Blue Tiger Projects was an inspiration of the Michigan Democratic Party. Sanilac County Dems grabbed the idea and ran with it. In fact, some of the members of the Party became involved in other "helping" enterprises as a result of volunteering for SCDP Blue Tiger projects.
The Party started by adopting a 2 mile stretch of M25 (Lakeshore Rd) just north of Sanilac County’s southern border. Three times a year, members gather, trade jokes about what we definitely won’t pick up, whether the berries will be ripe or if an empty pint bottle of the same brand of cheap rum will be found in about the same general location as the others had been on previous outings. It’s generally felt we’ll get lucky one of these times and the one who’s tossing the bottle will do so before it’s opened.
Nobody brags anymore about the amount of trash they’ve collected as there's not as much. Whether “it’s the economy,” more tidy travelers, or just our diligence, there seems to be less to pick up now along our route.
Help, Inc.
Help, Inc. is a local Sandusky operation that helps the needy by offering clothing, food, and other necessities of life to those who will benefit from assistance. In Sanilac County we’re blessed with a number of similar not-for-profit organizations staffed by volunteers who recognize the personal value in contributing their time and energies toward helping those more in need than themselves. Each month, we encourage members to bring food and/or toiletries to contribute to Help, Inc. It may be a small thing, but it's a little help for those who need it.
Christmas Contributions
Each year during the holiday season, the Party makes cash contributions as funds permit to Help, Inc. and several branches of Project Blessing in the county in support of their food distribution programs to ensure that every family they can reach is able to have as bountiful a Christmas dinner as is possible.
Scholarships to County High School Seniors
The Party annually conducts a writing contest to select a male and female high school senior attending a Sanilac County school. For the last two years two seniors each year received a $500 award toward their tuition for writing, what the judges considered to be, the best essays among those entered in the contest from every high school in the county. Read the winning essays by Nicole Pries and John Dawson, Class of 2010, and Abbey Roggenbuck and Thomas Pattee, Class of 2011.