Promontory’s foundation on Tuesday evening, during happy hour at many bars in town, distributed $400,000 and sure, drinks too, among familiar community service organizations.
To cherry pick among the 32 chosen this year, there was the Egyptian Theatre, Youth Sports Alliance, Hope Alliance, Peace House, Mountainlands, Friends of Mining History, People’s Health Center, the Christian Center of Park City, the Kimball Art Center. And so on.
The big winner was PC Tots, revealed at the end as the recipient of the annual Promontory Promise grant of $50,000. Elation among their representatives betrayed this as a happy surprise for them.
Quietly, without the notice or quite so much exhilaration, are the Promontory homeowners who donated the bounty to the foundation to hand out at The Happiest Hour.
Handing out isn’t quite the right description, however. The 10-person board made up of residents and a sprinkling of Promontory employees scrutinizes the applications and often visits the organizations seeking grants. This year 48 of them applied.
Each member of the board scores the requests and then the board meets as a group to sort through the applications.
“We … talk through what organizations do we really feel are in the biggest need, and where can our grant have the biggest effect,” said Kelli Brown, Promontory’s general manager and a member of the foundation board.
Their overarching theme is to support social services and the arts. It used to be about a 50-50 split between those two and over the years has tilted more toward social needs in the community, she said.
“When you read these applications and realize how many people out there in our workforce that’s so necessary to make this community work don’t have access to affordable services, we just felt like there’s just a lot of need out there,” she said.
Board members took turns at Promontory’s Nicklaus clubhouse to read off grant winners and brief descriptions of what each organization does while representatives came to the podium for certificates, along with handshakes or hugs. Then it was off to get their photos taken to the side of the room festooned with red and white balloons.
Afterward, they all mixed in a familiar happy hour setting with drinks and appetizers and commiseration, some old friends, some made new.
Promontory Foundation raised the funds through donations from Promontory Club members during its annual summer fundraising events.
“Promontory Foundation is incredibly proud to be one of the largest philanthropic sources for our vital non-profits that make the Park City area so special. Our members feel deeply connected to Summit County and recognize the crucial role of non-profits in meeting the needs of the community, whether that is providing critical social services or access to dynamic arts and cultural opportunities,” said Meryl Van der Merwe, Promontory Club’s director of community engagement.
The Promise Grant winner, PC Tots, provides early childhood education and care to children and their families regardless of financial barriers, and will use its winnings on scholarships.
“The Promontory Foundation has been a consistent and generous supporter of PC Tots. This support has allowed us to provide high quality early education for children of working families in the Wasatch Back,” said Sue Banerjee, PC Tots’ executive director. “As the recipient of the Promontory Promise Grant, PC Tots will be able to use the $50,000 to provide more working families with tuition scholarships, thereby helping to make high quality care affordable. With the support of the Promontory Foundation, PC Tots is a step closer to realizing our vision of a community where all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential.”
The foundation’s grant total exceeded last year’s then-record $372,000. The foundation began in 2006.