A Hancock parish’s fall fashion show raised $5,316 for U.P. Honor Flight, which now spends $135,000 per trip

HANCOCK, Mich. — Upper Peninsula Honor Flight President Scott Knauf flew from Escanaba to Houghton County Memorial Airport on Saturday morning to pick up a check, and it was worth the trip.

The Church of the Resurrection’s Fellowship Committee on Quincy Street presented $5,316, the entire net proceeds of its recent “Crock and Rocker” fall fashion show, The Mining Gazette reported. The show featured seasonal clothing from Crock & Rocker, a boutique and gift shop in Michigamme, whose owners added a $300 donation of their own.

“It was from Crock and Rocker, a fashion show from Michigamme, and all the proceeds were donated to the U.P. Honor Flight for our veterans,” said Loretta Pagioni of the Fellowship Committee. Many people who couldn’t attend gave donations instead, she said, and committee members cooked and baked for two weeks before the show.

What a flight costs. Knauf said each Honor Flight now costs $135,000, and the group runs two a year, so it must raise about $270,000 annually. The nonprofit receives no government funding and is run by volunteers who also hold full-time jobs. Flights cover veterans’ travel, medical support and lodging for a day at the national war memorials, free to the veterans.

“If we had to do all the fundraising and do the flights, there’s no way it would happen,” Knauf said. “So this donation is amazing.”

To help or apply. Veterans and donors can reach U.P. Honor Flight through its website.

Sources:
The Mining Gazette, “An impressive donation,” Oct. 2026 (donation, show details, costs, quotes), https://www.mininggazette.com/news/local-news/2026/10/an-impressive-donation/
Photo: Senator Stabenow, “Veterans from Michigan visit the World War II Memorial as part of the Honor Flight program. (37465827602).jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Veterans_from_Michigan_visit_the_World_War_II_Memorial_as_part_of_the_Honor_Flight_program._(37465827602).jpg

Houghton

Tags: Houghton · Community · Veterans · U.P. Honor Flight · Hancock · Fundraiser