Mike Dempsey Memorial Preserve
2025 Supported Causes Update & USAID Memorial Wall
In 2025, Michael’s Fund acted as kickstarter to launch an effort at engaging college students in the digital space at Rooted Campus Ministries, an initiative helping college students at multiple campuses on the Great Plains connect with the roots of Christianity while...
FundGreenleaf Integrative supports JusticeMatters and the National Democratic Institute
The Michael Cameron Dempsey Fund supported Greenleaf Integrative's specialized programming to promote the mental health of employees at two non-profit organizations: JusticeMatters and the National Democratic Institute. Greenleaf's mental health experts, inspired by...
Fund Supports Non-profits
In 2024, Michael’s Fund made significant donations to three American non-profit organizations, as wellas a contribution for educational purposes. One donation, to Samaritan’s Purse, was made to supportthe recovery and reconstruction efforts in North Carolina in the...
Fund Sponsors U.P. Preserve, North Country Trail route
On Saturday, Sept. 9, the Upper Peninsula Land Conservancy held an official opening and dedication ceremony for the Mike Dempsey Memorial Preserve. This 40-acre area is on the south bank of the West Branch of the Ontonagon River, which flows into the main branch, a...
Fund Acts as “Angel Investor” for Reproducing Book Fund
In late Summer 2022, the first in a collection of resources aimed at supporting the spiritual restoration of men everywhere emerged from the printing press. Sage: A Man's Guide Into His Second Passage is written to help men prepare intentionally for “the second half,”...
Fund Supports Michigan-Made Custom Bench at Neighborhood Park
In the hometown where Michael grew up, a triangle of grass – previously having no real purpose – has finally become the focus of public-oriented improvements. Located at Beck Road and Ann Arbor Trail in Plymouth Township, this “cloverdale” park sits south of the...
Fund Support Yields Matthaei Art
A new installation at the University of Michigan Campus Farm complex at Matthaei Botanical Garden invites visitors to experience and learn. One component is a series of steel arches topped with artfully arranged garden tools donated by those who love what the Farm is...
Fund Supports Development of Trauma-Informed Resources and Tools to Help Care for Helpers, Healers, and Protectors
In diplomatic postings where personal safety is at risk, individuals serving our Nation deserve to have the best tools available to cope with the dangers to body and soul. The U.S. Military has taken major steps to address post-traumatic stress thanks to recent armed...
Fund Sponsors Hometown Historical Marker
On Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020, during a year of pandemic and pandemonium, citizens and leaders of Plymouth Township gathered at their Township Hall to celebrate community spirit in dedicating a Michigan Historical Marker commemorating the area’s rich history. The marker...
Fund Sponsors Fresh Water Book
Michael loved conservation, good writing, history, and Michigan, especially the Detroit area. So continuing such interests through sponsorship of a publication that combines these themes was a natural for his Fund. In newly-published The Heart of the Lakes: Freshwater...
Fund Continues Support for Vision at Matthei Botanical Gardens
The second of a three-year series of grants by the Michael Cameron Dempsey Fund enables the Campus Farm at the University of Michigan’s Matthei Botanical Gardens to continue implementing a vision for continuous improvement during 2019-2020. The plan has three major...
Fund Helps Detroit Christian School
Like Michael, Megan Armstrong and her husband Kevin made a commitment to helping revitalize Detroit’s spiritual and civic life. Megan is a teacher at a Christian school in Detroit called Charlotte Mason Community School. Recently, the School conducted a capital...
Fund Helps Detroit Mission
From 2008 to 2013, Michael gave generously to support the work of his friend Kevin Armstrong in spreading the Gospel in the city of Detroit. In Kevin’s words, “Mike was faithful in many ways, a partner in this ministry being one of them.” After laboring in the work of...
Fund Sponsors Visionary Plan for Matthei Botanical Gardens
Following up a previous grant, the Michael Cameron Dempsey Fund is sponsoring a 3-year plan at the Campus Farm at the University of Michigan’s Matthei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor. The Farm is just east of Dixboro Road along the southern entrance and adjacent to the...
Fund Sponsors “Leave A Light On” Music Video
The Michael Cameron Dempsey Fund has collaborated with the Veterans advocacy group S.A.V.E. Home Front (SHF) to sponsor a “Leave A Light On” music video.Filmed by award-winning Saylors Brothers Entertainment, produced by Lifetime Grammy Achievement Award recipient...
Reflection
Michael once wrote that his mission in life would be "making life better for people, towards making a [big] impact on the world." He wanted to change the world, to help people, and to glorify his Lord. During his 33 years here he did all that in many, many ways.Five...
Fund Sponsors Hoophouse at Matthei Botanical Gardens
The Michael Cameron Dempsey Fund sponsored the installation of a hoophouse in the Fall of 2017 at the Campus Farm in the University of Michigan’s Matthei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor. The Farm is just east of Dixboro Road along the southern entrance and adjacent to...
Fund Supports Normandy Memorial Restoration
On a trip to see the D-Day sites along the Normandy coastline in France in January, Michael’s sister Anna and her husband Daniel (an Army Airborne soldier) happened to visit an eleventh century church in Commune d’Angoville-au-Plain.The small town was looking for...
Fund Sponsors Middle School Tutoring Intervention Program
The Michael Cameron Dempsey Fund made a significant investment in the Plymouth community’s K-12 education in 2016-17 through sole sponsorship of a program administered by the PCCS Educational Excellence Foundation.The “Project Achieve Study Center Tutorial Program”...
Fund Supports Eagle Scout Project
Growing up, Michael played youth baseball in Plymouth. In 2016 the Michael Cameron Dempsey Fund had an opportunity to support the Eagle Scout project of Plymouth Township resident and baseball enthusiast Chase Every. A Boy Scout with Troop 1537, Chase played ball at...
Michael’s Iraq Journal Revised
Because of two wonderful people named Sara and Matt, both friends of Michael, we are now able to publish a more complete version of his Iraq Journal than previously posted here. A big thank you to them for finding this website and responding to the call for more...
Fund Supports Child Rescue
Late in 2015, the Michael Cameron Dempsey Fund made a donation to support Life Outreach International’s 24/7 Child Rescue Center in Southeast Asia. Its website can be found at http://lifetoday.org/about-life/ The CRC will be one of two safe havens in Southeast Asia...
Fund Sponsors American Flag Pole
The Michael Cameron Dempsey Fund made a significant donation in late 2015 to North Star Reach, a barrier-free camp – free of physical barriers, free of medical barriers and free of financial barriers – that provides life-changing experiences for children with serious...
Fund Helps Thailand Mission
Michael supported the mission work for the Lord in Thailand of his friend Cory Klein from 2009 until his passing in August 2013. He did this on a regular, monthly basis.Cory and his family have lived there since 2007. They’ve lived in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima...
Fund Helps Create Nature Preserve
The Michael Cameron Dempsey Fund made its most significant financial investment in two years of existence by helping the Little Traverse Conservancy acquire land in 2015 for a new nature preserve near Harbor Springs, Michigan. The property adjoins LTC’s Menonaqua...
University of Michigan class discusses Michael’s experiences and book
On Tuesday, April 14th, Jack and Anna attended a graduate level class in the Taubman College of Urban Planning at the University of Michigan for a discussion about Michael's diverse experiences as a planner and his book Castles in the Sand: A City Planner in Abu...
Check out photos taken by Michael
Michael was an avid photographer. His journeys around the world offered ample opportunities to photograph beautiful landscapes. Check out "His Photos" to see some of the incredible scenery.
Michael’s Family Attends Plaque Dedication in D.C.
On December 1st, Michael's family traveled to the Washington, D.C. office of the U.S. Agency for International Development to participate in helping dedicate a plaque and photo commemorating Michael's service.
Check Out Michael’s Iraq Journal
Michael served as Senior Governance Advisor, RTI International, posted in Najaf & Baghdad, Iraq, May 2008 to March 2009. While representing America in a warzone, Michael wrote a periodical journal that he shared with friends and family via email. In addition to...
Readers Enjoy “Castles in the Sand”
Here's the latest on what readers are saying about Michael's book, Castles in the Sand:“It is a terrific piece of work. Of course, as I would get absorbed in it and chuckle a bit every page or two, I would recall who had written it and that there would be no more...
Beautifying America’s First Highway
The MCD Fund has just added a wonderful project to its list of supported causes: The Woodward Avenue Action Association’s Sunflower Gardens on Woodward campaign. The association raises funds to plant more than 1,000 sunflowers at several spots between 6 Mile and 8...
Preserving History in Detroit’s Capitol Park
The Michigan Historical Commission’s work to preserve and promote the heritage of Detroit’s Capitol Park is one of the Fund's supported causes. Since 2007, the Commission has aided the City of Detroit in highlighting the rich and unique heritage of this site. It is...