“Idaho has not had an organization that offered the number of exhibition and educational opportunities to local artists, and our online exhibitions are a unique opportunity for emerging artists.” – Angela Stout, President of Treasure Valley Artists Alliance (TVAA) TVAA started out as an organization that provided local artists with exhibition space and educational general meetings. With the help of past president, Theresa Burkes, they are offering educational opportunities for their members including workshops on creative techniques and professional enrichment.
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“The passion I feel to help our seniors and disabled citizens connect with their volunteer for necessary assistance makes it easy to work for such an incredible organization because I have so much love for them in my heart!” - Edie Schab, Executive Director of Interlink Volunteer Caregivers (IVC). Schab has been in her position for six years and has seen the organization increase their services from four to all eight counties in the Magic and Wood River Valleys: Blaine, Camas, Cassia, Gooding, Jerome, Lincoln, Minidoka, and Twin Falls. IVC has also grown their collaborative relationships with government officials and other health organizations. “My dream is that we will be able to grow our endowment to the point that it will support the financial needs of the organization and we can spend less time on fundraising and more time facilitating the healing process that these little guys so desperately need and deserve,” CEO Mark Wilson. CEO Mark Wilson and the entire staff at the Children’s Village care so deeply about their mission and it is evident in everything their organization does. The Children’s Village is a nonprofit dedicated to providing a “safe haven from abuse, neglect or severe family crisis.” The Lewiston Civic Theatre has been bringing the arts to the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley since 1964. They hold a variety of different programs from workshops and classes, to annual shows and events. Acting Out, a youth company that gives children a safe environment to “experience and learn the theatrical arts” is also a program they offer. “It is so great to see more children developing life skills through their involvement in the performing arts,” says Executive Director, Nancy McIntosh. Rugby Idaho Inc is passionately working towards making Idaho a national hotspot for Rugby. Started in 2009 as a means of providing opportunities for “athletes in first grade through high school to participate in rugby leagues, programs, and PE classrooms throughout Idaho” Rugby Idaho Inc has grown over the years. They have since expanded to focus on coach education, that includes, “positive mentoring and annual classes for anti-bullying and hazing, as well as strengthening the state’s concussion awareness programs,” says Executive Director, Audrey Billingsley. Started in 2005 by Kelly Peterson, Santa’s Cause has been providing Christmas stockings to foster children for 12 years. It is a very busy time for this South Central Idaho nonprofit. They “provide gifts for all foster kids in Region 5, which spans from Gooding to the Mini Cassia area, Hailey to Twin.”
Their services have expanded over the last five years to include additional Christmas gifts and scholarships for extracurricular activities. This helps support foster children and lessens the financial burden on foster families. Peterson and her team have also added the Tooth Fairy to the organization’s payroll. “This program provides orthodontic care for foster and economically disadvantaged children.” The Post Falls Food Bank started out very small in North Idaho. Now, they have extended to “operate out of a 4,000 square foot building… collecting over 1 million pounds of food a year” for Kootenai County.
Instead of distributing the food, the Post Falls Food Bank transformed into a “small ‘Mom and Pop’ style grocery market with registered guests traveling up and down [the] market aisles choosing the food they'd like.” Executive Director, Leslie Orth, expands on the organization’s process: “All our guests are given a certain number of points with which to 'purchase' food every month. The food in the market is all assigned a point value and everyone has control over managing their budget and choosing the food items they like and need.” However, fresh produce is always “zero points with no limit.” In Idaho Falls, the Museum of Idaho (MOI) has been in operation for 14 years and has educated countless individuals. “MOI serves an average of just under 100,000 patrons annually, including almost 18,000 school children on organized school field trips (US museums in the same budget category average only 59,312 patrons and 6,160 students annually).”
Karen Baker, Director of MOI, says “Collaboration is a key to success for MOI. As a regional museum, it is our mission is to reach underserved students through our educational outreach program. Working with local and state partners we are bringing informal STEM education to life for students…” After a successful capital campaign, MOI is now in the designing process to expand their facilities. “Despite our history of success, the limited space available in our current facility to accommodate exhibits and storage has taken its toll.” Baker continues. Operating in Moscow, Backyard Harvest has evolved from a one-woman operation to a multi-faceted organization. They now “help mobilize volunteers to glean (harvest) extra fruits and vegetables from private residences on the Palouse and in the Lewis-Clark Valley” to distribute to those with food instability. Executive Director, Misty Amarena says collaboration is a large part of their services. “We currently collaborate with a variety of nonprofits and social service agencies in our area. We share events and opportunities among each group to ensure community members with needs are aware of important opportunities to address those needs. “We co-sponsor or co-host events such as working with our local land trust to host gleanings in public spaces that community members can pick on their own, too. Many of the food banks/pantries we work with are non-profits or associated with social service agencies and we often distribute fruit to nonprofit after school/summer programs such as the YMCA of the Palouse.” The Jesse Tree of Idaho has become a stronger organization after moving from limited funding sources to a more diverse pool. Their mission to “provide a safety net for extremely low to low income persons who are at risk of becoming homeless by providing one-time rent assistance and case management” is now being achieved throughout the Treasure Valley.
Gabriel Lacoboni, a representative from the Jesse Tree team says they recently started is the City of Caldwell Rehousing Program. “Working with [Caldwell] to rehouse several families living in unsafe conditions by providing rental assistance, case management, first month's deposit and utility bill payments for the first two months of their stay in new housing.” The Trailing of the Sheep Festival – held every fall in Hailey, Ketchum, and Sun Valley – is celebrating its 21st anniversary. Over the years, the cultural and community festival has grown and now includes a multitude of activities throughout the Wood River Valley.
Partnering with local businesses and venues, and sharing resources among the community has strengthened the celebration says Executive Director Laura Drake. Their mission to “gather, present and preserve the history and culture of sheep herding in Idaho and the West” is expanded every year by highlighting the many aspects of tradition and creating new ones. Operating in Sandpoint, Selkirk Outdoor Leadership & Education (SOLE) has evolved since its inception in 2011. They have helped over 1,700 local area youth and have gained national recognition for their SnowSchool Experience program. SOLE is one of two organizations that have a National Flagship SnowSchool Site accreditation. Founder and Executive Director, Dennison Webb, says “[Collaboration] serves our community’s and our grantors’ best interests. Simply put, when nonprofits team up collectively, we are able to do more, underpinned by the strengths of each organization. “We partner with the Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center (IPAC) - to support our middle and high school SnowSchool Experience curriculum while provide avalanche education. We will [also] be collaborating with Y2Y to develop conservation literacy curriculum, which will include citizen-science efforts to monitor wildlife in key locations.” Over the past seven years, HAPI Trails has extended their services to “a community resource for not only helping horses, but also helping the community through education, outreach, law enforcement support, and mental health care with horses.”
Partnering with the Teton Valley Mental Health Coalition, HAPI Trails promotes and supports mental health through their Equine Therapy Program. “[We] utilize horses to help humans who suffer from PTSD, depression, and various other mental issues.” The Idaho Falls School District 91 Education Foundation has grown over the past two years and has “evolved into a granting organization offering programs to enrich educational opportunities” within the district. Executive Director, Marilou Hart, has worked for the organization since December 2014 and has seen the change firsthand. Surveys are used to evaluate the needs of students and teachers in their community. This process has worked in the past and Hart will continue to employ it to discover future projects and to measure their successes. The D91 Education Foundation is getting creative with their fundraising efforts. In April, they will hold the 2nd Annual Adult Spelling Bee. “Teams of three will compete to see who can ‘bee’ the better speller!” When asked what she wished she knew before starting her position, Hart responded with: “There are more challenges managing and motivating a board of directors [than I thought]. Many dedicated and intelligent people donate their time to nonprofit boards and it is often a challenge to create a cohesive working environment to benefit the mission of the foundation.” Learn more about best board practices here. Nestled at the base of Palouse hills, and just inside the city limits of Moscow, Idaho sits the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute Nature Center.
The PCEI Nature Center and the home base for PCEI, is a 26.2-acre haven complete with a mile-long trail looping through the center, up a ridgeline, and down to an orchard. Fingering out from the main trail is a smattering of smaller trails that lead to wetlands, a bicycle pump track, an artist’s studio, and many spectacular views of Moscow and the Palouse region. The heart of the PCEI Nature Center is the Nancy Taylor Pavilion, a covered area that allows for events and classes; the Waxwing, an education and restoration building; the Perrine House, a 1940s-era mail order cabin that serves as the main office for PCEI. We proudly feature a state-of-the-art, two-room solar powered, rasta block-constructed composting toilet named The Jim LaFortune Memorial Groover. PCEI has multiple examples of sustainable living: a sustaining parking lot, a straw bale covered bike shelter, 26 solar panels used to power the facilities as much as possible, rainwater collection, and three buildings feature a living roof. Boise, Idaho's Interfaith Sanctuary is an overnight shelter that serves 164 men, women and families with children each night. It was created in 2005 by an assortment of faith-based organizations united in one common goal: Alleviating suffering and sheltering people who had no home and were forced to sleep on the streets of Boise.
Since then, the shelter has transformed into a vibrant and proactive advocates for the most vulnerable citizens of the city, extending their services beyond just providing a shower, clean bed and a hot cup of soup. A big part of this growth in supportive services is thanks to a forward thinking dedicated staff who has made key community alliances with Boise State University and local businesses which has dramatically changed the outcome for many who enter Interfaith Sanctuary.
The Twin Falls Senior Center has been serving the elderly population in Twin Falls since 1978. Our primary focus is on the aging population of Twin Falls, mostly those that are over the age of 60. Our largest commitment is to provide nutritional hot meals to homebound senior citizens along with serving senior citizens and other community members who congregate at the Senior Center. The Center promotes healthy socialization by providing activities that enhance the quality of life and the mental, emotional, and physical health of individual seniors which assists them with remaining independent in their own homes as long as possible. For our homebound clients we work diligently to serve them a hot nutritional meal, a friendly visit from our volunteers, and a daily well check to make sure they are staying healthy and nutritionally fed. The Center believes in serving the community one heart at a time.
The Pocatello Free Clinic (PFC) is a non-profit healthcare organization, providing outpatient primary care services and advocacy to decrease health disparities among underserved populations. PFC Medical Provider Cindy Bunde, PA-C feels rewarded to have the opportunity to do truly meaningful work. “I hear sad stories of those who have lost their jobs and those fleeing domestic violence, inspiring stories of those struggling to rebuild a life after conquering addictions or having been incarcerated, and frustrating stories of those whose health has deteriorated to near-fatal conditions because of an inability to pay for healthcare services,” she said. Ms. Bunde has found that PFC patients care about their health, want to receive professional and dignified care, and are grateful for the help provided by staff and volunteers.
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