MIDDLEVILLE, Mich. -- Two weeks ago a West Michigan pizza shop was slapped with an unexpected $19,000 electric bill and they feared they would have to close.
Though now, the future of Mitten Pizza in Middleville is looking a lot brighter, the owner of the shop is blown away by the community support that’s helping make sure his doors stay open.
Apparently the pie and the people are so good that over the last couple weeks, the community has been doing all they can to help.
"It's been insane, the community has reached out stronger than I’ve ever thought they would. We have amazing people that came and helped us out," owner Jamie Zichterman said.
The shop held fundraisers over the weekend, a friend set up a GoFundMe and on Friday the electric company Great Lakes Energy called.
"They reached out to me and gave me a payment plan option, they cut the bill in half essentially and wanted to give me a year to pay it off. With the fundraiser, donations, everything going on, it's a viable option that we don’t close our doors," Zichterman explained.
That option was not there just two weeks ago, now Zichterman and his team are beyond appreciative.
"Things are really good, it's one of those things where if you take care of your community, they’ll take care of you back and that really proved itself tenfold," Zichterman added.
Mitten’s owner still doesn’t think they should be liable for that bill, but they do plan on paying off the adjusted rate.
