GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The FOX 17 and Lake Michigan Credit Union Pay it Forward Person of the Year is... Diane Grummet!
Grummet was featured in July 2023 for creating Ionia Community Awareness (ICA) to support those fighting cancer.
Diane Grummet began the nonprofit, after losing her dad to lung cancer.
"My son was a senior on the football team, and I wanted the kids to give back somehow," Grummet explained. "I asked them if they would do purple, because purple is a universal color for cancer... it just took off from there."
What was supposed to be a single "purple" football game in 2010, grew into a "Purple Week" the very next year.
![purple football team 2010.JPG2[234412].JPG](https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/fe5e5ad/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4320x3240+0+0/resize/1280x960!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fewscripps-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F44%2F0f%2F819898a44230a272922099d99a9d%2Fpurple-football-team-2010-jpg2234412.JPG)
It's now a fall tradition among every grade level and nearly every sport in Ionia.
"All the money that we raised stays right here in Ionia. And just, you know, to help those fighting, or surviving, or even those that had been taken," Grummet told FOX 17 News. "When I say, you know, it's one town, one fight, it truly is, because... the whole town comes out and helps."
Grummet said nearly $250,000 has been raised so far to help more than 140 families.
ICA assists with bills, meals, and gas cards along with hope and support.
"Endless hours of working on this. We get calls in the middle of the night — people needing help, and she always helps, you know. That makes me very proud of her," Kevin Grummet, Diane's husband, told FOX 17 Thursday.
The annual FOX 17 Pay it Forward Awards Gala was held Thursday afternoon at Frederik Meijer Gardens, honoring all of the 2023 monthly winners.
As the Person of the Year, Grummet receives a $5,000 check from Lake Michigan Credit Union.
The Person of the Year is determined via rank choice voting by select FOX 17 and Lake Michigan Credit Union staff members.
Know someone who should be our next Pay It Forward Person of the Month? Nominate them here.
PHOTO GALLERY: 2023 Person of the Year Awards Gala