LIVING IN WEBER COUNTY
SERVING TOGETHER FOR A STRONG COMMUNITY Weber residents invest their time, talents and funds to improve their community. In 2019, Ogden City was ranked as the number one “Most Charitable Place in America” by Magnify Money/Lending Tree. Weber County is known for the close working relationship that exists between all sectors of the community: social service providers, nonprofit organizations, government leaders, businesses and local residents. When a call for volunteers goes out in Weber County, residents respond in a dramatic way. During the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, when the Ogden area hosted several Olympic events, community volunteers stepped up in such an impressive way that a group of local residents decided to capture that volunteer spirit and keep it going. The result is what is now one of the area’s stand-out nonprofit organiza-
tions: the GOAL Foundation. With its message of “Get Out And Live,” GOAL encourages residents and area visitors to participate in and volunteer at recreational events, programs and activities, helping to create a healthier community economically and in mind, body and spirit. The GOAL Foundation’s signature event is the annual Ogden Marathon, the 75th largest marathon in the nation in 2019 and a qualifying race for the Boston Marathon. GOAL has also helped organize volunteer efforts for many major events including the USA Cycling Masters Championships, the Archery World Cup and the XTERRA USA Championships. Thousands of volunteers work together to make these events successful. County residents are also ready to invest financially in their community, as shown nearly 20 years ago when voters approved
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the establishment of a RAMP tax. The RAMP (Recreation, Arts, Museums and Parks) program collects one penny on every $10 of non-food purchases in the county. The money supports local organizations, facilities and events. Since its inception, the RAMP program has helped build soccer fields, parks, pickleball courts, splash pads and community centers as well as funded hundreds of other projects. As one of its largest projects, RAMP provided $2 million toward building a $9.2 million, 73,000-square-foot expansion to The Ice Sheet, which served as a venue for the 2002 Winter Olympics. The addition to the facility, now known as the Weber County Sports Complex, added a National Hockey League-sized hockey rink and an indoor practice field.
