Weekly Newsletter

[John Helge]

Manistee County Democrats!

Last week rural Democrats from around the state of Michigan gathered at the UAW Black Lake Conference Center for the 2026 Michigan Democratic Party Rural Caucus Rural Summit.  We attended sessions led by national political organizing experts focused on helping us improve how we organize, message, and work to elect Democrats up and down the ballot. The UAW Conference Center venue was truly amazing, and the golf fundraiser for the MIRuralPAC raised over $3000 with sixteen golfers enjoying the Black Lake course, which is world class!  Speaking of world class, our own Peggy Raddatz was honored by the Michigan Democratic Party Rural Caucus with the inaugural Rural Caucus Volunteer of the Year award for her amazing amount of work she has done to help build the MDP Rural Caucus. Peggy was further honored to have this award carry her name to recognize future champions working hard to help rural Michigan voters have a choice and a voice in the election process up and down the ballot.   

Work is progressing on the "BLUE TSUNAMI" float for the National Forest Festival parade on Saturday, July 4th.  I have seen the work in progress and can assure you that this float will be one of the most impressive in the 2026 parade. We want to invite you, your family, friends, and neighbors to join with your fellow proud Democrats in this parade.  We have always been cheered on and well received by the crowds along the route due to our messages of positive change and hope for a better future for all people. We will be joined by our local and regional candidates as well as candidates running for US Congress. We will stage for the parade along Division Street starting at 9am on July 4th. We will have room on the float for riders as well as several golf carts on a first come/first served basis for those who may not want to walk the entire parade route. Make plans now to join us!

The ORANGE CRUSH PARTY will also be in full swing during the July 4 parade.  The River Street office will be open, and we will be offering Orange Crush pop to parade watchers.  We hope they will all catch the symbolism of our desire to support candidates who we will elect to go to Washington and Lansing to CRUSH the ORANGE MAGA cult followers and work for all of us, not just their big dollar donors!  We are getting some great donations of Orange Crush pop but we still need you to help us by donating a 12-pack or even a 24-can case!  We will have over 5000 thirsty parade watchers lining River Street so we must continue to ask for more donations.  Please drop it off at the 319 River Street office or if you want to make a donation you can use this link:  Donations - Manistee County Democrats or mail a check to ORANGE CRUSH, PO Box 65, Manistee, MI 49660.  

The 23rd Annual Don and Marge Jennings Awards Dinner and Fundraiser will be here before you know it. (Saturday August 15 at the Manistee National Golf Resort)  Items are now being collected for the Silent Auction, which is a significant part of the event, and crucial to raising the funds that will allow us to support our candidates.  Your help is needed in making sure we have a successful silent auction by donating, and, if you will be attending, bidding high and often!   While all donations are appreciated, in looking at past auctions, the items which garnered the most bids, or the largest amount over minimum bid fell into a few categories: consumables (food items, gift certificates to local restaurants), recreation (golf, football tickets, a charter fishing trip - do we have any generous charter boat captains in our midst?), gardening (yard art, gift certificates to nurseries), and art identifiable as specific to the Manistee County area (beaches, local landmarks, architecture).  Of course, all donations will be welcomed!  Please contact Diane Van Aken to arrange pickup of any donations, or to discuss ideas you may have for a donation.  She can be reached at dkv...@aol.com or phone/text 517-243-0368. 

Nominations for the 2026 Don and Marge Jennings Award are now open.  If you know someone who has worked tirelessly to improve social justice for all residents in Manistee County, please nominate them for this prestigious award.  You can access the nomination form using this link:

Jennings Award Nomination Form - Manistee County Democrats 

Nominations will close on July 11, 2026.  The award dinner will be held on Saturday, August 15, 2026, at the Manistee National Golf Resort.  It is not too early to buy your ticket using this link:  

Don Jennings Event - Manistee County Democrats  or you can mail a check to Jennings Dinner, POBox 65, Manistee, MI 49660. 

A message from Dawn Bense, Manistee County Democratic Party Vice Chairperson:

We want to invite your friends, co-workers, or people who are interested in learning about canvassing (aka door knocking) for the upcoming elections. The next meeting is at 6:15 PM on June 25th via Zoom or Google Play. If you are interested, please email me at grandma....@gmail.com and I will send out a link when it gets closer. We are going to hear from Paul Angel, who is the organizer for the entire northern half of Michigan. He will talk about how to get some door-knocking done. Please download MiniVAN on your phones (available on Google Play or the Apple Store) and have it ready so he can walk you through what we are doing to get organized and ready to elect Dems up and down the ballot.  All of our candidates need our help here in Manistee County to get the word out and talk about issues to our neighbors in the county. Rebecca Amidon, Angel Coon, Mitch Distin, and Mark Yonkman are counting on us!! I sincerely hope you all can attend. 

We really appreciate the donations that have rolled in to the GoFundMe site and the MCDP PO Box to help pay for the two billboards that will go up on US31 in Manistee starting this week through October 31.  You will be proud to see these messages as you drive by. Be careful driving south on US31 near Chopo's Northside Bar.  Our message on that digital billboard will be changed regularly and we have some really great messages to share with voters as they pass by!  We have collected almost $5000 so far from over 50 donations!  Here is the GoFundMe link: https://gofund.me/c392c2c2f. 

If you prefer to donate by check, you can mail it to MCDP Billboards POBox 65 Manistee, MI 49660.

We certainly hope you are finding this weekly newsletter informative and useful.  Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any ideas or suggestions to improve this newsletter.  We do this to serve the residents of Manistee County and to help them make better decisions at the ballot box!

John M. Helge

johnm...@gmail.com

616-915-2403