On Wednesday, May 9, it will be one year to the day that John Kivela died, a victim of suicide following a long-term struggle with alcoholism.

Kivela, who was a favorite Marquette son and sitting state representative, was known as a consensus builder who could bring people together for greater purposes. On Tuesday, many of his colleagues in and out of the state Legislature and others he touched will come together to celebrate his life while commemorating his loss through the establishment of a fund to support addiction treatment in the Upper Peninsula, according to a press release distributed to local media.

“Spaghetti & Sisu” will be held from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the Central United Methodist Church, 215 N. Capitol Ave., in Lansing. A brief program is planned for 5:30 p.m. In a nutshell, the event is a spaghetti dinner to help raise money for the new John Kivela Legacy Fund, created in collaboration with the Kivela family.

The spaghetti dinner was a device Kivela often employed to meet, greet and understand the people he represented. Now, it’s going to be used to raise funds to battle the disease that he fought against for years.

“All the support and love we continue to get from so many people who knew my dad has helped our family make it through the pain of losing him, which still hurts every day,” Kivela’s daughter, Shelby Kivela, said in the release. “We want part of his legacy to be that everyone talks more openly about addiction and mental health issues — that people reach out to get help and that the resources they need are available. It means so much to our family that the John Kivela Legacy Fund will be there to help people in the U.P., which is what my dad focused on throughout his life.”

People can buy tickets or make a donation at www.KivelaLegacyFund.org. We believe this to be a worthy cause and recommend people consider a donation.