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August 2024 News Brief
President’s message
Dear WRWF friends,
I am so happy to share with you my first President’s Message! Thank you for such a warm welcome at our Annual Members Meeting and Grantee Celebration on August 8. The business of electing leaders at our annual meeting is important, but celebrating WRWF accomplishments, our members, and our amazing grantees provide the true joy of the meeting.
Speaking of the Annual Meeting, we have many people to thank for such a lovely event. Many thanks to Jori Potiker for graciously hosting us, to Jenni Riley, Kathleen Eder and Toni Damalas and everyone on the Membership Committee for all the planning, all our grantee attendees for their inspiration, and to Board member Karissa Price-Rico for reminding us to cultivate a sense of purpose in all our work. As always, our volunteer work would not be possible without the dedication and positive attitude of WRWF staff members Noe Garing and Lindsey Larrivee!
You will be hearing more from us in the coming months about our plans for 2025. We are already laying the groundwork for another successful Grants Season and thinking about how to celebrate the 20 th anniversary of the Foundation. It’s a great year to get involved!
As I write my message the Wapiti fire continues to threaten Stanley. Please consider extending your philanthropy and generosity to our neighbors up north. A GoFundMe has been established for the all-volunteer Sawtooth Valley Rural Fire Department to support Stanley firefighters and their families, many of whom have been displaced because of the fire. You can support them by visiting https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-stanley-fire-and-stanley-ambulance-volunteers or mailing donations to PO Box 29, Stanley, Idaho 83278. WRWF supports your bravery and commitment; please stay safe out there.
With gratitude and joy,
Jeannie
Grantee Spotlight
As we envisioned, the work WRWF seeded with our Focus Grant to create positive change in our Valley around early learning has already begun to bear fruit. This month, we received news from our friends at Spur Foundation about an immediate funding opportunity to fill in a critical gap in infant care. Growing Garden in Ketchum is closing and many working families are now scrambling for day care. The Presbyterian Church of the Big Wood is seeking to fill this gap by adding infant care to their existing preschool. This will require some renovations to get going but they have a contractor lined up and ready if they can get funding.
Spur Foundation provided the following information on the need:
Growing Garden was one of the only businesses that accepted infants ages 0-18 months. Even before it closed, there were multiple waitlists around the Valley for infant care spots. At least sixteen families with infants have been displaced due to the closure. The Presbyterian Church of the Big Wood, which has been one of the most desirable and respected preschools in the Valley serving ages 18-mos – 5 yrs. for decades, is jumping into the breach by offering to create a 0–18-month infant care center in underutilized space at the church. With some basic improvements to their choir room, they can start a program that could accommodate up to 25 infants with a staffing ratio of 5:1. If $100,000 can be raised in the next 3-4 weeks (ideally by Sept 9th), They anticipate being able to open in October.
If you are interested in helping, feel free to reach out to either Church of the Big Wood or the Spur Foundation. All funds raised by Spur will go directly to Big Wood.
Church of the Big Wood can be reached at (208) 726-9053. Or Sally Gillespie (sally@spurfoundation.org)
Grantee in the news
Far + Wise AI Camp
Alexis Crowdson could have spent the summer hanging out by the river. But, instead, she spent two weeks at “camp” learning how to use artificial intelligence to determine the possibility of life on other planets.
Crowdson, a senior at Wood River High School, joined 13 other teens in the camp organized by Far+Wise as part of its new mission to expose Blaine County School students to trades like welding, firefighting, airport management and entrepreneurship.
“They showed us what AI is, how you can apply it in everything from Google Search to coding to using special key words for images,” said Crowdson. “I didn’t know anything about AI but we used it to figure out whether a planet might be an exoplanet. It was a fun and incredibly useful tool. And I learned that maybe people shouldn’t be as fearful about it as they are.”
The opportunity for an AI summer camp had its genesis in efforts by MIT and Stanford University graduate students to teach about AI to high school students around the country. Far +Wise was able to be nimble enough to take advantage of the course, figuring it dovetailed with its new trade camp program started last summer.
The Center for Career Exploration, as it’s called, exposes local students to a variety of trades and professions, such as airport management, the hospitality business, welding and entrepreneurship.
“The board approved the AI camp because AI is used in all professions now,” said Laura Rose Lewis, executive director of Far+Wise, formerly known as I Have a Dream Foundation-Idaho. “We saw it as a great opportunity because we don’t have AI instruction in the valley.”
Master’s students from Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley spent two weeks in the valley this month teaching the youngsters.
Celebrate Volunteering
Kathy Edwards, Ph.D. Profile
Event Recap
On August 8th, 120+ members and grantees gathered at the home of WRWF member Jori Potiker to celebrate our 2023 grantees, our volunteer leaders and conduct our Annual Meeting.
Sandy McCullough, WRWF Board member since 2017 and President from 2002-2024, passed the leadership torch to Jeannie Shroads. Gail Landis, Board Member since 2017, also retired as Board Secretary passing the torch to Louisa Moats. Sandy will continue to serve the organization as Chair of the President’s Council and Gail will continue to serve on the Finance Committee as head of our Investment Committee. We are all so fortunate to have such dedicated and experienced volunteers serving our mission!
We also celebrated our 2023 Grantees and added a bit of fun to our celebration by giving out a variety of fun gift certificates to our grantees – from coffee cards to massages and restaurant certificates, the energy that new WRWF leaders Carolyn Larsen and Susie Zachman brought to the recognition portion of the agenda was delightful to all.
This year’s speaker was none other then our own Communications Committee Chair and Board Member, Karissa Price Rico, who shared her thoughts on how collective giving and volunteering in our community helps us feel our purpose more deeply.
We also recognized our first two Wowies recipients, Linda Segre and Leslie Silva. Both Leslie and Linda have given and continue to give so much to our organization through their work on the Grants Committee and Communications Committee.
As with every event, a big thank you goes out to all of our staff and Membership Committee as well as WRWF spouses for all the work you did to organize and put on this amazing event and to Jori and her husband for opening their home to us.
upcoming grantee community events
WRWF Calendar
09/10/2024 10:00 AM - 01:30 PM MT
Meet at Hemingway Memorial parking lot on Sun Valley Road
Sun Valley, ID 83353
Registration required.
09/12/2024 04:30 PM - 06:30 PM MT
Bigwood Bar at Bigwood Golf Course
115 Thunder Trail
Ketchum, ID 83340
More details to follow!
09/12/2024 05:30 PM - 08:30 PM MT
Treasure Valley Institute for Children's Arts
1406 W. Eastman St.
Boise, ID 83702
Please visit the Circle Up! event website for further details or to RSVP.
09/25/2024 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM MT
Hiking Trail (TBD)
Save The Date for the Future Forward Fall Fellowship Hike! Specific hike location details to come in late-August/early-September.
More details to follow!
Registration will not be required.
10/16/2024 05:00 PM - 08:00 PM MT
The Liberty Theatre
110 N Main St
Hailey, ID 83333
Details are being finalized to tour backstage, have dinner nearby, and attend the performance.
Check back for registration link!
Registration required.
new members
We are delighted to extend a warm WRWF welcome this month to:
New WRWF members are invited to provide photos and a bit of information about themselves to share in the News Brief. We have so many interesting members and it is fun to read about everyone’s background. Thanks so much and we look forward to meeting you soon. Welcome!
New Member Spotlight
Toby Arnett joined the WRWF at our Annual Meeting this month. Toby is a long-time local, having grown up in the Wood River Valley, graduating from Wood River High School, and then returning to the Valley with a degree in Psychology from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1989.
Toby is an accomplished Realtor with Keller Williams Realty and proud mother of two children, Larsen who is currently a Junior at UCLA and Langley, who just began college at Pepperdine University. When she is not showing property, Toby can be found on the slopes or trails of our beautiful Valley.
Calling all WRWF members! We’re here to remind you about our membership initiative program “BFF! – Bring Forth Friends!”
If two new members join WRWF under your encouragement, you will be thanked for your recruitment efforts with either a $25 coffee card or a bottle of wine. This is an opportunity to continue growing and strengthening our collective membership through your personal and unique networks. Remember, there is no limit to how many rewards you can receive in a year. Be sure your BFFs give you credit when they join so we can track your success towards a reward!
Keep spreading the word about WRWF and our mission!
This reward is being underwritten by a generous WRWF member.
THANK YOU, Sponsors!
We are grateful for our sponsors and extend a hearty WRWF thank you to Graybird Foundation, and Zions Bank!
THANK YOU TO OUR contributors
Thank you to this month’s News Brief contributors:
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