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14 - Ravalli Republic, Friday, January 31, 2020 Bitterroot Bouncers wins New business award
Bitterroot Bouncers began as a backyard, word of mouth business run by husband and wife team Brian and Heather Appel in 2017. The popularity of rentals quickly grew over the course of a year and the clear need for children’s entertainment in the valley became irrefutable. The Appels decided to take a leap of faith when the current building their business resides in at 806 S 1st St in Hamilton became available and renovations quickly ensued. Six months later, the indoor playcenter as we know it today, was unveiled. A grand hit amongst the community, Bitterroot Bouncers name and services spread throughout the valley and infiltrated the Missoula market with fever. A year later, BItterroot Bouncers has not only 15 different bouncies, a mobile rock wall with air jumpers, and carnival supplies available for rental at homes or businesses, but they also offer a children’s indoor wonderland with two birthday party rooms and six large bouncies to entertain them in every season. The business has expanded many services for their second year of
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Photo Provided Brian and Heather Appel began Bitterroot Bouncers as a backyard, word of mouth business in 2017. Meeting the need of entertainment and something to do for youth in the valley, it has expanded to include an indoor play center offering events, services and thank yous to the community. .
operation in the indoor playcenter, with new events and added services such as the monthly Teen Nights, Family Nights and weekly Date Night Drop N’ Go’s. A full coffee bar with delivery service, party rooms that double as classrooms, meeting hubs, play groups and company parties, offer something for everyone. A much needed and appreciated addition to the community, Bitterroot Bouncers aims to give back.
Christmas 2019 brought the Kids Shop For Free event where kids picked out a gift for their parent and BB staff wrapped it for them to take home and put under the tree. All monetary donations generously given by the public were donated to Emma’s House. Now in 2020, Bitterroot Bouncers is honoring noble professions and rewarding them with freebies and discounts in order to say thank you for serving our community. MDMH and Law Enforcement officials have been the first to be recognized and each month will bring a new group to commend.
Brian and Heather Appel want to thank the community for helping make their dream come true and for providing the ongoing support, kind words and recommendations to others. They feel honored to be a positive, children focused addition to the Bitterroot and hope to bring many more years of smiles to the families in the valley.
Ravalli Republic, Friday, January 31, 2020 - 15 Northwestern Energy wins economic development Award
MICHELLE MCCONNAHA MICHELLE.MCCONNAHA@RAVALLIREPUBLIC.COM
Tim Moody, Hamilton District Manager with Northwestern Energy, said receiving the Economic Development award from the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce was appreciated.
“We support development in the Bitterroot Valley,” Moody said. “It was kind of surprising. We do work with developers doing commercials or residential projects and we just want to help them. It makes a big difference to the valley.”
Moody oversees the electric and gas crews for work in the Hamilton District that begins between Florence and Stevensville and extends down the valley to just past the southern end of Darby. The Hamilton Gas and Electric crews maintain the distribution systems and install new service connections for both new residential and commercial customers.
NorthWestern Energy has provided reliable and affordable energy to customers in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska for more than 100 years. The company got its start in small communities, providing essential services that allowed towns to grow and prosper. Today, NorthWestern is proud to deliver safe, reliable and innovative energy to 726,400 residential and business customers.
With roots in the Montana Power Co. and South Dakotabased Northwestern Public Service Co., NorthWestern Energy took its current form in 2002 when the company bought the Montana Power electric and natural gas transmission and distribution system and became a partial owner of Colstrip Unit 4. In 2014, NorthWestern Energy purchased 11 hydroelectric facilities in Montana, which now make up the base of the company’s generation portfolio.
NorthWestern Energy is a leader in clean energy, with more than 60% of its power generation for Montana coming from carbon-free resources, including hydro, wind and solar.
The company is proud to be a valued member of the 318 communities in Montana and South Dakota it supplies with electrical service, along with Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, as well as the 180 communities in Montana, South Dakota and
Photo MICHELLE MCCONNAHA Tim Moody, Hamilton District Manager with Northwestern Energy, receives the Economic Development award from the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Nebraska it supplies with gas service. NorthWestern Energy employs 1,533 people across its service territory.
Mary Lyn wins Laurel Award
MICHELLE MCCONNAHA MICHELLE.MCCONNAHA@RAVALLIREPUBLIC.COM
Mary Lyn receives the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Laurel award.
Lyn said she is “deeply honored to receive the Laurel Award.”
“Knowing Laurel, those are big shoes to fill,” she said. “I got to know Laurel through Soroptimist. She had a profound impact on this community. Right before she left she handed me a huge packet of materials and said, ‘You are now the Soroptimist representative for the RML Community Liason Committee.’” During her career she moved to Honolulu and established a business that sold plants for the tourist industry, she then founded Post-A-Gram which produced Messages in a Bottle for the tourist markets across the country and the Incentive market. She currently owns Big Sky Promotions, a promotional product distributor businesses. “I lived most of my life in the city but when I moved to the Bitterroot Valley I found I could serve,” Lyn said. “This place is so welcoming and I’ve enjoyed serving long-term at the SAFE in the Bitterroot, the Soroptimists International and the Task Force for Affordable Housing.”
She said building women through education is vital. “You don’t do anything by yourself,” Lyn said. “As Soroptimists we are giving away $20,000 a year in scholarships and will have a big fundraising event in April.”
16 - Ravalli Republic, Friday, January 31, 2020 Cybernet1’s Andrew Kilian wins Spark Plug Award
MICHELLE MCCONNAHA MICHELLE.MCCONNAHA@RAVALLIREPUBLIC.COM
Andrew Kilian was selected to receive the Spark Plug Award from the Bitterroot Chamber of Commerce.
He said he feels honored, flattered and will continue to serve. “It’s not every day you’re recognized for what you do for the community,” Kilian said. “It’s such a feeling of validation that you’re doing something right, that you’re helping move the community in the right direction. This is such an amazing place, the last best place, and it brings out the best in people.”
Kilian came from Buffalo, NY, which he called an “alienating place.”
“I don’t know whether it’s the Seasonal Affective Disorder or because it’s a rustbelt city, but people will actively look away from you if they don’t know you,” Kilian said.
He moved to the Bitterroot Valley in 2008 to be a caregiver for his mother and was amazed by the genuine offers of help he received. He called the Bitterroot Valley accepting, welcoming, rare and special.
“One of the greatest misconceptions is the belief that we’re all alone in this world and, at least in the valley, that’s a myth,” Kilian said. “It is so unbelievably kind and generous here. Maybe it’s because the valley is so small
“Happiness [is] only real when shared” - Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild
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Photo DOUG MCCONNAHA Andrew Kilian, pictured here at the annual Hamilton Downtown Association Crab Fest, was selected to receive the 2019 Spark Plug Award from the Bitterroot Chamber of Commerce for his fun spirit and enthusiasm.
that when you see kindness it stands out. When the town supports the home team, it’s with all their heart.”
His examples of generosity included the Clothing Closet that gives clothing free to the people who really need it supermarkets who donate to the Senior Center or Food Pantry. Kilian said belonging to the BVCC helps the locally owned Cybernet One fulfill their mission statement of improving the community they serve. He said through the Leadership Bitterroot program Cybernet One connected to many other businesses and people.
“The Chamber really gives us access to the community at large to do that,” Kilian said. “It goes beyond simple networking and allows the fabric of the Valley’s community to be knit that much more tightly together and really take off. At Headstart there’s a big call for reading at storytime and I’m really excited at the prospect of role modeling that successful behavior for those kids. If they see an adult reading to them it can cement that habit for the rest of their lives.”
He believes he was selected for the Spark Plug award because he occasionally wears a dinosaur costume to community events.
“I’m not gonna lie,” he said. “Some people still don’t know it’s me and I think my wife is fine with that. When I put it on its like magic, people just smile or bust out laughing and that’s a pretty wonderful feeling. I think if you can do something, however silly, to make one person’s day that much better I believe that’s important work worth doing.”
His favorite is wearing the costume for the parade.
“If you can add to that many people’s happiness … I think that’s the right answer,” Kilian said.
Ravalli Republic, Friday, January 31, 2020 - 17 Susan Wetzsteon wins volunteer of the year
Susan Wetzsteon is the 2020 Volunteer of the Year by the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce.
She is the store manager at Mikesell’s Fine Jewelry where she has worked for 14 years. Before that she inspired quilters at Fabric Shop and Quilts (owned by Rosalie Reinbold) and owned her fabric business “In Good Company” with Jaime Grant, Sue Engle and Sue Anne Iman for 17-years.
She said the honor of being selected Volunteer of the Year was a surprise. “I am honored to be receiving the Volunteer of the Year Award,” Wetzsteon said. “It was very nice to be recognized.”
She said she chooses to be involved with the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce as a nod to the past and to help build a solid future.
“It is hand in hand with what I feel passionate about,” Wetzsteon said. “Why I get involved in the community is that, personally, being a fifth generation Bitterrooter I want my grandchildren and their children to be able to live and work and have a life in the Bitterroot Valley, to continue to live and prosper here.”
She is the recent past president of the BVCC and she did put in many hours with that but the award is also for her volunteer work in the larger community. She volunteers with church programs, the Bitterroot Quilters Guild, Sprinkle Pink, the BVCC board and the Downtown Hamilton Business Improvement District (DHBID).
“This is my fifth year on the Chamber board and I got involved with the Chamber by being liaison between the Chamber and HDA, as HDA president,” Wetzsteon said. “The DHBID board represents the property owners of the downtown. We manage the taxing for those businesses, trash collection, outdoor lights, snow removal and flower pots – the beautification of downtown.
Photo MICHELLE MCCONNAHA Susan Wetzsteon received the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce. Supportive of healthy businesses, she represents the fifth-generation of her Bitterroot family, has worked at Mikesell’s Fine Jewelry for 14-years and is the outgoing Chamber president.
“My husband says I have a hard time saying no but I think it is a good thing,” Wetzsteon said. “People need to get involved in their community and this is a great community to get involved in.”
She represents the fifth-generation of her Bitterroot family, who moved back Montana in 1969-70. She graduated from Hamilton High School, attended college at the University of Montana.
She got married here and has two sons and families with five grandchildren. Her oldest son lives in the Bitterroot Valley and her youngest son is in the Air Force in Las Vegas. Wetzsteon said she is optimistic for the future of the Bitterroot Valley.
“In other places, downtowns are dying but we have a thriving downtown business community,” she said.
She’s pleased with two key efforts completed in her tenure as Chamber president. “The Chamber has been able to update our website mobile ap and it will be ready in April,” she said. “Our website will be more user friendly. Also, we’ve beefed up and added to our leadership program with guest lectures from leaders from Western Montana.”
She said the BVCC Board is a great group of people to work with and that she has enjoyed getting to know them.
“People ask what the Chamber is going to do for them but it is more how joining helps makes you part of the community and makes the community a stronger and better place,” she said. “Also, people need to think about what they can add, how they can help to make it stronger. It’s not always what you can get, but how you can help.”
18 - Ravalli Republic, Friday, January 31, 2020 Dominic Farrenkopf wins Community Asset award
MICHELLE MCCONNAHA MICHELLE.MCCONNAHA@RAVALLIREPUBLIC.COM
Hamilton resident Dominic Farrenkopf has been selected by the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce to receive the Community Asset award.
“I feel very honored,” Farrenkopf said. “I think it is great that the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce considers me a Community Asset.” He said the reason he feels this way is three-fold: his job as Director of Community Life at Sapphire Lutheran Homes, his job as Hamilton mayor and his love of volunteering in the Bitterroot Valley.
“I do my best work when I approach it with a servant’s heart at Sapphire,” he said. “I’m serving the residents and I’m serving the community. I love being host at events, I love throwing parties and concert series and all the things that engage the community.”
As mayor, his approach is similar but with an attitude of civic duty.
“I asked people to elect me and they did so now I feel it is my duty to engage the community and be a part of as many things as I can,” Farrenkopf said.
When he volunteers for the schools and the libraries it is mostly to pass on his love of reading and poetry.
“I have such a love of literature, poetry and words that I can’t keep it inside, I have to share it,” Farrenkopf said. “When I have the opportunity to teach a poetry class or read to kids l am sharing what I love. I try to inspire children to read, use their imagination and tell a story or write a poem. I try to engage them on a creative level and pass it on to keep literature and poetry alive.”
Farrenkopf was born in In Hamilton in the “new hospital” in 1978. He grew up in Victor, graduated from Stevensville High School in 1996, joined the US Coast Guard in 1997 and served until 2001. He married his high school sweetheart, Hannah, and settled back in Hamilton in 2004. He started working with senior citizens
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Photo Provided Laura Instness dancing with Dominic Farrenkopf at Sapphire Lutheran Homes’ 2020 Winter Ball. Farrenkopf will receive the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce Community Asset award.
and grew a love for caring for seniors as he worked at the Discovery Care Center for 11 years. He worked at Sapphire Lutheran Homes as community life director for seven years.
“During my time at Discovery Care Center and Sapphire Lutheran Homes I met a lot of people in the community,” Farrenkopf said. “I have grown through my jobs, volunteering and organizations like the Chamber, the Hamilton Downtown Association, the American Legion, social clubs and all the things in the community.”
He decided he felt called to run for mayor, ran for office and was elected in 2017, taking office in 2018.
Farrenkopf said he’s happy everywhere in the community. “I’m happy at Sapphire, I’m happy volunteering, I’m happy as the mayor,” he said. “I love Hamilton, I love the Bitterroot Valley. This is where I’m from and it feels so good to be part of the past because of who I worked with, the present because of who I work with now and the future because of the ground work we are laying that will propel Hamilton in to the years ahead.”
Ravalli Republic, Friday, January 31, 2020 - 19 Katelyn Andersen wins Unsung Hero award
MICHELLE MCCONNAHA MICHELLE.MCCONNAHA@RAVALLIREPUBLIC.COM
Katelyn Andersen will receive the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Unsung Hero award. “I was honored when I was told I got the award and I am humbled that someone thought of me for this,” Andersen said. “But I like to fly under the radar.”
Katelyn Andersen is an Associate Professor for Montana State University Extension (MSUE) serving Ravalli County since 2006 in the program areas of 4-H Youth Development and Family & Consumer Sciences. Starting January 1, in her role with MSUE she now serves as a part-time Family & Consumer Sciences Extension Agent for the community and part-time Well-being and Workplace Environment Facilitator for Rocky Mountain Laboratories. The Family and Consumer Science program area involves food and nutrition, family finances, health and wellness, mental health and human lifespan development.
“Community Development is a part of all the program areas because that’s truly what we’re doing, we are enhancing the community by being that catalyst in the community maybe by being the connector of people,” Andersen said.
They key is getting to know the people of the community then connecting the people who are resources to the people with needs. Andersen shares connections with the community, maybe even between communities, spurring on ideas and helping to find solutions.
In recent years some programs have taken off beyond what she envisioned, especially in the areas of health and wellness. First was the “Bike, Walk, Roll and Win” an idea to get the community moving. Andersen worked with interning MSU nursing students to develop the program, create a walking map and round up prizes. The program expanded to Stevensville and Darby with their own walking maps.
“It served a need that I didn’t realize that was a void in our community,” Andersen said.
Winter Wellness has also filled a need in our community, helping people to connect and get moving during the dark winter months.
“Once again I didn’t realize that it would become such a successful program,” Andersen said. “I believe we have over 250 people who have logged their winter physical activity. We have reached probably 700 individuals, youth and adults through the wellness classes we have had this winter.” The state of the community to handle and discuss mental illness was another surprise.
Initially, she thought the community needs were met by community resources of Western Montana Mental Health, West House Crisis Facility, Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital and Sapphire Community Health.
“But when we offered the Thrive program as a brief education class on what is it and how can we share at the library and those entities came, in addition to
Photo MICHELLE MCCONNAHA Associate Professor Katelyn Andersen works part-time Family & Consumer Sciences Extension Agent for the community and part-time Well-being and Workplace Environment Facilitator for Rocky Mountain Laboratories. She will receive the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Unsung Hero award.
school counselors and therapists, I realized our community doesn’t feel prepare and this is something we need,” Andersen said. “It was just a one-hour meeting at the library but if I hadn’t gone, I wouldn’t have shown up to the mental awareness conversation.” Andersen said the mental illness initiative last year was a surprise.
“That has evolved beyond the speaker series that Rocky Mountain Lab provided to the community through community discussions focusing on mental health and mental illness in our community,” Andersen said.
There are programs that come from Extension all the time but developing a program specific to the needs of the community is Andersen’s specialty,
“How I determine programs is I listen to the needs of the communities and I’m willing to say yes, let’s make it happen,” Andersen said. “Let’s dream of what could be instead of what is.”
Andersen works half time Family and Consumer Sciences for the community and half time at Rocky Mountain Lab, all through the Ravalli County Extension Office. RCEO also has full-time agent Patrick Mangan, Agricultural and Natural Resources, and will soon have a second full-time Extension Agent with 4-H responsibilities. Jennifer Murillo is the three-quarter time nutrition educator and Jocelyn Snider as full-time administrative assistant.
“You don’t know where yes will take you but you need to keep saying yes,” Andersen said.
She is perfect for the Unsung Hero Award in the Bitterroot Valley.
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