JACK JONES
STAFF WRITER
11/25/2024
GoGratiot is a new way for students and faculty to connect with the Alma and Gratiot community. The GoGratiot calendar is a calendar which catalogs all of the publicly available events going on in the greater Gratiot County.
These events range from amateur and college sporting events, weekly trivia nights at Blockhouse, and LGBTQ+ youth support groups. On any given day, there are upwards of a dozen events going on in the community and GoGratiot hopes to help advertise these events to the county and the greater community as a whole.
GoGratiot was created after a community leaders meeting called Alma Aspires, which was organized to brainstorm ideas about how to continue to connect the Alma College community with the greater community. Here Cindy Austin and Pat Luetkemeier had the idea, since then they have been working to create easier access to community events for everyone.
The duo started GoGratiot and it remains just the two of them managing the calendar, Facebook and recently, an Instagram page. The two have no budget behind the project and do it purely out of their passion for the community.
Part of the reason the calendar was created was in hopes of better communicating the variety of the available events going on in and around Alma. When interviewed Luetkemeier mentioned hearing people say there is nothing to do in Alma.
“Go to Gogratiot, You will find that’s not true!” said Luetkmeier.
It’s certainly clear once you visit, with many events every day of the week, the Gogratiot calendar is a useful tool for anyone who is interested in further engaging with the community. In this way, the Calendar is also a useful tool for students looking for volunteer opportunities as it presents many events which often require volunteers.
The Calendar has had some frustrations, for one it’s difficult for only two people to organize the number of events that they are receiving, and inconsistency from local organizations and events with providing information or responding to clarification has been a challenge for just the two of them according to Luetkemeier.
But they have some future goals they are hoping to achieve after just recently reaching a thousand followers on Facebook and creating an Instagram account. They hope to reach broader audiences in all age groups through expanded social media use.
They also are hoping to reach out to local organizations and nonprofits to help the organizations better understand how to reach audiences online and through social media.
One planned goal is to have a free class taught at the Alma Public Library about how these organizations can utilize the tools available to them. They also hope to eventually gain funding through 5013c government grants to expand their reach further.
The two have some organizations that are consistently on the calendar including the Forest Hills Nature Preserve, The Alma Public Library and Gratiot County Players. Some events are excluded from the Calendar such as any Political party event or regular religious ceremony to better unite the community.
The Calendar attempts to include all front-facing community events in Alma, the College and the surrounding areas.
You can find the Calendar at Gogratiot.com , their Instagram at GoGratiot, and at their Facebook at Go Gratiot. You can also submit any public-facing Alma events by emailing almaadmin@gogratiot.com
The Almanian: News 
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