Senior living facilities, schools have power restored as progress continues

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, April 11, 2025
CONTACT: Dana Whyte, Byrum & Fisk Advocacy Communications, dwhyte@byrumfisk.com

Senior living facilities, schools have power restored as progress continues

Hundreds of volunteers, community members pitch in to pack lunches, donate food to crew members

BOYNE CITY, Mich. and ONAWAY, Mich. – As crews from Great Lakes Energy (GLE) and Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-Op (PIE&G) work diligently to restore power to members in northern Michigan, the co-ops are also expressing gratitude for the strong support from communities across the state. Family and friends of employees have spent countless hours cleaning, making sandwiches, packing lunches and helping prep meals for crews.

Crews continue to make progress in bringing power back online to buildings and residences located across the region, including those in very remote areas that can be difficult to access.

“The power came back on last night at our assisted living facility, and as we started flipping on breakers, residents began cheering,” said Kim Pappas, vice president of marketing at The Brook of Gaylord. “We are beyond thankful for the hard work of crews and GLE team members who provided us with frequent updates throughout the outage and put our minds at ease.”

The Brook of Gaylord was powered by a generator during the storm. GLE and PIE&G have also been working closely with impacted county officials to communicate and restore power to all residents.

“I have been very happy with the co-ops’ help and communication so that I’m able to provide Crawford County with much needed information on restoration, obstacles the crews are facing and more,” said commissioner Matt Moeller. “This brings a sense of both urgency and hope.”

GLE and PIE&G have received help from hundreds of people, including:

Rogers City Area Schools: Students helped with making sandwiches and packing lunches for linemen
The Bee Hive Cafe (Kalkaska): Employees donated lunch and dinner to crew members
Onaway Community Chamber of Commerce: Employees helped provide and prepare meals for linemen
B.C. Pizza (Boyne City): Employees donated pizza to crew members
VFW Post 5857 (Onaway): Members helped provide and prepare meals for linemen
Family Fare: Donated plastic bags and cases of water to crew members
Awakon Federal Credit Union: Employees donated food, drinks and personal care items for crews in Alpena
Taste of Heaven Bakery (Boyne City): Employees donated food to crew members
Alcona Area Credit Union: Employees donated food, drinks and personal care items for crews
Tom’s Family Market (Onaway): Opened store early and stayed late so crews could get supplies, and helped facilitate donations to crews

Additionally, the following restaurants have helped keep more than 1,000 crew members fed:

Manzana’s Restaurant (Onaway)

Woodwinds Restaurant (Onaway)

Ma’s Diner (Onaway)

“Crew members out in the field like me are truly thankful for the community’s support,” said Dylan, a working foreman for GLE. “When you have five counties covered in ice, it’s not a pathway — it’s a complete blanket of thousands of pounds on poles just bringing everything to the ground. Every contractor I have talked to and worked with this week has said that they’ve been all over the country and done work following hurricane storms and have never seen anything like this.”

“Dozens of IBEW Local 876 line workers are out there answering the call for help across Northern Michigan,” said Sam Braun, business manager of IBEW Local 876. “They are rebuilding lines, making repairs and clearing debris since this ice storm caused catastrophic damage. We are proud of their hard work and dedication.”

GLE expects to have power fully restored to the vast majority of members by Sunday, April 13, after crews made headway earlier this week on rebuilding core infrastructure and getting main power lines back online.

GLE restoration progress as of Friday, April 11:

94% of GLE members now have power (2,365 members restored on Thursday)
restored power to The Brook in Gaylord, an independent and assisted living facility
replaced more than 2,025 total poles since March 31
restored 3,544 line miles impacted
coordinated more than 1,100 vehicles and equipment
coordinated more than 1,615 personnel in the field to restore power

“Our crew members are working through difficult conditions to restore power to our members across Northern Michigan,” said Shaun Lamp, president & CEO of GLE. “Our community’s support has made such a difference in keeping morale up and keeping crew members motivated to get the job done. We are truly thankful.”

PIE&G expects most members to awaken to restored power by Monday morning, April 14. However, service for some residences may be delayed if storm damage prevents access or requires additional repairs to individual service drops.

PIE&G restoration progress as of Friday, April 11:

73% of PIE&G members now have power (25,777 members restored so far)
replaced 1,312 broken poles
coordinated 373 crews and 1,275 personnel in the field to restore power
coordinated 788 vehicles and equipment

restored power to Bois Blanc Island including the post office, outpost, township hall and school district

“We are grateful to have support from our members and those across the region as we work on difficult repairs after the devastating damage caused by this unprecedented ice storm,” said Allan Berg, PIE&G CEO. “We will continue to work until the job is done and power is restored to 100% of our members.”

Visit gtlakes.com/power-outages and pieg.com/spring-2025-storm-updates for updates.