epicpromise

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Once again, Vail Resorts' CEO Rob Katz and his wife Elana Amsterdam are giving back to the communities where their employees live and where their company operates.

Today, they announced a donation of more than $2.5 million to provide immediate support to those areas as all contend with the severe impacts of COVID-19.

Immediate emergency relief grants will total $1.5 million and will be distributed to communities including South Lake Tahoe.

LAKE TAHOE, Calif. Vail Resorts announced Saturday that they are suspending the operations of all of their North American mountain resorts, retail stores and corporate offices beginning tomorrow, March 15, 2020, for at least one week (through March 22) to assess the rest of the season.

This includes Heavenly Mountain Resort, Kirkwood Resort and Northstar in the Lake Tahoe area.

Thanks to Vail’s EpicPromise grant and the wonderful and incredible Heavenly Mountain Resort Ski Services team members, Bread & Broth’s (B&B) dinner guests enjoyed a wonderful and nutritious meal at St. Theresa Grace Hall on Monday, February 10. Thanks to the generous $300 donation provided by the EpicPromise foundation, the B&B cooks whipped up a tasty meal of Chicken Picante, baked potatoes, green beans, and an avocado salad and servings of a variety of delicious desserts.

Five members of Vail’s EpicPromise Team joined the Bread & Broth volunteers to help put on the December 9 Monday Meal at St. Theresa’s Grace Hall. The EpicPromise team included Food & Beverage Director Ted McDowell, Environmental Manager Frank Papandrea, Activities Manager Dana Paugh, Community Relations Manager Brandy Thomson, and Health & Safety Specialist Chanel Walker. All of these Vail Heavenly Mountain Resort team members have volunteered frequently over the past years with the exception of Dana Paugh.

After arriving around 3:00 p.m. at St. Theresa Grace Hall, Kirkwood Mountain Resort team members Mike Scalzo, Ashley Spangler, Alex Tyler and Katie Wry donned Bread & Broth (B&B) aprons and set about helping the B&B volunteers with the preparation for the Monday Meal dinner serving on November 11.

Every year In November, Vail EpicPromise Grants are generously awarded to many local community non-profit organizations including the Bread & Broth organization. In addition to supporting Bread & Broth’s B&B 4 Kids Program, the Vail Grant provides funds to sponsor 12 annual B&B Adopt A Day of Nourishment dinners which are served at St. Theresa Grace Hall on Monday evenings to any member of the community who attends the dinner.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — More than 300 employees from Vail resorts at Lake Tahoe - Heavenly, Kirkwood and Northstar - joined in during the 10th year of Vail's EpicPromise Week and volunteered hundreds of hours with local community programs focused on youth, education and the environment. This year they teamed up and contributed to four different projects around Lake Tahoe.

Vail Resort’s EpicPromise grants are distributed to over 50 non-profits in the Lake Tahoe South Shore community annually. These grant funds are used by the recipient organizations to support a variety of non-profit programs which benefit children, mental illness programs, environmental projects, to name just a few. Bread & Broth (B&B) is an EpicPromise Grant recipient and a portion of the funds go to sponsoring 12 Adopt A Day of Nourishment (AAD) Monday Meal dinners each year.

Vail Resorts was awarded the 2019 Golden Eagle Award for Environmental Excellence by the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) for its bold environmental sustainability program, Commitment to Zero. The annual Golden Eagle Awards, which were presented at the NSAA National Convention in San Diego last week, are the highest honors given for environmental performance in the ski industry.

“The Human Resources Team at Kirkwood Mountain Resort was humbled and inspired to serve food and connect with the local community tonight at Bread & Broth’s dinner,” wrote Greg Carlson on behalf of his HR team. “Great to see the smiles a warm meal brings to everyone."

Greg and his fellow sponsor members Natasha Buffo, Joshua Henry, Shea Gyurko and Yannah Preta came all of the way from Kirkwood to volunteer at Kirkwood Mountain Resort’s Adopt A Day of Nourishment on March 11th and help serve the evening’s dinner guests.

Bread & Broth serves two meals weekly, and due to the recent fire at the Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church, both meals are currently being served at St. Theresa Church Grace Hall. The meals are hot and nutritious and everyone in the community is invited and encouraged to join us for a communal dining experience.

LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - During their annual community grant EpicPromise celebration, 93 local nonprofits were awarded a total of $1.9 million in cash as well as additional in-kind product support. Across the company, Vail Resorts will give $11.4 million in support to more than 250 community non-profits over the upcoming year.

Each year Vail gives away money and product to groups serving the communities they have resorts located. For Kirkwood, Heavenly and Northstar, support was given to support the health and resilience of the Truckee and South Lake Tahoe communities.

An amazing group of Kirkwood crew members volunteered to serve at Kirkwood Mountain Resort’s Adopt A Day of Nourishment on Monday, July 23. “These young people were some of the best sponsor volunteers that we have ever had,” exclaimed Dana Tucker, the AAD Sponsor Crew Coordinator for the evening. “They were so happy to do anything that was asked of them.” Even at the end of the evening they all jumped in and dried the dishes to help clean up after the meal.

Since 2010, Bread & Broth has been funding our Monday Meals through the Adopt-A-Day of Nourishment program. The Monday Meal served every week at St. Theresa Grace Hall provides a hot, tasty and nutritious dinner to any individual who comes through their doors.

Since 1989, Bread &Broth has been serving free hot dinners to thousands of diners every year. Beginning in 2010, the ‘Adopt A Day of Nourishment’ program was put into place to encourage individuals, churches, organizations and business to join B&B in providing these needed meals as a service to the our community.

With funds provided by Vail’s EpicPromise grants, Heavenly Mountain Resort partners with Bread & Broth to annually host six Monday Meal dinners at St. Theresa Grace Hall. Every other month, Heavenly sponsors an “Adopt A Day of Nourishment” and sends a team of volunteers to help crew at their sponsorship dinner On. December 11th, hosting their last AAD of the year, Heavenly’s volunteer sponsor crew was manned by Michelle Beall, Kelly Campbell, Chris Eckert, Katie Ficeto and Frank Papandrea.

To volunteer to help others is a selfless act that is both humbling and uplifting. Thanks to Vail’s generous EpicPromise grant, Kirkwood Mountain Resort employees had the opportunity to volunteer at Bread & Broth’s November 6 Monday Meal through B&B’s ‘Adopt A Day of Nourishment' program. Kirkwood Security Officers Mark DeSacia, Rick Hofheins and Charlie Noury and David McCullers, Security Manager, all volunteered their time and effort to make a difference in the lives of those attending the meal served at Grace Hall.

Employees from Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood Mountain Resorts participated in various conservation and maintenance projects around Lake Tahoe Saturday as part of EpicPromise Week.

Heavenly employees were at South Tahoe Middle School and Sierra House Elementary on South Shore on September working on several different projects, and kirkwood joined Cal Trout in the Kirkwood Meadow.

“It was great to see a community come together to help those down on their luck,” said Jacob Klade while taking a break from serving Shepherd's pie, roasted zucchini and Swiss chard salad to the guests at Bread & Broth’s Monday Meal on July 17. Jacob and his fellow sponsor team members Christopher Hostnik, Jarrett Morgan and Christian Neville, all from Kirkwood Mountain Resort, were on hand to help the B&B volunteers at Kirkwood’s Adopt A Day of Nourishment.

On Monday, May 8, Emily Davis, Kirkwood Mountain Resort Human Resources supervisor, experienced her first Adopt A Day volunteer stint at a Bread & Broth Monday Meal. “It was such a wonderful and fulfilling experience giving back to the community like this,” was Emily’s description of setting up and serving a healthy and hearty dinner to grateful guests. “This was our first time here and we are all sincerely impressed by the quality of service and immense dedication the team here has. Thank you all for all you do.”

The hot, nutritious, full course meals served every Monday to any and all who come to St. Theresa Grace Hall are made possible by the efforts of many caring and dedicated individuals, businesses and organizations. From the stores and businesses who donate food, volunteers who pickup donated food, cooks who prepare the meals, volunteers who do meal setup, serving and cleaning to the donors and sponsors who pay for the costs associated with each meal, Bread & Broth is genuinely grateful.

Heavenly Mountain Resort Skier Services crew members spend their time making sure that Heavenly guests and skiers enjoy a wonderful experience on the mountain. On Monday, February 27, Skier Services Adopt A Day sponsor crew members Ingrid Heinig, Kelsey Carapia, Jack Pippin, Megan Madrid and Amy Rice provided the same dedication to ensure that Bread & Broth’s Monday Meal guests had a wonderful dining experience.

“Heavenly and the Vail family cherish the opportunity to give back to the community,” said Amy. She and her fellow crew members were a real treat for the B&B volunteers.

Bread & Broth provides its ‘Monday Meal’ at St. Theresa Grace Hall thanks to the generous sponsors who host an Adopt A Day of Nourishment by donating $250 which feeds anywhere from 75 to 110 hungry folks who come for a nourishing dinner. B&B’s Adopt A Day program was established in 2009 and is a way for individuals, organizations, churches and businesses to not only donate funding for the food, utilities and dinner supplies but provides ‘hands on’ participation volunteering at the sponsorship’s designated dinner.

Members of Kirkwood Mountain Resort’s Human Resources team were on hand to help the Bread & Broth volunteers serve the guests at Kirkwood’s sponsorship dinner Monday, May 4th at St. Theresa Grace Hall. Representing their fellow H.R. team members were Becca Hamm, supervisor; Christine Avenett, assistant; Angela Eckhardt, talent acquisitions manager; Eric Davidson, director and Chris Crushkowsky, manager.