Mariucci Family Beacon House holds Grill & Chill Fundraiser

MARQUETTE, Mich. (WJMN) – It was a ‘Night In Nashville’ Thursday evening at the Steve Mariucci Family Beacon House in Marquette for their annual ‘Grill & Chill’ fundraiser.

All the big names were in attendance for the night of fun, including Olympic Gold Medalist Nick Baumgartner, Michigan State Basketball coach Tom Izzo, and the man himself, Iron Mountain native and former NFL coach Steve Mariucci.

The fundraiser for the Beacon House included great music, auction items, and the return of the ‘Grill & Chill’ Competition with Coach Izzo looking to reclaim his title from a couple of years ago. All the fun, of course, is for a great cause, which we heard about from Coach Mariucci.

“It took a lot of people, a lot of hours and a lot of money and a lot of commitment to get to this point and we’re going to be celebrating our third anniversary here,” said Mariucci. “We opened up right around Christmas time, two and a half years ago. We just hope this place is here forever and continue helping people that need it. I just look forward to this every year. And Mary has done such a great job of getting this thing organized and it’s my favorite night of the year.”

Funds raised from the event help families enduring a medical crisis, like the story of Jeff Fuller, who we spoke with at the event Thursday.

“2004, August 8, I had a little girl,” said Fuller. “She was in the NICU unit for 33 days and we didn’t really have a place to stay or anything like that, worried, and they recommended us to come to the Beacon House. Well, how ironic, 20 years later, I come down with some cancer and I’m back here at the Beacon House and couldn’t have done it without them. It’s a wonderful place. Beautiful people. They take care of you. They look out for your health and people need to donate to this place because it means the world to us.

Tonya Darner, the CEO of U.P. Health Systems of Marquette took home the Grill & Chill crown Thursday night with her beef tenderloin lobster dish.

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