Doug Rossi of Hancock, volunteer. On the walls of the facility's main room (background) are photos of Little Brothers activities and commemorative bricks donated in honor of loved ones. (Photo courtesy Mark Cinelli)  HANCOCK ’Äì This weekend, Little Brothers - Friends of the Elderly, the half-century-old, international nonprofit service organization, opened the doors to its new building at 527 Hancock Avenue in Hancock. Little Brothers held a ribbon cutting ceremony Friday morning, August 24, and an Open House Saturday, August 25, to introduce the public to the new location.   The new facility provides spaces for every needed position, from transportation to space for incoming AmeriCorps volunteers. Visiting members of Little Brothers’Äô National Board, who held one of their quarterly meetings here Sunday, August 26, joined Mike Aten ’Äì executive director and co-founder, with his wife Cathy Aten, of the Hancock chapter ’Äì and local residents in celebrating the opening of the renovated, energy-efficient building inspired by a design of the late architect Skip Kindred of Hancock.   Thanks to volunteers and contributions, Little Brothers provides local senior citizens with such services as transportation to medical appointments, woodcutting, holiday dinners, social events, excursions, one-on-one friendly visits and summer activities.   According to Little Brothers Business Manager Mark Cinelli, the local chapter's mission is to serve residents of both Houghton and Keweenaw counties.   "The Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter parties for the Keweenaw elderly are in Copper City," Cinelli said. "Medical transportation and the full range of services are available to them."   Visitor Barb Brusorio of Hancock said, ’ÄúThey take good care of people and that’Äôs nice. There are so many lonely. Others don’Äôt realize the loneliness. Little Brothers helps.’Äù   The organization was originally started in France by Armand Marquiset in 1946 and has since become an international organization. It has the same philosophy today: A commitment to relieving isolation and loneliness among the elderly.   During Saturday's Open House, Tonia Wolak, right, Little Brothers summer activities coordinator, discusses seniors' transportation needs with visitor Barbara Brusorio of Hancock.  Summer Activities Coordinator Tonia Wolak of Hancock explained to Open House visitors that Little Brothers serves people 60 years of age and older. The organization helps seniors who lack transportation and have lost a means of socialization. A volunteer can make it possible for these seniors to have a social life with their friends, Wolak said. When someone refers a senior citizen to Little Brothers, an inquiry is sent out to determine if Little Brothers is right for the person; and then a volunteer is matched up with the person to help the elderly person socialize.   During the Open House Saturday, Mike Aten (right), executive director of the local chapter of Little Brothers, chats with Christina Martin of Copper City and Berlin, Germany, while John Van Westenburg of Chassell (second from left), Little Brothers Board member and volunteer, discusses the new facility's energy-efficient heating and ventilation system with Charles and Agnes Balconi of Hancock. The large, south-facing windows seen in the background add to the energy efficiency.   Little Brothers Board Member and Volunteer John Van Westenburg of Chassell said the new facility has a total of about 3,000 square feet, compared to the former Little Brothers building ’Äì a 1,200-square-foot.house in Ripley.   ’ÄúOver 50 percent of the labor is volunteer people,’Äù Van Westenburg said. ’ÄúTo build a facility of this complexity with 50 percent volunteer help is unheard of. The final results on this are superb.’Äù   Van Westenburg explained to Open House visitors that the building has a very special, energy-efficient heating and ventilation system. Since the building is extremely airtight to save on heat, ventilation is needed. An air-to-air heat exchange takes out moisture-laden air and brings in outside air but recovers heat from the exit air.   Even visiting Little Brothers National Board members keep the volunteer spirit as they help serve refreshments from the new Little Brothers kitchen during the August 25 Open House at the organization's new Hancock facility.  Pictured from left are Roger Nash of Chicago, Little Brothers National executive director; John Leddy of Minneapolis, National Board member; Maureen Watz Gornik of Minneapolis, National Board secretary; and Ruth Angove of Ripley, volunteer. National Board members held one of their quarterly meetings in Hancock Sunday, August 26. In addition to volunteer labor, many items, including all the beautiful wood panels lining the building, were donated. The large table in the conference room was a CEO’Äôs table donated by The Keweenaw Portage Hospital when they moved to a new location.  Volunteers cleaned up an old car garage, which became a warehouse. They then built shelves for a pantry, and Boy Scouts stocked the shelves with food from the old location. Camp Kitwin inmates built other storage shelves over a four-month period. The shelves and surrounding area will be workstations to assign stock for holiday dinners at a total of 10 holiday meal sites in the Copper Country.   During Saturday's Open House, visitors Alfred and Barbara Brusorio of Hancock admire the commemorative bricks donated in honor of loved ones. Alfred points out several bricks honoring members of the Zoila family. Los Dos Amigos Restaurant, when they went out of business, donated the tables in the main room. This room was the workstation during building. It will be used for anything from birthday parties for the elderly to conferences and other community uses. Two walls in the main room are filled with commemorative bricks honoring friends and family members. Each brick represents $150 of donated money. This money, mostly local and some international funds, went into the campaign for the new place. Over $450,000 of the funding went to the bank to gain interest. The volunteer work that went into the building is estimated at about 3,000 hours.   Mike Aten, executive director of the local Little Brothers chapter, seen here in his new office, brought the organization with him when he and his wife, Cathy Aten, moved to the Copper Country in 1982. Executive Director Mike Aten and his wife, Cathy Aten, opened the Houghton County chapter of Little Brothers ’Äì Friends of the Elderly about 18 years ago, when they came to the Copper Country from their previous jobs with Little Brothers in Chicago and Minneapolis. It was the third chapter to open in the United States at that time.   Mike Aten said the new space will facilitate and centralize many of Little Brothers’Äô activities. He said paper work can be done in the new office area, while the same building will provide needed storage space.   ’ÄúMedical transportation will be more available because we’Äôll be more efficient,’Äù he said. ’ÄúThere is a hall here. In the other house we had a food pantry, but it was in a staircase. We’Äôre having more volunteers come in because there is more space. Before we had various locations. Now we have everyone here.’Äù   In Little Brothers' airy new office space, Mary Ciconte of the Chicago National Little Brothers staff, volunteers to fold new  brochures for mailing. Kevin Ruohonen, a volunteer for the Hancock chapter, inspects the brochures during Saturday's Open House. However, Mike noted, it’Äôs not the building that makes the program.   ’ÄúWe are a volunteer-based organization,’Äù he continued. ’ÄúVolunteers built 50 percent of this building. We give that opportunity to the community. That shows you the power of the volunteer.’Äù   Mike said Little Brothers offers two basic services: helping elderly people with no family and helping the community as a whole by offering many opportunities and many things to choose from. The new building will allow more space to provide more programs. Mike said a big part of the Little Brothers philosophy is socializing. More room will create more opportunity for volunteers and staff to come and to be more efficient about serving the elderly public.   Steve Culen, past president of Little Brothers' National Board and present National Board member from Chicago, discusses the brochure telling about Little Brothers' new energy-efficient building in Hancock with Maureen Watz Gornik of Minneapolis, National Board secretary. On the Open House display is a photograph (left) of Armand Marquiset, who founded the organization in Paris, France, just after World War II, to offer hot meals, flowers and friendship to the poor and disabled elderly.  ’ÄúWe believe that all elderly people should be able to experience social activities and celebrating,’Äù Mike added. ’ÄúWe send out inquiries and match up volunteers. With us there is always someone to lean on. It is acting as a family member, an extended family.’Äù   In France, where Little Brothers began, ’ÄúFlowers before bread’Äù was a slogan indicating  the need for love along with the necessities of life. Little Brothers believes that, because there are other organizations that take care of the basic needs, they can assist with the other human needs.   Armand Marquiset, who founded Little Brothers, said, ’ÄúThe greatest poverty is the poverty of love. To be poor is above all to be poor in love.’Äù   Click here to see photos of the progress in converting the former ’ÄúFallon Garage’Äù (originally the Quincy Garage and Supply Co.) into Little Brothers’Äô energy-efficient new home.                                                                                         ’Äì Jennifer Drewyor                                                                                          August 26, 2001 (Open House photos by Michele Anderson)   Editor’Äôs note: Guest reporter Jennifer Drewyor is a Michigan Tech student in communications.