(This is the fourth in a large series of profile stories planned for 2023 to introduce the Chelsea community to the folks who keep it humming each day. We want you to learn more about Chelsea as a community — as told through the eyes, ears and voices of many different people.)
By Shawn Personke
When Matt Pegouskie walked into the 5 Healthy Towns Foundation office to deliver his resume in 2011, he knew right away it was going to be the start of a beautiful friendship, as Humphrey Bogart so famously said.
And 12 years in, Pegouskie, who serves as the foundation’s Regional Planning Manager, has played a key role in transforming the five towns – Chelsea, Dexter, Grass Lake, Manchester and Stockbridge – into communities that know what they want and need to become healthier, more active, more connected.
From new trails and improved parks to new programs for kids and seniors, Pegouskie is happy to have found a job that uses and fuses his passions and skill sets – being outdoors and creating relationships.
Pegouskie grew up in rural Michigan, graduated from Lake Superior State, worked with the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, and then in community development for Novi. He spends as much time as he can outside with his wife and two children.
“I would consider myself outdoorsy – back in 2009. I did a 16-state, 14-day road trip – lots of hiking, touring battlefields and museums, baseball games, etc. I camped at night and would drive back roads until I came up to something I wanted to see,” he said. “Now our family tries to get outside as much as possible, whether around our area or on road trips around the country.”
He thinks all of that fits in with the foundation’s mission because it shows how effective outdoor recreation and adventure can be in terms of a healthy lifestyle.
“It gets people to disconnect from the ‘digital’ world, reconnect with the real world, and have positive impacts for a community’s well-being and economic life,” he said.
Pegouskie joined the 5HF team led by then CEO Amy Heydlauff that was charged with creating a cultural mindset of wellness. The big question was, “How do you do that?”
He remembers the early days of the foundation, created when Chelsea Community Hospital merged with St. Joseph Mercy Health Systems. Part of the agreement was to create an organization that would harness the goodwill of the hospital’s primary five town service area and to improve the quality of life of each town.
Ultimately, the answer to building a wellness culture was in listening and relationship building, something Pegouskie excelled at.
“We want to empower each community to see what they needed to improve wellness in their town,” Pegouskie said. “Each town is different. They have different strengths, different organizational structures. But each town, when presented with the opportunity, looked deep and found great ideas that benefited their community.”
Pegouskie adds that it’s been a group effort. Each town has a Wellness Coalition that serves as the conduit for finding good ideas and then vetting them to make sure they not only meet their community’s identified needs, but also be sustainable after foundation funding ends.
One way to augment the foundation’s reach, Pegouskie said, was to find regional and state partners.
In 2022, he facilitated a $395,000 grant from Ingham County Parks and Recreation to renovate Veterans Park in Stockbridge. In 2019, the Ralph C. Wilson Foundation and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan gave $50,000 to install SportPort free sports equipment lending libraries in Chelsea, Manchester, and Stockbridge; And since 2014, more than $1 million came from Michigan Department of Transportation for Safe Routes to School improvements in Chelsea, Dexter, and Manchester.
All told, Pegouskie and the foundation have shepherded $2.3 million from outside grants into 5 Healthy Towns wellness initiatives over the last 10 years. But none of this was accomplished without having great teams, he said.
“I found that it’s important to talk and listen to each of the coalitions. They know better than anyone what their town needs and wants in terms of being healthier and more well,” he said.
Pegouskie also credits the foundation staff – CEO Steve Petty, Lori Kintz, Sheila Gillman and Ann Sinelli – and the Wellness Coalition volunteers as a positive force behind the work they do. In fact, the foundation won the Michigan Governor’s Fitness Council Active Communities Award in recognition of the foundation’s efforts in the 5 Healthy Towns region in 2016.
This year, the foundation was recognized as the Chelsea Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2022 Non-Profit Business Award Winner.
“We have the common bond of wellness and we love working together with our community partners,’ he said. “That kind of positive synergy goes a long way.”
Petty credits Pegouskie positive energy and passion for wellness and coalition building as a driving force for the foundation.
“From Lansing to Manchester and everywhere in between, Matt is often sought out for his technical expertise and knowledge in enhancing and expanding the environmental infrastructure of our communities such as parks, trails, ballfields and other recreational assets,” Petty said, adding, “Matt is the engine under the hood here.”
