And the winner is… 2023 Person of the Year announced at annual gala [Video]

KENT COUNTY, 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.

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 …