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What Wasatch Community Foundation is Doing for You

Aug, 2022

From the Chair . . .

Welcome to another quarterly newsletter, where we provide updates on current programs, projects and fundraising efforts for residents of Wasatch County. Wasatch Community Foundation (WCF) has a rich history of volunteers and projects we’ve overseen, bringing a sense of well-being to our Wasatch County residents.

Our Mission is to advance the well-being of Wasatch County residents by uniting community resources and programs through the following Pillars:

I hope all have enjoyed the summer months here in our beautiful Valley. COVID is not entirely behind us, but it’s retreated enough that it feels ‘almost’ normal. My wife and I retired here in 2012 from the Midwest and we feel so fortunate to call the Heber Valley home. It’s one of reasons I feel compelled to give back to the community.

The Wasatch Community Foundation was founded over 20 years ago by leaders in our community. The goal was to provide one non-profit that residents could donate to that would meet the needs of all the community.

I believe we still do that through our 5 pillars: Recreation, Health, Arts, Education and Service. Our Pillar chairs will give you a summary report of what they have accomplished to date and expect to accomplish through the remainder of 2022.

We are an all-volunteer Board, dedicated to giving back to the Valley we love. Join us! If you’re interested in serving on one of our committees, please contact us. If you have ideas, we would love to hear them. And, of course, for us to be successful, we need your donations!

Please consider donating today at www.ourwcf.org!

Tom Fowler, Board Chair
 

Human Services Update. . .

The Human Service Pillar is still continuing to address food insecurities, affordable housing, self-reliance and transportation needs that exist within Wasatch County.

In conjunction with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, WCF has raised thousands of dollars for our local food pantries this summer. Cash donations have helped secure meals for pennies on the dollar. Summer food baskets distributed to families have been a resource for many Wasatch County families in need.

WCF has partnered with Roonies Ice Cream who is creating and donating healthy rice and beans packets to send home in the
backpacks of students in need of food on the weekends.

WCF has also been working with the Wasatch County Health Department who has been given a grant to provide fresh food for some of the local food pantries.

The pillar would like to thank the many wonderful community members who provided hours of service, resources and food to our local food pantries.

Part of Human Services is connecting with our local community. In that light, we participated in Go Heber Valley’s Free Ice Cream in the Park. We provided whip cream to top off all the free Roonies Ice Cream.

We also participated in Wasatch County’s Fair Days parade where we distributed over 1,000 otter pops to parade spectators.

Finally, Human Services is working with Habitat for Humanity to start a new project here in Heber for housing.

Thank you, Wasatch County residents for blessing the lives of so many children and families.

Diann Glen,
Human Services Pillar Chair
 

Health Pillar Update . . .

The Wasatch Community Foundation Health Pillar has had a number of great projects in the works. This past summer we sponsored and helped to organize Wasatch County’s Mile by Mile Marathon. This marathon is an effort to increase physical activity and health of Elementary School students. Students started their marathon in April and tracked their miles. After they completed 25 miles, they were invited to finish the last 1.2 miles at the Safe Kids Fair which was held May 5 at South Field Park. All those who completed the marathon received a T-shirt and marathon medal. In a competition between county elementary schools, two schools were awarded when over 50 students from their school completed the marathon.

Our Health Pillar recognizes that we have hard working and committed health professionals working in the county including health care providers, mental health providers, prevention specialists, our public health department, and more. We have been working to support their efforts and find out how the Wasatch Community Foundation can fill any gaps and address community needs. Recognizing a need for additional mental health services in the community, we were able to locate and sponsor a Spanish speaking therapist who will provide counseling one day per week in Heber starting July 21.

In addition, WCF supported the Wasatch Latino Coalition with three events to educate Latino families about mental health issues and how to decrease the use of substances. Workshops and family bonding activities provided information and resources for prevention, intervention, and treatment programs. The workshops and activities were conducted in Spanish and English at three area schools for parents and students.

A final highlight of the health pillar this quarter was a Children’s Health Clinic we put together on July 28. At the clinic, children ages 5-18 who were uninsured were eligible for free well-child exams, dental exams, immunizations, hearing and vision screening, and nutrition counseling. A huge thank you to the Wasatch County Health Department, Heber Valley Hospital, Wasatch Behavioral Health, People’s Health Clinic, Hope Alliance, Dr. May at Timber Ridge Dental, and Dr. Dryden from Deer Creek Dentistry for providing services at the clinic. The clinic was held at the Wasatch County Health Department. Thank you also to community members who have donated to the Wasatch Community Foundation! Funding from the foundation finances additional clinic costs and follow-up services to support these children in need.

Thank you for supporting the Wasatch Community Foundation Health Pillar and these important programs!
 

Education Pillar Update . . .

The Wasatch Campus of UVU is the home of a great Tourism and Hospitality program – working closely with the local and Park City Resorts to provide both career opportunities and scholarships. Affordable housing remains a major obstacle for the growth of the program.

The Trades programs at the High School continue making strong strides forward with the Home Building Unit expanding into marketing, architecture, engineering as well as construction. These areas will expand as their first home building project in several years continues into the next school year.

James Ritchie,
Education Pillar Chair
 

Recreation Pillar Update . . .


This past quarter, the Recreation Pillar has worked diligently to close out a few large projects we began last year. The first one of those projects was to incorporate some improvements to the BoneYard Dog Park in Heber City. We realized many people who live in our community didn’t know they had a local dog park. So, we installed 3 way finding signs to make citizens aware of and direct them to this great community asset. We are also funding the addition of a small watering station in the small dog area as well as the installation of sod in a portion of the large dog area. These final projects should be completed this summer.

We’ve also been working closely with Utah State Parks as well as Trek (previously Slim and Knobby’s) bike shop to complete our installation of 7 different bike repair stations at popular trail heads in the valley. These stations will be conveniently placed near trailheads so they are easy to see and will be simple to use. These repair stations are ready to use now at Dutch Hollow, top and bottom of WOW trail, both ends of Deer Valley, Huber Grove and Coyote.

The Heber Valley Running Club recently teamed up with the Chamber of Commerce to bring weekly running club meetups to train for the Main to Main 10K race. These meetups took place on Tuesday mornings and Thursday evenings and varied in distance according to the training plan. This race took place on Friday, May 17th with a great turnout in its second year! The Chamber of Commerce looks forward to bringing this event back next year. Even though race training is over, you can still meet up with the running club every Thursday night at Heber Valley Brewing Company at 6:30pm for a fun 5K social run. 10 runs with the group earns you a Running Club T-shirt. All paces and abilities are welcome to join.

The Heber Valley Marathon and Half took place on Saturday, June 18th in conjunction with the Valkyrie Relay Events. The Wasatch Community Foundation was proudly the presenting sponsor of the race. Our efforts helped staff aid stations along the marathon race route. We had many wonderful groups and organizations participate including Park City Mountain Sports Club, Paws for Life, Wasatch County Medical Reserve Corps, Heber Valley Pickleball Club, and Team SOHO. A special thank you to all volunteers who helped out, and we had a fun time cheering on these incredible athletes!!

Currently the Recreation Pillar is fundraising for the Heber Valley Pickleball Club. The sport of Pickleball is growing rapidly and the local courts have been in high demand for quite some time. The club would like to add at least 2 more courts to Southfield Park and needs to raise at least $80,000 to make this happen. The WCF will match donations up to $20,000. If you’re interested in contributing, please visit our website to find out more.

We are also working on a Cornhole Tournament in October this year. This tournament is in conjunction with the 9/11 Day of Service and all proceeds will go to support First Responders in the Valley. Find out more and sign up for this fun event by clicking the image below:

Kate McClellan,
Recreation Pillar Chair
 

Arts Pillar Update . . .

The Arts continues to flourish in the Valley. Both TVT’s production of “Pirates of Penzance” and High Valley Arts “Sound of Music” had sold out performances that attracted many visitors from outside our valley.

Arts in the Park on the 4th of July also attracted many people interested in the visual arts. Our pillar has been focused on supporting these efforts.

We currently are spending our time preparing to help get support for the upcoming RAP tax (Recreation, Arts, & Parks) which will be on the ballot this fall. This tax is one tenth of one percent (so a penny from every $10) spent on dining, hotels and other recreational activities in the county.

KPCW reported last year “Wasatch County tried to pass a RAP tax last November that would have levied a penny tax for every $10 spent. The initiative was defeated by eight votes, and supporters hope to bring it back in a future election.”

We are working to support it again this year. Around half of this tax will be paid by visitors to our county, so it’s a great way to boost our recreation, arts and parks with funds from visitors outside our county.

Our board strongly supports this tax to help fund so many initiatives that make our valley such a great place to live…and visit! Read more about the RAP tax HERE.

Steve Stoddard,
Arts Pillar Chair
 
 

Fundraising Update . . .


We invite all who are able to become a Sustaining Member of the Wasatch Community Foundation. We would sincerely appreciate an ongoing annual donation of $1,000 from you. With this donation, we will recognize your Sustaining Membership with a plaque you can display in your home or place of business, with a perpetual annual plate added each year you donate.

Your Sustaining membership will also give you “Bronze Sponsorship” status and benefits with our organization, which includes recognition in our annual report, invitations to exclusive WCF events, a “Proud Donor” Window Sticker and recognition in our quarterly newsletter and website (if desired.) If you are able to contribute more than $1,000 annually, I’d love to meet with you and discuss additional benefits of a Silver or Gold level sponsorship (or beyond!)

You can donate using credit/debt or ACH on our website: www.ourwcf.org. Monthly recurring payments are easy to set up and our website is secure and safe using SSL technology. If you donate just $85/month on a recurring basis, we can reserve your spot as one of our Sustaining Members of the Wasatch Community Foundation. Once we receive your full annual donation, you would qualify for any benefits, and we will present to you your plaque for display.

Donations by check are also welcome and can be made out and mailed to: Wasatch Community Foundation (Office of Gordon Law Group) / 322 East Gateway Dr, Suite 201 / Heber City UT 84032. I would also be happy to simply come pick up your check.

While you can choose which pillar or project to donate to, we especially encourage you to donate towards our General Fund, so we can contribute funds to the pillars prioritized by need.

We commit to being wise stewards of these precious funds. All projects we support have been rigorously examined and approved by our all-volunteer Pillar committees and voted on by our all-volunteer Board of Directors. All donations are tax deductible, and a generous 95-97% of your donation goes directly to fund these community-wide projects.

WCF’s tagline is “From the Community, for the Community” We believe this, and are focused on doing projects and activities that truly benefit our community. But we can only do it with your help!

In addition, we love to have volunteers help on any of our five pillars. There are so many projects to choose from, so get involved and help our community! Not only is it fun for you and your family, but you get to meet others in the community and develop life-long relationships.

Again, none of these projects happen without you, the donor. Please donate either time or money to assist our growing project needs.

Many thanks to all who have donated and continue to donate! If you have any questions, please reach out to me at 801-376-2739 or send me an email at TallenPitts@gmail.com.

Terry Pitts,
Fundraising Chair

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