Courtesy photo Matt Marenger, owner of Mr. Bike, Ski & Fitness, left, and Major Alex Norton of the Salvation Army of Escanaba shake hands outside the Salvation Army’s building recently. The Salvation Army has officially taken over a program Marenger established that is collecting returnable cans and bottles to raise money in support of the area’s homeless population.

ESCANABA — A successful fundraising program that has been collecting returnable cans and bottles to raise money in support of the area’s homeless population has been taken over by the Salvation Army of Escanaba.

Matt Marenger, owner of Mr. Bike, Ski & Fitness, began the program in April while his business was closed due to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order. In the program’s first four weeks, roughly 100,000 cans were donated, with an estimated value of more than $10,000.

“My projection is by July, we’ll probably be at a quarter-million cans,” he said.

The estimate assumes people will continue to donate to the program at the rate they have been. However, these donations have shown no signs of slowing down.

Marenger said the program soon grew beyond his ability to coordinate it.

“We had made a determination … that this should be an ongoing thing, but I was not capable of handling it on an ongoing basis,” he said.

Because of this, Marenger reached out to the Salvation Army of Escanaba in early May.

“They were going to be the recipient of most of the fund anyways, because they deal directly with the homeless population locally,” Marenger said.

Among other initiatives, the Salvation Army oversees Hope At The Inn (HATI), a rotating homeless shelter in Delta County.

After a few meetings, the Salvation Army agreed to take over the program and put volunteers in place to run it. Control of the program was officially transferred to the Salvation Army on Memorial Day.

Merry Esp, a case manager at the Salvation Army, said she is glad to see the organization take control of the fundraising program.

“I think it’s an amazing opportunity, since the donation will go to the HATI program,” she said.

Esp thanked Marenger for starting the program, as well as Beauchamp Self Storage, Bink’s Coca-Cola, and Sav-Mor IGA for their support.

With the Salvation Army’s involvement, the fundraising program will not end when things go back to normal in Michigan.

“That will be a permanent, ongoing fundraiser,” Marenger said.

According to Marenger, donations to the program should now be brought to the Salvation Army of Escanaba, located at at 3001 5th Ave. S., during daylight hours.

“(I) can’t emphasize enough that the cans and bottles be packed in large plastic bags tied tightly at the top,” Marenger said.

Along with donating cans and bottles, people who want to support the program directly are encouraged to get in touch with the Salvation Army by calling 906-786-0590.

“We are looking for volunteers to be able to go through the cans — separate the cans and the glass and the plastic,” Esp said.