Content excerpted from WNDU-TV. Read the full article here.

The Pokagon Fund, a CMF member, has committed $300,000 towards the development of a proposed trail that would connect Michigan to Chicago.

It’s the first major donation for the project.

The Marquette Greenway Trail will stretch over 50 miles from downtown Chicago along the lakeshore to New Buffalo.

The trail would go through 15 different communities and each community has committees working to help fund their portion of the trail.

The steering committee in charge of the New Buffalo portion hopes to have their four-mile long portion of the trail done by the year 2020.

They say it will improve their quality of life.

“This trail will help connect our neighboring communities to downtown New Buffalo in a really accessible way,” Heather Gradowski, a member of the steering committee in New Buffalo said. “It'll promote healthy lifestyles; and altogether, it'll make New Buffalo a better place to live, work, and play.”

“Someday, you'll be able to ride your bike from downtown Chicago to New Buffalo, throw your bike on the Amtrak, and ride back home,” Gradowski added. “I can't think of a better way to come and experience our community.”