Northern Michigan Health Departments Offering Change to ‘Give a Can and Get a Kit’

Some northern Michigan health departments are teaming up to help local food pantries while helping you test your home for radon.

You can bring a non-perishable food item to the Grand Traverse or Benzie Leelanau Health Departments or the Health Department of Northwest Michigan this month and receive a free radon test kit for your home.

The food items will then be donated to help those in need.

Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer and the health department says it’s a good idea to get your home tested if you haven’t recently.

“It’s an odorless, tasteless gas that you can see as well that could be in your home. Basically it’s the radioactive decay of radium that’s naturally occurring in soil and it just finds its way through cracks and fissures in the foundation of a home,” said Dan Thorell, Environmental Health Director for the Grand Traverse County Health Department.

You can bring in donations for test kits until the end of the month.