STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Nine Wood River Valley nonprofits will head into the New Year’s with a little added boost, thanks to Limelight Ketchum Hotel employees and guests.

The Limelight Ketchum’s Community Fund granted $32,000 to nine non-profit partners that support those recovering from substance abuse, crisis and emergency services for those in need, adolescent support programs and fire safety.

“This is one of our favorite days of the year,” the hotel’s general manager John Curnow told those attending the Community Fund Luncheon at which the funds were dispensed. “The ethos of our limelight culture is giving back.”

This is the eighth year of giving through the Limelight Ketchum’s Community Fund. To date, the fund has granted $236,925 to 42 local nonprofit partners.

The fund is financed by contributions from employees through an optional paycheck deduction. Guests are invited to make an optional $1 per night donation, and the resident homeowner association is also invited to contribute. The Aspen-based Limelight Hotels also contribute a minimum of $20,000 each fiscal year.

The hotel also allows employees two paid days of volunteer time, which has added up to 2,400 hours over the years.

“It’s our first year and we’re honored to work on it—there are so many wonderful nonprofits doing so much for the community,” said Co-Chairs Ashley Houston and Delilah Carden, the hotel’s housekeeping manager.

The fund empowers Limelight Ketchum employees to take care of their co-workers and neighbors. And they learn what organizations are doing.

“It’s very important for us as to support community and the quality of life here and to help members of our community in times of challenge,” said Tony Benson, a member of the fund committee. “I volunteer with Higher Ground and so it’s great to have them encourage employees to volunteer, as well.”

Nonprofits awarded grants:

Men’s Second Chance Living to provide tuition and textbooks for men achieving sobriety. MSCL’s two homes serve 18 men at any given time. “Education gives these men the skills and confidence to become self-sustaining,” said MSCL’s Executive Director Sonya Wilander.

The Advocates to help fund a Youth Services program started in 2023 to ensure that children who experience family violence receive support for healing. Services include case management for children who may have been sexually abused, home visits for families in The Advocates Shelter, kids and parents’ programs and weekly support or play groups for children in the shelter.

It also includes child care, training for support staff and parenting education classes. The donation will help ensure that children who experience family violence receive support for healing and advancing their lives, said Ana Vilanueva, the Advocates director of Youth Services who accepted the donation with CEO Tricia Swartling.

Far+Wise Center for Career Exploration Hospitality Camps. The funds will support Hospitality camps for high schools students this winter and next spring. Jennifer Gennuso, the organization’s associate director of the Center for Career Exploration told attendees that Far+Wise has 150  students in its core academic program who receive afterschool help with math and literary.

The career camps, launched three years ago, give kids an opportunity to “dip their toes” into trades that aren’t covered in school to see what they might like. Last summer Far+Wise offered 11 camps, the most popular being the aviation camps. A hospitality camp with Limelight and Sun Valley Resort last winter piqued the interest of some students to seek jobs in hospitality.

La Mesa Comunitaria, or The Community Table. This program, led by Sun Valley Community School and Wood River High School students, sets up events like the Pachamanca Peruvian feast held this fall at Sawtooth Botanical Garden to build bridges between people living in the valley.

“We were at the Hispanic Heritage Festival and Pachamanca, and we invite other nonprofits to provide resources at these gatherings,” said Paige McNeal, director of Community Connections for Sun Valley Community School.

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to pay social workers and NAMI-certified facilitators for a free Young and Well program provided to any students in the Wood River Valley who would like to attend. The program teaches mental health skills to help students take care of themselves, resist bullying and communicate in healthy fashion. It also creates a community of support for students.

The program is expanding into lower grade levels this year with classes taught in English and Spanish, said Donna McGourty, NAMI’s executive director

Blaine County Charitable Fund, which provides housing stability assistance and aid for Blaine County residents experiencing medical emergencies or needing food or other types of help. One  recent recipient, for instance, needed help while dealing with cancer, said Bilingual Family Care Manager Maira Conlago, who attended with Executive Director Mary Fauth

Sun Valley Culinary Institute for scholarships for students in the academic program who need  tools and uniforms. The fourth program has 10 students lined up, said Executive Director Karl Uri.

The students spend two 10-week periods at the Culinary instate learning knife and other skills. They work at local restaurants during the busy winter and summer seasons. Students enrolled in this year’s program are currently working at such restaurants as CK’s, Tundra, Cook Book, Salted Sprig and Enoteca. And, Uri noted, two of the students came to the Institute from The Advocates’ Skills for Success program, which helps women with the skills they need to find self-sustaining work.

Flourish Foundation, which teaches youth how to manage stress and think about the world in a compassionate way.

Abby Mills offered attendees a glimpse of what Flourish Foundation does by leading them through an exercise in which they passed a ball around a circle, looking someone in eye before tossing it.

“We try to keep kids from mind wandering,” she said. “Let thoughts come into your mind, let them be, let them go.”

The Sawtooth Society, helping to fund staff to keep the community informed during fires in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, as they did last summer during the Wapiti and Bench Lake fires that threatened Redfish and Stanley lakes.

The 756,00-acre area is our wild backyard, said Executive Director Kathryn Grohusky, And it needs to be protected and preserved—something the Sawtooth Society does through stewardship, partnerships and advocacy.

“We will have more wildfires on that land—it’s inevitable,” she said.

Grohusky also said that donations support the Society’s efforts to advocate so that the salmon that swim further uphill than any other in the world are able to return from the Pacific Ocean to spawning grounds near Redfish Lake. The salmon bring nitrogen back and those nutrients feed wildlife and fertilize the ground creating nitrogen that feeds the trees, she added.