Complete History

The very first MYPros Community Crowdfund recipient. Pizza Baker's mission centered on employing people with special needs in a food service environment — a genuinely compelling community story that set the early tone for what the program aspired to be.

Janet Baker does not appear in the current MYPros member directory. No confirmed insider connection to the Midland Business Alliance or Midland Area Community Foundation has been identified. This represents the program at its most straightforward: a community organization identifying a deserving local business and helping it grow.

The 2020 crowdfund cycle does not appear to have produced a recipient. No announcement, campaign, or check presentation from 2020 surfaced in any public source. This is consistent with COVID-19 disrupting community programming across Midland and the region during that period.

Aviator Cookie Company was founded by Chris Welch, a grounded pilot who turned to baking during the COVID-19 pandemic. The crowdfund helped finance outdoor seating, a large commercial mixer, and an additional employee — a classic small business growth story.

Chris Welch does not appear in the current MYPros member directory. No confirmed insider connection to the Midland Business Alliance or Midland Area Community Foundation has been identified. Another straightforward recipient selection in the program's early years.

Grove Tea Lounge, a "third place" tea and coffee concept on Ashman Street in downtown Midland, received the 2022 MYPros Community Crowdfund. Owner Patrick McElgunn is a confirmed MYPros member, listed in the public member directory at the time of selection.

What makes this entry particularly notable is what happened afterward. McElgunn subsequently joined the MYPros Crowdfunding Subcommittee — the body that selects future recipients of MACF-matched crowdfund money. In a March 2026 interview published on Max Loves Midland, he confirmed both roles simultaneously: "I'm connected to the Crowdfund in two ways. I'm a member of the MYPros Crowdfunding Subcommittee because I still believe in that original intent. And I've also lived it as a past recipient."

Grove Tea Lounge closed in 2025 and was acquired by Live Oak Coffeehouse — which became the 2026 crowdfund recipient. The business that absorbed a past crowdfund recipient is now itself a crowdfund winner.

2023 was the only year the program selected two recipients simultaneously. Aster, a restaurant, and a partnership between Nor'East Outdoors (kayak tours and outdoor experiences on the Tittabawassee River) and Three Bridges Distillery both received crowdfund support.

Nor'East Outdoors was founded by Stacie Scherman. The crowdfund helped finance kayaks, passenger vans, and expanded outdoor capacity. Nor'East Outdoors has since been publicly listed as seeking new ownership — a notable outcome for a business that received community investment relatively recently.

Aster has reportedly changed ownership since receiving the crowdfund. Independent confirmation of current ownership status was not available through public sources at time of publication.

No confirmed MYPros membership connections have been identified for the 2023 recipients, though the unusual two-recipient format this year has never been publicly explained.

The 2024 crowdfund recipient, Allied Group Fitness, is owned by Ali Huntoon. This selection is the most documented governance concern on this site.

Ali Huntoon is a confirmed MYPros member, listed in the public member directory under Allied HR Solutions — her other business. At the time of her crowdfund selection, she simultaneously held the following positions: Board of Trustees member at the Midland Area Community Foundation (the organization providing the matching funds), Board of Directors member at the Midland Business Alliance (the organization administering the MYPros program), and MBA Ambassador.

She disclosed these roles herself in a published community profile on Max Loves Midland in September 2024: "I'm on the Board of Trustees for the Midland Area Community Foundation, an Ambassador and Board Member for the Midland Business Alliance."

A board member of a charitable foundation having their business receive that foundation's distributed funds — even through an intermediary program — is precisely the type of arrangement that conflict of interest policies in the nonprofit sector are designed to prevent.

Notably, the 2024 campaign received almost no press coverage compared to every other year. Other recipients received feature stories, check presentation photos, and campaign recaps in Catalyst Midland, Max Loves Midland, and the Midland Daily News. The 2024 Allied Group Fitness selection appears in a single line on the MBA's own program page and almost nowhere else.

The 2025 Downtownsend project — a revitalization of Townsend Street in downtown Midland featuring wooden pergolas, French-style café seating, custom flower boxes, and a community "Love Fence" — was the largest crowdfund in MYPros history at the time, raising $26,754 from the public and unlocking a $35,000 MACF match for a total of nearly $62,000.

Owner Brandon Morey is a confirmed MYPros member, listed in the public member directory under Crepes Et Amis, LLC at the time of his selection. The 2025 pitch competition, held on June 18, 2025, had three finalists: Crepes Et Amis/Iron Dame (won), Live Oak Coffeehouse/Little Midland (lost), and Salt Spring Ice Cream (lost).

The fact that Live Oak lost the 2025 pitch competition and then won the 2026 competition is documented in published sources and is a central question this site asks about the program's selection process.

Live Oak Coffeehouse, a five-location regional coffeehouse chain operating in Midland (two locations), Bay City, Saginaw, and Freeland, was selected as the 2026 MYPros Community Crowdfund recipient. The project is Little Midland — a children's play space located in the Ashman Street location's upper loft area.

Little Midland was already operational and generating revenue at the time of selection, offering private playdates at $40 per session plus add-on fees for additional children, chair rentals, and table rentals. The crowdfund is described as helping expand or enhance the space.

Two of Live Oak's senior employees are confirmed MYPros members: Kait Philp (Director of Business) and Jazz Benitez (Director of Operations), both listed in the public MYPros member directory. Both employees also donated to their own employer's crowdfund campaign — Philp donated $100 and Benitez donated $50.

Live Oak pitched this exact project at the 2025 pitch competition on June 18, 2025 and was not selected — Brandon Morey's Downtownsend project won that year. Live Oak was then selected as the 2026 recipient. No public explanation of why a business that competed and lost one year was selected the following year has been provided by MYPros or the Midland Business Alliance.

Additionally, the 2026 campaign donor list includes Sharon A. Mortensen and Rob & Sharon Mortensen, who donated a combined $450. Sharon Mortensen is President and CEO of the Midland Area Community Foundation — the organization providing the $35,000 matching funds. The MACF CEO donated to a campaign her own institution is obligated to match.