Jill VanAlstyne

My involvement in the community began many years ago as a parent of an elementary school student.  I became a Brownie Leader and it all expanded from there.

I was president and vice president of the Women's Resource Center Board.  This area has one of the best Directors in the nation and has dramatically affected the lives of women and children in this county and several surrounding counties.  With a colleague, I chaired a campaign to build community tennis courts for Harbor Springs.  It took several years, but we raised the money, got land from the school district, and built the courts that are behind the elementary schools.  They are available for the community, and are used for the High School Girls and Boys Tennis Teams.

As I became more involved in my real estate career, I became a board member of the Harbor Area Housing Board.  This group built the HUD senior housing facility at the end of Main Street many years ago and then built a second phase known as Hillside.  We eventually turned this facility over to Presbyterian Villages of Michigan.  The complex is now known as the Village of Hillside as part of PVM.  This is a beautiful place for Seniors to live and enjoy the added benefit of being subsidized by HUD. 

A few years ago, maybe about ten, the Hillside Board began discussing the need fo non-subsidized housing for the Seniors in the area who could not qualify for HUD housing.  To make  along story short, we formed a new board and called our project Perry Farm Village.  We raised the money and bought the land on West Lake Street right across the street from the Presbyterian Church.  It took many years, but we have now built a beautiful senior complex where the residents may own their own cottage or apartment or they can become rentors.  This facility was also turned over to Presbyterian Villages of Michigan at the same time that Hillside was. 

I have been President and Vice President of both senior housing boards and have literally devoted most of my volunteer time for the last 10 years to these senior housing projects.  I have also been Vice President of the Board of Realtors and am currently an Elder at the Presbyterian Church. 

Anyone who says they would be bored living in a small town up north is just plain crazy!