SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Vail Resorts recently announced Tahoe-Truckee and Northern Nevada-area recipients of the company's 2018-19 EpicPromise community grants cycle.
A total of 93 area nonprofit organizations, including Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless and SOS Outreach, received $1.9 million in cash, as well as additional support aimed at tackling issues in the South Lake Tahoe and Truckee communities.
“What’s truly unique about our partnership is the ability to engage Vail Resorts employees across all departments toward one goal — helping SOS Outreach youth gear up for life through mentoring outdoors,” Executive Director of SOS Outreach Seth Ehrlich said in a statement. “The strength of our partnership and dedication and passion of every Vail Resorts employee makes our mission possible and reflects the communities that we call home.”
SOS Outreach is a nonprofit organization, which seeks to change young lives by building character and leadership in underprivileged children through mentoring.
This year, employees at Vail’s three Tahoe-area resorts (Northstar, Heavenly and Kirkwood) were given a chance to boost an organization’s grant through the EpicPromise Impact Award. Northstar employees voted to select Project MANA, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing hunger and its detrimental effects upon individuals, families, the community, and the region by providing immediate relief and education.
“We are thankful to Vail Resorts EpicPromise and Northstar California employees for such strong financial support,” said Julie Malkin-Manning, development director at Project MANA, in a statement. “We are proud to feed the 1-in-7 people who are hungry in North Lake Tahoe and the Truckee community … receiving the EpicPromise Impact Award help(s) us continue to do just that. Knowing the employees chose Project MANA reminds us that what we have been doing for the past 27 years is vital and appreciated.”
Founded in 1989 by a Sierra Nevada College student who fed community members out of her garage, Project MANA now serves nearly 2,100 individuals, according to its website, across three counties in Nevada and California.
Across the lake, Heavenly and Kirkwood employees awarded the Tahoe Warm Room with extra support.
To ensure all awarded grants are impactful and timely, Vail Resorts EpicPromise and resort leadership host annual listening events with community officials and nonprofit leaders, according to a release from Vail, to better understand community priorities.
This year, community partners identified mental health and substance abuse, youth education, hunger and basic needs, forest health and sustainability, and recreation access as some of the most pressing issues in the Tahoe Basin.
