St. Joe County Commissioner Derek Dieter has an idea for how to spend cash generated from auctions at the former Portage Manor county home. He’s also offering the remaining items for free to area nonprofits.
After fighting the contentious battle to close Portage Manor last year, St. Joseph County Commissioners were left with another challenge: What to do with all the stuff the home accumulated over more than a century.
Commissioners last year hired a firm to auction things off. On Tuesday County Commissioner Derek Dieter announced the auctions netted the county about $60,000, and he’ll ask the county council to give $40,000 of that to the Mishawaka Parks Foundation’s Miracle League field project. The rest would go into a fund for maintaining the Portage Manor property as commissioners look to sell parts of it to developers.
The Miracle Field project’s organizers are conducting a public capital drive and recently said they’re about 85% toward their $1.75 million goal. The project would build a synthetic baseball or softball playing surface for wheelchairs and walkers at Normain Park.
But Deiter says there’s lots of items left. He invites area nonprofits, daycares, and others in need to contact the county if they want to see what’s available for free.
