Tag Archives: Groundbreaking

Paws With A Cause breaks ground on renovations that will change lives of those with disabilities

PAWS celebrated a milestone moment by recently breaking ground for their $9.5 million facility renovation project (Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)


By Deborah Reed

WKTV Managing Editor

deborah@wktv.org


Paws With A Cause (PAWS) celebrated a milestone moment by recently breaking ground for their $9.5 million facility renovation project.

For over 45 years, PAWS has enhanced the independence and quality of life for those with disabilities through the use of custom-trained Assistance Dogs. Since its inception, PAWS has placed over 3,000 Assistance Dogs with people with disabilities.


PAWS is determined to serve even more people within the community (Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)

Determined to do more

Four years ago the PAWS team brainstormed one simple goal: to serve even more people with disabilities.

“By 2030, our goal is to place over 100 assistance dogs with clients annually, and for 90% of our PAWS dogs to go into some kind of working career,” said Sarah Osterman, PAWS Board of Directors Chair and volunteer foster puppy raiser at the groundbreaking ceremony.

There is a growing demand for Assistance Dogs and the lifetime support that PAWS offers. Each year over 400 qualified individuals apply for a PAWS Assistance Dog. Current buildings and facilities limit the ability to address this unmet need.

“PAWS has outgrown our capacity to be able to breed, raise and train more PAWS dogs in these current facilities,” said Osterman. “Renovating our building to address these needs for improvement will allow us to expand our transformational and inspirational work.”


PAWS Assistance Dogs were in attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony (Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)

Embracing the journey

The first step toward attaining these renovation goals was to embark on PAWS’s first community-wide capital campaign, Embrace the Journey, in April 2024.

“The goal for the Embrace the Journey campaign is to raise $9.5 million in charitable gifts, allowing us to improve five critical areas in our existing facilities and to address the growing demand for assistance and facility dogs,” said PAWS CEO, Michele Suchovsky.

“Many community members rallied around our vision for the future. I am thrilled to share that today we have raised over $8.6 million of that $9.5 million.”

To date, more than 700 donors have supported the campaign.

PAWS National Headquarters is nestled amid commercial firms and farmland in Wayland, MI. Though the current PAWS facilities have served them well since 1994, few improvements have been made over the years.

The upcoming renovations will include:

  • Improved kennels
  • Exemplary veterinary facilities
  • National breeding center
  • New foster puppy spaces
  • Updated training facilities

“With these renovations we’ll be able to place more Assistance Dogs with clients, and place more working dogs in community-focused careers through our purposeful placements department,” said Suchovsky.

But more importantly, the results of these renovations will be felt by current and future PAWS clients.

Life-changing moments

“Each PAWS Assistance Dog opens a world of possibilities, something I can personally attest to as a client,” said Molly Koroleski, PAWS Board Member and client.

After contracting meningitis at the age of three, Koroleski woke from a coma to realize  she had lost her hearing. She moved through life unable to hear smoke alarms, emergency sirens or a knock on the door. Though she had family to tell her when those things occurred, it was troubling to be unaware of them when alone.

“Then I discovered PAWS, and my life changed,” Koroleski said. “Through the PAWS custom matching process, I received Mater, an Assistance Dog that was custom-trained to help with exactly what I needed.”

When Koroleski learned she was pregnant with her son, she called the PAWS team.

PAWS staff, volunteers and dogs were available at the ceremony for attendees to meet (Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)

“Mater had already been my Hearing Dog for two and a half years at that point, and he wasn’t originally trained to the sound of a baby’s cries,” said Koroleski.

Within a few weeks of making the call, the PAWS team had trained Mater to alert Koroleski to her baby crying.

“I felt much more prepared to care for my son with Mater by my side,” said Koroleski. “These renovations will allow PAWS to match and custom-train more Assistance Dogs like Mater for clients like me.”

Service Dogs for Children with Autism, known as SDA dogs, are also in high demand, with four applications for every one SDA spot available.

“These children deserve an Assistance Dog that will help them,” said Suchovsky. “We know how important a PAWS Assistance Dog is for a person with a disability.”

It’s time to give back…

For years, local residents have rallied behind PAWS to help those in need.

Deann and Kevin Hurn, Hudsonville residents and volunteer foster puppy raisers, have been volunteering at PAWS for over 13 years, currently fostering their ninth puppy. Recently, Kevin became a PAWS board member.

The help of a PAWS dog can be life-changing (Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)

When asked why she became involved with PAWS, Deann said, “To give back, to help somebody else. We just feel very blessed with everything God has given us – healthy children, healthy grandchildren – and it’s great to give back.”

Deann is currently hosting a Visiting House Dog in the PAWS program that she brings to Pine Rest Mental Health Hospital every week to visit with the inpatients.

“I come home every week and tell my husband that I was in tears because of what she did for someone, how she loved on them and what it meant to them,” said Deann. “It’s so cool to see.”

Deann heard about PAWS when she met a woman with an Assistance Dog. The woman encouraged Deann to attend the next PAWS meeting.

“I came home and told Kevin, ‘I’m going to this information meeting, but it’s just information.’” Deann paused. “A week later we had our first dog,” she said with a laugh.

One step closer…

(Courtesy, Deborah Reed)

As PAWS renovations begin, excitement is high.

“We are excited that this project will allow us to serve more clients, and our clients are excited too,” said Suchovsky. “We are one step closer to our goals and to creating thriving communities for us all.”

Learn more about the PAWS organization here.

Wyoming business expands, adds 27,000-square-foot facility

From left, RJ Billmeijer, from CopperRock Construction; Senator Mark Huizenga; RoMan Manufacturing President Nelson Sanchez; RoMan Manufacturing CEO Bob Roth; RoMan Manufacturing founder Robert Hoffman; RoMan Manufacturing Vice President Kurt Hofman; Wyoming Mayor Kent Vanderwood, and Wyoming Kentwood Chamber of Commerce CEO and President Keith Morgan. (WKTV/Joanne Bailey-Boorsma)

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
WKTV Managing Editor
joanne@wktv.org


While for some the COVID pandemic caused a stall in operations, for RoMan Manufacturing it was a time when the company discovered new opportunities in the semiconductor and data center industries that have now led to the Wyoming-manufacture adding a new 27,000-square-foot facility to its location.

On May 18, city officials and business leaders joined company officials and employees for a groundbreaking ceremony for the company’s future facility, which along with being a manufacturing facility also will house the company’s new training and development program, RoMan University, and its Department of Labor approved apprenticeship program. The new facility, which is expected to open in October, is predicted to create at least 50 new jobs in the next 18 to 20 months.

“The new facility will allow us to expand our overall capacity to serve our existing core business, which is what we grew up on, the markets of resistance welding, furnace and glass, and create space to serve these new markets,” said RoMan Manufacturing President Nelson Sanchez.

Along with that, the addition of RoMan University and the apprenticeship will help the company develop a talent pipeline, Sanchez said.

RoMan CEO Both Roth said the facility also enables RoMan to continue its focus on helping its customers to achieve their goals.

“It was always that vantage point I think that has been one of our north stars and has driven business forward is that we think about customers first and in doing that, we can help them succeed and when we help our customers succeed, it helps us succeed,” Roth said.

Growing and Evolving

Started in 1982 with an 8,000-square-foot building, RoMan — which is a combination of the founders’ names Dietrich Roth and Robert Hofman — the company in the past 40-plus years has grown to cover seven acres with two sites that has a combined square footage of 160,000. The main campus is located at 861 47th St. SW, which is where the new building will be located.

The group of RoMan Manufacturing and local officials help break grown on RoMan’s new facility. (WKTV/Joanne Bailey-Boorsma)

According to Executive Vice President Kurt Hofman, RoMan Manufacturing started as a niche business focused on low voltage, high current water cooler transformers.

 

“You can Google that today and you are not going to see a whole lot of people pop up on that Google search and I can tell you who is going to be on the top of that Google search, it is going to be us,” Hofman said.

Over time, RoMan Manufacturing expanded outside of welding and the automotive industry and moved into other industries, which led to the company building systems. This led RoMan being to be able to expand into the semiconductor and data center businesses. 

 

“On behalf of the entire city council, I want to congratulate RoMan Manufacturing on its new production facility and say thank you for choosing the City of Wyoming and for providing additional job opportunities for our residents and the West Michigan community,” said Mayor Kent Vanderwood at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Ford Airport breaks ground on Phase I of Federal Inspection Station

Gerald R. Ford International Airport leaders and other local officials help break ground for the new federal inspection station. (Supplied)

Brian Greene
For the Gerald R. Ford International Airport


The Gerald R. Ford International Airport today broke ground on Phase I of a new federal inspection station, which will ultimately allow the Airport to support nonstop international commercial passenger flights.

Phase I of the construction project, which will take place on the east end of the terminal, will include a new baggage claim area, restrooms and operations infrastructure that will be used for domestic flights until the full FIS project is complete. Conversations have begun at the federal level for a full FIS build out, but a timeline is not in place for completion.

The FIS is part of Project Elevate and one of three new developments for Ford Airport to accommodate projected passenger growth over the next 20 years. With support from Sen. Peter MacGregor, former Sen. Dave Hildenbrand, former Rep. Chris Afendoulis and The Right Place, Project Elevate secured a $5 million grant from the MEDC to begin work on curbside improvements needed for the FIS, which is expected to cost a total of $30 million. 

No local taxpayer dollars will be used to finance Project Elevate, which will be paid for with a combination of federal and state grants, municipal bonds issued by the airport and user fees.

“Phase I of this project is an important step forward as we work to bring direct international travel to West Michigan,” said Tory Richardson, president and CEO of Ford Airport. “Creating this additional space will signal to the federal government we are serious about creating an FIS at the Ford Airport while offering us needed additional baggage claim area in the meantime.

The new federal inspection station will aid the Ford Airport in in getting non-stop international flights (Supplied)

“We are thankful for funding from the MEDC, which required us to begin this project now. While our numbers, like those of every airport around the country, have been impacted by COVID-19, we have seen steady growth in the number of passengers throughout this summer and are ahead of our projections.”

Currently, the Airport cannot process direct international arrivals, other than private aircraft. When a private aircraft lands at the Airport from an international airport, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, agents meet and screen passengers at the aircraft. Without the dedicated screening facilities of an FIS, CBP’s screening capacity is limited to small aircraft.

The addition of an FIS will provide a permanent home at the airport for customs officers, allowing CBP to consolidate multiple locations into a single facility. The Airport will eventually build a corridor from Concourse B that will lead to a dedicated customs area, complete with screening equipment, security, holding cells and other FIS requirements. When fully built out, the FIS will be able to screen 400 passengers per hour.

“As we continue to emerge from the pandemic, we know our community is anxious to get out and to explore,” said Dan Koorndyk, Board chair of the Airport Authority. “We look forward to enhancing the gateway to West Michigan by providing our guests a convenient, comfortable travel experience in state-of-the-art facilities.”

 

Architect for the project is Mead & Hunt while The Christman Company is serving as general contractor. The project is expected to have more than an $8 million impact in the West Michigan economy.

Announced in August 2019, Project Elevate was slated to get underway in spring 2020 but was delayed because of the coronavirus. In addition to the FIS, the Airport plans to expand Concourse A and to relocate the current air traffic control tower to the east side of the airfield.

Expansion of the terminal apron, which is a critical component to Concourse A, will be completed in the coming weeks.

 

At its peak in 2019, the Ford Airport generated more than $3.1 billion in annual economic impact, serving more than 3.58 million passengers. COVID-19 severely impacted airline travel across the globe, but traffic is slowly continuing to grow. This summer, the Ford Airport recently introduced its new Fly Safe. Fly Ford. campaign to educate travelers on new precautions for their health and to restore confidence in air travel.