Kelli Van Ginhoven

ESCANABA — Escanaba Elks Lodge #354 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the United States of America has selected Kelli Van Ginhoven as the Elks Citizen of the Year for the 2017-2018 Fraternal Year. Van Ginhoven is the proud owner of For the Love of Cupcakes, and in her own words, is just trying to make her community sweeter one cupcake at a time. Her love of cupcakes started as a hobby in 2012. Working full time, baking on evenings and weekends, and donating back to the community as much as she could, her hobby eventually grew into her very own business. On Oct. 3, 2016, she opened For the Love of Cupcakes at 807 Ludington Street in downtown ­Escanaba.

Along the way, she has been a sponsor of Escanaba Youth Wrestling, Bark River Youth Wrestling and Escanaba Baseball, just to name a few. She has also been the dessert sponsor for both the Bark River Prom and the Escanaba Prom. The sponsorship and donations of treats aren’t just limited to our area youth. She has provided cupcakes and other treat donations for the Delta County Cancer Alliance annual golf outing, the Escanaba Spring Fling Booster Club fundraiser, the Escanaba Downtown Clean Up days, the United Way mini-golf tournament and UPtoberfest.

Van Ginhoven and her business have become well known throughout the community for her “Donation Days.” On these days, she supports a local group with 100 percent of her profits going toward their needs. During the past year, she has made donations of $656 to the Gladstone 8th Grade Washington D.C. field trip and $902 for the U.P. Honor Flight.

Most notable has been her contributions to End the Silence, a Walk for Suicide Awareness and Prevention, in memory of Bobby and Josh Bintner. This year, with the assistance of employees from Peninsula Federal Credit Union, her donation day raised $2,648. She is planning another donation day for End the Silence in September 2018.

Having supported the End the Silence Walk for the past four years, she has raised and contributed a total of $10,600, with the donated funds being used by the Delta County Suicide Prevention Task Force for suicide awareness programs throughout Delta County.

As Van Ginhoven says, she has worked jobs in the past where they had to turn people away. With her own business now, she has made it a priority to never turn away an individual or organization in need.

She is married and is the mother of three daughters. In her free time, she enjoys watching her daughters participate in music, basketball and track. She credits her success to the support of her husband, daughters, parents, and especially her dearest friend, Judy, who has stood by her and cheered her on the entire way, knowing she could do it all before even she did.

The Elks are grateful to be able to recognize and thank Van Ginhoven for her noble and charitable work benefiting the community.

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Escanaba Elks Lodge 354 has awarded a series of lodge and community members with honors recently. These individuals will be featured in Lifestyles.