Brielle Meyer

Thanks to the community’s donations of money, food and more, the hotel had around 70 rooms available for unhoused people in the community.

^{Photo credit: WZZM 13}

Note: This is a story I wrote for WZZM 13 in January of 2025. The original can be found here.

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — A Grand Haven hotel took action earlier this week to do something for the unhoused population in their community as temperatures dropped below zero and lake-effect snow battered the region.

Eric Scott, the general manager for the Baymont Inn in Grand Haven, said the community came together and donated more than $5,000 to help them provide a place for the unhoused during the winter storm.

“The turnout was great,” said Scott. “We had over 70 rooms just last night, high 60’s. Almost 70 rooms the night before and about 50 to 60 as well on Monday night.”

Scott said that beyond just getting them out of the snow, they’re also able to get a hot shower and a good meal. Community members have also stepped up to donate more than just money, according to Scott.

“We’ve had members of the community drop off bags of food, buffet dishes, Pete ordered pizza, someone made bags of sandwiches,” said Scott. “We’ve had so much outpouring from the community and help with food as well. So yeah, it’s been nothing but positive from a lot of the people that have benefited from it.”

People also donated other supplies like socks, coats and even toothbrushes and toothpaste from a local dentist’s office.

This isn’t the first time the hotel has done something like this. Scott said they’re partnered with Love in Action. For the past few winters, when the local police department sees someone out in frigid temperatures, Scott said they’ll bring that person into the hotel with approval from Love in Action.

Then, the hotel gives them a place to stay for the night and the next day Love in Action will work with them to provide more long-term resources.

Anytime it gets cold or there are power outages, Scott said he makes an effort to let the community know they’re there to help them.

“We will do a reduced rate, we don’t want anybody suffering in the cold, so if they can’t afford it, we will make it work for them,” he said.

Scott encouraged anyone who is unhoused and looking for resources to reach out to Love in Action for help. He said while they won’t turn anyone away, the hotel can’t sustain housing the amount of people they’ve seen this past week on a long-term basis.

“We’ll continue this as much as we’re able to,” he said. “But yeah, they do need to follow up with Love in Action.”

Scott said this all really began with a Facebook post. While the hotel does this regularly, he said he believes that due to just how cold this last week was, it prompted a lot of people to step up to help.

He thanked his staff for all the work they put in, some of them even adding to the donations as well.

“[Staff members] just came up to me and said, ‘Hey, you know, I want to send money too, how do I do this?’” he said.

“And again, the community, there’s absolutely no way we could facilitate all these people without the community,” Scott said. “And it’s not just the Grand Haven community, we have people from Grand Haven, Muskegon that are staying here. So they’re stepping up to help strangers in other communities that they don’t even know.”

“I deserve no credit. It’s the community and it’s my staff,” Scott said. “It’s people, it’s everywhere else that, you know, that have really made this something.”