About Us
ELK is staffed by a group of dedicated volunteers.
Our Story
ELK began in 2011 as a collaboration between (then) Portage Hospital and the Copper Country Intermediate School District. The rural nature of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan makes it extremely difficult and time consuming to attain medical equipment. Often insurance coverage is poor or non-existent, and such equipment is prohibitively expensive out of pocket. To address this need, ELK began taking in donated equipment and passing it on to the next family. After several years of moving our collection from location to location, in 2019 we gained a permanent home on Hecla Street in Hancock, in a garage built by the Career and Technical Education Students of the CCISD.
Most recently, inspired by local adaptive athletes, ELK has expanded to adaptive sports and recreational equipment. We passionately believe that everyone in our community, regardless of ability, should have access to all that our area has to offer. In conjunction, we have begun offering events to open the world of adaptive recreation to people with and without disabilities To reflect this change in scope, our name was changed from Equipment Loans for Kids to Equipment Loans of the Keweenaw. We continue to operate under the acronym ELK.