Most of the time, Park City’s posh resorts and luxurious amenities take center stage, but this week it was a richness of a different sort that made heads turn.
Members of the Park City Community Foundations Women’s Giving Fund gathered at Deer Valley on Tuesday to award their second annual high-impact grant. The grant is aimed at improving the lives of women and children in Summit County and, this year, was awarded this year to Summit County Children’s Justice Center.
In a town where sports, arts and gourmet restaurants are celebrated on a regular basis, this acknowledgement of the some of the community’s more serious challenges is also noteworthy.
The Justice Center offers a safe and professional environment where victims of abuse and their families can connect with the medical, law enforcement and counseling services they need.
Unfortunately, as Park City and the surrounding areas have grown, so has the incidence of child abuse. According to the Justice Center, their caseload doubled between 2014 and 2015.
The $30,000 grant will help the center expand those services by making the center more welcoming to the children it serves. A portion of the money will also be used to provide more training for public safety personnel.
Last year the Women’s Giving Fund grant provided seed money for a childcare center tailored to the towns multi-cultural and economically diverse workforce. Now up and running, the center caters to approximately 60 children whose parents can spend the day at work knowing their children are being cared for in an affordable and enriching environment.
The Park City Community Foundation, which initiated the hugely successful Live PC Give PC day of giving and its offshoot, the Women’s Giving Fund, put a true shine on Summit County’s already lustrous reputation. The work that has been accomplished by this organizations leaders and its many donors and volunteers may not be listed in the tourism brochures but adds immeasurably to the areas quality of life.