Merrill Township will be putting on a blood drive this Friday (June 30) followed by a Community Day when the "School Emergency Response Coalition" out of Grand Rapids will be putting on a free CPR/AED/FIRST AID class at the community Center. While that is going on , various Emergency Services will be set up in the parking lot for people to come and ask them questions and possibly provide a little more insight into what they actually do. Some of the organizations will include: -AeroMed -Life EMS -Local Fire Departments -The Forestry Service -Newaygo County Sheriff Departments Michigan Search and Rescue (k-9) We caught up with Merrill Township Supervisor Peter Morgan to get the skinny on the event. -It sounds like the event is July 1 the day after the blood drive. The Community Day does follow the 1st Blood Drive. We were trying to do that strategically so we could try to host an additional drive exactly 8 weeks later for participants to be able to squeeze in two donations for the summer. As we have an additional donation coming at the end of summer. -I assume this is hosted and organized by Merrill Township. It is being hosted at the Township hall but due to everyone's tight schedules, I am for the most part the one trying to arrange and organize it for the Township. -How and why did the event get started? There are a lot of people in the area who know some of the services we have.Yes, we do have a Sheriff's Department, a Fire Department, and an Ambulance service. But do they know about the DNR, the Forestry Service, AeroMed, and Michigan Search and Rescue, along with what exactly they do and offer? -Is this the first year? This is the first year. I'm not sure if there will be 5 people or a lot more. -Any amenities on site (i.e. food trucks, vendors) We are trying to have at least one food vendor but not sure at the moment -Who should attend and why should they attend? I would like to have individuals that are in this community and neighboring communities that may have any questions and/or an interest in possibly getting involved with some organizations that might be attending. (i.e. Michigan Search and Rescue, The Fire Department, etc). -Open to all? Absolutely. Like I said, it's to ask questions. -You mentioned other activities this summer. Can you elaborate? There are activities that occur throughout the summer, like functions the Woodland Park Lake Association may have and the Woodland Park Historical Society may have at the Community park and at the Township Hall. -Tell us a bit about Merrill Township. What draws people there, any interesting history? Merrill Township is rich with Historical Value that stems from the early 1900's Through the 1960's. As an early African American Resort Community it was established for people to come from Detroit, Chicago, Cincinnati, etc. There is a plethora of information online and in Books linking Woodland Park and Idle Wild Michigan. -Anything to add? Hope to see you there.
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