The Change Your Pace program raised over $64,000 dollars total for non-profits in the Seeley Lake community. Claire Muller, executive director of the Foundation, holds a check symbolizing that all of the money raised belongs to the community.
Loren and Pam Rose speak to the crowd, announcing their intent to move Deer Country Quilts to a smaller location and sell the building to the Foundation.
Carol Evans and Mark Williams check out one another's fire-themed costumes. The theme of the fundraiser was Fire and Ice and Williams, the master of ceremonies, joked with the audience that he was the devil because of his flaming outfit and bad jokes.
Pam Rose making her famous huckleberry pie for the Seeley Lake Community Foundation Banquet Friday, Aug. 10.
SEELEY LAKE- The Seeley Lake Community Foundation celebrated another year of finding community needs and finding funds to fill them Sunday, Aug. 12 at their annual fundraiser. This year it included a significant announcement, fundraising auction and the distribution of Change Your Pace donations.
At the fundraiser, Loren and Pam Rose announced the sale of the building that houses Pam's business Deer Country Quilts to the Foundation for $215,000. According to Kevin Wetherell, a Foundation board member, this amounts to a gift of over $200,000.
"Pam will have an opportunity to ensure that Deer Country Quilts is viable long term," Loren said. "And the non-profit community in Seeley Lake can finally start putting down some permanent roots."
The quilt shop will move into a smaller space in the Bison and Bear Center to allow Pam to continue to run it while she travels to help her parents and see her grandkids.
The crowd at the fundraiser donated over $30,000 dollars of the cash needed to purchase the building within 10 minutes after the announcement was made.
The Roses have more than one lasting impact on the Foundation's annual fundraiser. Their now famous huckleberry pie sold twice at auction this year, the first time for $5,000 and the second time for $1,000. It has become a traditional fixture in the auction, often selling for thousands of dollars.
The story of the pie began in 1997 when Liz Claiborne and her husband Arthur Ortenberg had a home near Condon and Loren met them through their donations to the Seeley Lake Elementary School.
"The first night we had them for dinner, Pam made an apple pie," Loren said. "Art said 'Well Liz and I will just share a piece of pie' and she emphatically said 'No we won't, I am getting my own piece.'"
The following year, when Ortenberg was speaking at the Foundation's fundraiser, Pam, knowing how much Claiborne loved her pie, made one and brought it to the auction. The famed designer bought it for over $2,000. The Rose family has provided a pie for the fundraiser every year since.
The Roses said their generosity comes from knowing that wealth doesn't mean anything if it isn't shared.
"I'm on the board for Sparrow's Vine, Loren was an original board member for the Community Foundation," Pam said. "Our faith pretty much drives us a lot for giving. After all, what we have, it's not truly ours."
In her opening remarks at the fundraiser, Claire Muller, SLCF's executive director, asked the audience to raise their hands if they had been to the last 10 years of fundraisers. About half the audience raised their hands. Then, she asked the audience to raise their hands if this was their first time at the event. Again, about half the people raised their hands.
Muller then said it was a mix of old and new foundation supporters, like the Roses who made the year's successes possible.
"I think you're all here for the same reasons I am," Muller said. "I'm here because I love good people, I love beautiful places and I love to help others."
The Foundation and non-profits raised over $64,000 dollars in Change Your Pace funds.
The Change Your Pace fundraising effort began in May and ended Aug. 3. Throughout the summer, the local nonprofits participating in the challenge were encouraged to raise money which was matched by the Foundation for amounts up to $5,000.
Two main contributors to the Foundation's match fund this year were the LOR Foundation which contributed $5,000, and Energy Partners which contributed $2,500 to the Match Fund. A total of $15,033.60 was raised for the Match Fund.
The organizations that raised over $5,000 dollars were Alpine Artisans ($8,310.14), Blackfoot Challenge ($7,905.14), the Big Blackfoot Chapter of Trout Unlimited ($7,550.14), The Chamber of Commerce ($7,173.14), Seeley Lake ROCKS ($6,650.56) and the Seeley Lake Senior Center ($5,520.91).
Other organizations who received funds were Upper Swan Valley Historical Society ($3,999.98); Seeley Lake Driftriders ($3,510.87); Sparrow's Vine ($3,095.46); Loving Hearts ($2,793.96); Camp Utmost ($1,882.64); the Seeley Lake Lions Club for their maintenance of the Sullivan Memorial Community Hall ($1,735.34) and to support club activities ($1,239.53); Veterans and Families of Seeley Lake ($710.21); Destinations for Education ($710.21) and the SLE Outdoor Leadership Project ($596.31).
** Editor's Note: The Pathfinder erroneously reported that the Seeley Lake Community Foundation will purchase the building that previously housed Deer Country Quilts from Pam and Loren Rose for $50,000. This has been corrected in the article.
According to SLCF Vice President Kevin Wetherell, the Foundation will be purchasing the building with a combination of $215,000 and a charitable contribution of equity from the Roses equivalent to $200,000.
The $50,000 dollar fundraising goal set last Sunday night at the banquet will be applied as additional equity in order to secure the necessary financing to complete the $215,000 bargain sale purchase price.
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