Our community invested in us. Now we’re investing in our community.”

As longtime residents of Alcona County and owners of its local newspaper, The Alcona County Review, Cheryl Peterson and John Boufford have their thumbs on the pulse of the community. They have seen it overcome challenges, embrace opportunity, and change over time. They love every bit of their northeast Michigan home, and they are leaving a legacy gift to make sure their community is supported forever.

“The best part of any community is the people who live there. While most people say that for a quick answer, it is especially true for Alcona County,” says Cheryl. “Despite many obstacles for growth and development, Alcona County residents care about their communities and many work diligently to improve them to the best of their abilities. They are extremely generous with their time and financial support to the many organizations that do so much for residents, especially youth. The rolling farmland, abundant forests and glittering lakes and rivers just add to the benefits of living here.”

Cheryl grew up in Oscoda and met John in his hometown of Ionia while they were both working at the Ionia Sentinel Standard. Cheryl had taken over as editor of the daily newspaper (where the general manager tried to set them up), and John had been working in the newspaper production department doing printing and film developing. Just six months after they started dating, they made a visit up north for John to meet Cheryl’s family.

“While we were here, we parked across the street from The Alcona County Review building for quite a while, wondering together what it might be like to own a newspaper, but at that point it was really just an idea,” says Cheryl.

However, a year later in 1995, the newspaper in Harrisville was put up for sale. Cheryl and John took a huge leap, quit their jobs in Ionia, and moved to Alcona County to begin their stewardship of the local weekly newspaper.

This couple isn’t one to let the grass grow under their feet. Cheryl has been active with the local chamber of commerce, economic development committees, served as president of the previous Harrisville Depot Preservation Group, and with Alcona’s Backpack Program, providing food for children on weekends. John, a history buff, has been involved for over 25 years with the Alcona Historical Society, working to preserve Alcona’s rich maritime, logging, and trade history.

Publishing local stories for over 30 years allowed them to deeply know Alcona County, as well as the organizations working hard to help it thrive. Cheryl and John learned about the Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan having published countless articles about grants that had been awarded, seeing firsthand how the Foundation helped improve many aspects of their community. Their wish for Alcona County is to see that support continued and enhanced. Having no children of their own, they decided to make a planned gift, entrusting their estate to the Community Foundation to support Alcona County forever.

“We decided to keep our legacy in Alcona County to pay it forward to a place that has given us so much. It seemed like the logical thing to do,” says John. “We have seen how the Community Foundation supports so many worthwhile organizations, and we trust the Foundation to make decisions about how our gift will be used to support our Alcona County communities. They’ll know what to do.”

“We hope that by making this donation to support the Community Foundation and its integral work in northeast Michigan that it will continue to grow and help people in Alcona County for many generations,” adds Cheryl. “We made our living here with the support of this community and we’d like to support it after we are gone.”

Cheryl and John ultimately entrusted CFNEM with their legacy gift because of what they see as its “outstanding reputation, commitment to serving community organizations, and long-term effect” that will continue with legacy donations like theirs.

As an “unrestricted” gift for the benefit of Alcona County, Cheryl and John’s planned gift is among the rarest kind – one that acknowledges the unforeseen needs of the future.

“No matter how prepared you think you are, something always comes up and having the funding to deal with it is a relief,” says Cheryl. “We hope this aspect of our legacy plan will help the Community Foundation directly, so it can continue helping so many others.”