LIFT Teen Center

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LIFT Teen Center LIFT (Leelanau Investing For Youth)is a non-profit youth program located in the heart of Suttons Bay, MI. Broadway Suttons Bay, MI 49682.

LIFT Teen Center empowers Leelanau County's youth to discover and embrace their strengths to become kind leaders by investing in their evolution, autonomy, and character. Serving as an after-school program for high school and middle school students in Leelanau County. The goal of LIFT is to be an inclusive body of students; striving to build better futures, stronger students and empowered leaders within the community. As a functioning program, LIFT is intended to be a warm environment conducive to nurturing and empowering each student for their strengths. To donate to LIFT simply mail a check to "The Friendship Community Center" with the memo line "YOUTH CENTER" at 201 W. For any other questions e-mail, [email protected]

Are you interested in volunteering with LIFT? 💚With four middle school programs and three high school programs, we are a...
10/16/2026

Are you interested in volunteering with LIFT? 💚

With four middle school programs and three high school programs, we are always looking for more volunteers to engage with our tweens and teens.

Being a LIFT volunteer means walking alongside Leelanau County youth both literally and figuratively. Come with us on afterschool and weekend adventures, connect with students, and help create safe spaces for them to engage with their peers and beyond.

Join us on Thursday, November 5th at 6 pm at the Leelanau Township Library in Northport for our next volunteer orientation. You’ll learn all about volunteering with LIFT and how to get involved.

Leelanau Township Library

Our Suttons Bay High School LIFT teens are becoming top tier treasure hunters! 🪎 They had another successful afterschool...
10/16/2026

Our Suttons Bay High School LIFT teens are becoming top tier treasure hunters! 🪎 They had another successful afterschool thrifting session this week, this time in TC!

LIFT staff and t(w)teens absolutely thrive this time of year. 🍂🍎 Caramel apples, pumpkin carving, fall walks on the lake...
10/15/2026

LIFT staff and t(w)teens absolutely thrive this time of year. 🍂🍎 Caramel apples, pumpkin carving, fall walks on the lakeshore… we are here for it!

Our LIFT Lakers had so much fun decorating these freshly picked apples with caramel, candies, and more. What’s your go to caramel apple combination? Comment below. 👇

Whoever thought it was a good idea to bring a trampoline park to Traverse City was RIGHT! 🙌 Spending the afternoon at Al...
10/14/2026

Whoever thought it was a good idea to bring a trampoline park to Traverse City was RIGHT! 🙌 Spending the afternoon at Altitude tops the wishlist for all of our programs.

Our Northport Middle School AND High School LIFTers both took the trip out there last Thursday and had a hopping good time. 😉

Thank you so much to all of the incredible community members, students, and families who joined us at the Old Art Buildi...
10/13/2026

Thank you so much to all of the incredible community members, students, and families who joined us at the Old Art Building last Thursday night for our Growing Up Leelanau exhibit! 🖼️✨

Our team had been working toward this night for many months and it was an honor to finally share the beautiful portraits and narratives curated to represent adolescence in Leelanau County.

This event would not have been possible without partnership and support from:
- The Old Art Building
- National Writers Series
- Sutton Orellana
- HP Foundation
- FOFA at Suttons Bay Schools
- Adam Worden
- MAWBY Sparkling Wines
- And above all… our teens! 💚

Booklets were made to commemorate this event. If you are interested in seeing the exhibit in print form, comment below! 👇

Our Leland LIFTers have been serving up some fun on the pickleball courts afterschool! 🏓🥒 Seriously, though, our middle ...
10/07/2026

Our Leland LIFTers have been serving up some fun on the pickleball courts afterschool! 🏓🥒 Seriously, though, our middle schoolers love getting outside at the end of the day and we are soaking up every bit of sunshine we can, while we can!

Ping pong afterschool is pretty awesome, but making new friends is a close second. 😉 The beginning of the school year al...
10/06/2026

Ping pong afterschool is pretty awesome, but making new friends is a close second. 😉 The beginning of the school year always brings new faces to the LIFT room. Whether they’re new to school, the rising 6th graders, or simply new to LIFT, we love welcoming new LIFTers!

10/02/2026

LIFT Teen Center (LIFT) is excited to announce an upcoming, one-night-only narrative portrait exhibit of local teens, titled “Growing up Leelanau.” Through 12 life-size portraits and fi…

We’re officially less than a week out from our Growing Up Leelanau exhibit next Thursday, October 8th at 6 pm at the Old...
10/02/2026

We’re officially less than a week out from our Growing Up Leelanau exhibit next Thursday, October 8th at 6 pm at the Old Art Building in Leland! 📸📝

Our staff and students have been working on this show since February and we can’t wait to finally share it with our community. Here is a little sneak peak of the portraits that will be on display!

We also want to take a moment to acknowledge the incredible partners who are making this important project possible:
💚 Old Art Building
💚 National Writers Series of Traverse City
💚 HP Foundation
💚 Friends of Fine Arts at Suttons Bay Schools

To learn more about this exhibit and purchase your tickets, visit www.liftteencenter.com/growingupleelanau ☝️🎟️

“We bought a Ford at a Chevy Dealer!” -BekahIt’s true! We did! We are so grateful to the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa a...
09/30/2026

“We bought a Ford at a Chevy Dealer!” -Bekah

It’s true! We did! We are so grateful to the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians for granting us funding from their recent round of 2% funds to purchase a fourth vehicle for LIFT.

For over a year now, we have been working with four school districts, using just three vans. Our staff has done an incredible job organizing, sharing, shuffling, and communicating to make sure that all of our programs have access to transportation when needed. But, honestly, it’s been difficult and limiting.

Thanks to this grant from GTB, we purchased a 15-passenger Ford Transit to ease the workload on our staff and increase accessibility for our students. Thad at Classic Chevy in Lake City was so helpful with the process and even threw in a neon orange Chevy hat for Bekah and a full tank of gas! ⛽️

Next stop: we gotta get this van lime green like the rest of the fleet! 💚

Address

PO Box 527
Suttons Bay, MI
49682

Telephone

(231) 480-6006

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