EVANSTON — The Festival for Families nonprofit organization has been a successful Christmas holiday fundraiser for needy families for 21 years. Every year in early December, the group holds a …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, below, or purchase a new subscription.
Please log in to continue |
EVANSTON — The Festival for Families nonprofit organization has been a successful Christmas holiday fundraiser for needy families for 21 years. Every year in early December, the group holds a major fundraising event with dinner, raffle items and entertainment.
This past holiday season, the group successfully raised $33,167 for community families and $14,292 of that helped 156 individuals have a brighter Christmas by providing them with gifts, food and gift cards.
A new board of directors has taken over and new president Amber Lowrey said, “I want to thank the former board members and committees for all their hard work and for creating such a wonderful organization. It is an honor to serve on the board of the organization they created.”
The new board of directors includes Lowrey as president; Tricia Tobiason, vice president; Stephanie Dean, treasurer; and AJ Lamb, secretary. The board will meet at 5:30 p.m. on the second Monday of each month in the conference room in the Uinta County Museum. They invite anyone interested in serving on a committee or volunteering to come to the meetings.
Lamb said, “The board will be doing more community service and fundraising throughout the year to better help the community and establish a better rapport with the community.”
The new board’s plan is to coordinate more with other organizations and create more transparency about where the proceeds are disbursed.
Current plans are to distribute funds to the Special Olympics high school team and to Evanston Independence — a Special Olympics team made up of people beyond high school age. They also plan to donate to the Evanston Hungry Children’s Backpack Program in the near future.
“We want to do more ‘boots on the ground’ activities in the community during the entire year,” Lowrey said.
“… We are also excited to announce that we are creating a scholarship in partnership with the Evanston Youth Club,” Lowery said. “The scholarship will be given annually to a club member and determined by an essay writing contest. We will also expand our commitment and support of our community by doing community acts of service throughout the year, so keep an eye out for Festival for Families activities, where we will invite the public to help us with projects around town.”
Tobiason said she’s looking forward for the opportunity to work on the festival board.
“I am incredibly fortunate to be a part of this amazing committee and to be able to help give back to this wonderful community that does so much,” she said.
Dean said she’s fortunate to be able to volunteer on the board.
“I am so grateful for the incredible sense of community and willingness to help one another in our town. I feel fortunate to be a part of such a wonderful team and organization.”