‘It’s not about me’ Cache Valley nonprofits
Common Ground Outdoor Adventures
When Alex Ristorcelli skis, he doesn’t ski alone. Instead, he manages two tethers attached to a sit ski, where he helps one of his long-time clients, a military veteran. A nurse with several doctorates, she hasn’t been able to ski independently due to dislocation risks — until Common Ground Outdoor Adventures stepped in.
Ristorcelli, the nonprofit program director, said he watches the nurse’s head tilts to know when to turn; he then directs the tethers and moves her sit ski. But Ristorcelli said that mostly “she’s in charge, and I’m just following.”
What first was an AmeriCorps VISTA project became a nonprofit that now serves “well over 3,600 people with disabilities annually” with adaptive sporting equipment, Youth Adventure Leadership Programs and service to U.S. military veterans with disabilities.
Ristorcelli said he could tell several stories about “people who grew up skiing and for some reason or another, couldn’t ski anymore — and getting them out on the mountain and seeing a 55-year-old, 60-year-old man tearing up about being back on the snow.”
Just as Common Ground has supported thousands of people, several college students have supported the nonprofit. From volunteering a few hours a week to standing for 10 hours in front of Smith’s collecting donations, Ristorcelli said that Utah State University students have stepped in on several occasions to help.
But Ristorcelli also wants student volunteers to see that providing sporting opportunities for individuals with disabilities gives “a glimpse into something that we don’t get to see, that most of the population doesn’t get to see every day.”
“It’s not about me; I am not doing it for my own memories or anything else. I love to get to know every single individual for who that individual is and figure out how to work best with them to get them to enjoy the outdoors in the best possible way,” Ristorcelli said.
Stokes Nature Center
Allen and Alice Stokes Nature
Center’s mission, according to Executive Director Kendra Penry, is cultivating outdoor education and exploration. From school programs, to summer camps to field trips, Stokes provides children of all ages with snowshoe hikes, avalanche education, ecological appreciation and more.
“We know that if people are exposed to nature and know how to care for it, they’re more likely to do so,” Penry said.
The nonprofit started in 1997 and, according to Penry, has made several adjustments since then — including programs featuring cultural awareness and education. Every Friday, once a month, the center will have a “monthly Kenyan adventure,” where USU professors come and discuss their research on worldwide wildlife.
Stokes also plans on having a day for Utah Chinese history. Penry hopes this will connect the world to Cache Valley.
“We want to make sure that there is an entry point for every person to feel welcome in the natural world,” Penry said.
According to Penry, Stokes will continue to have big plans for 2023 — mainly, to create a fully accessible exhibit for those with visual or hearing impairments. The center also plans on expanding their education programs to accommodate school children on waitlists.
“There’s always a lot of new things, simply because we’re constantly learning. The world around us is changing. Our valley is growing, and we have to grow with it,” Penry said.
Pour Overs with a Purpose
As Kylie McMorris trekked across the field to her job — which happened to be at a Kenyan orphanage — she heard a baby shrieking. As she walked towards the sound, she saw a baby squirming underneath a tree with a note written in Swahili that said, “I cannot afford to take care of her. If I keep her, she will die.”
While she hoped the orphanage would take the child, it was too full. McMorris eventually found another orphanage to take the baby, receiving several updates on her until she saw a Kenyan couple adopt the child.
“I realized after that whole experience that if mothers were just given resources and options to keep their children, maybe there would be less kids being abandoned, less kids growing up in orphanages without the love they deserve, less kids being left on the streets and starving to death, less kids being trafficked from their homes,” McMorris said in an email.
That’s when Pour Overs with a Purpose began.
With the US-based nonprofit, McMorris sold coffee and received enough donations to fund “Kumbatia,” a Kenyan-based nonprofit that would give childcare services to mothers that were working or in school.
Since 2021, Kumbatia has helped over 70 families, according to McMorris. One mother came with four malnourished kids — and now, after a year and a half of Kumbatia’s care, the children are “well nourished; they are excelling in school, and they are all so happy.”
By employing only Kenyans, Kumbatia empowers women and families to have sufficient housing, schooling and nutrition, McMorris said.
Most Cache Valley residents can help right from their own home, according to McMorris. Some donate through their website, and others make Venmo requests to @pouroverswithpurpose. Some personally sponsor babies or children in school.
Cache Valley Center for the Arts
The Cache Valley Center for the Arts doesn’t just build the audience — they build the performers, according to Wendi Hassan.
As executive director of the nonprofit, Hassan said the center is special not just because of its performances, but because of the way they can educate their performers in affordable dance, theater, singing, piano or visual art classes.
“One thing that is unique for the Cache Valley Center for the Arts is the depth of its usage to the community,” Hassan said. She also noted that every year, the center has 100 performances in the Ellen Eccles Theatre, 2,000 art classes and 111,000 people that would walk through its doors.
And with the theater’s 100th anniversary in 2023 — having originally opened to show movies and local shows — it’s not slowing down its pace of performances.
According to Hassan, the theater hosted a centennial celebration. This included dance performances to honor its humble, local beginnings, a movie night to celebrate its past film showings and, on the final night, Grammy award-winning artists Marc Cohn and Shawn Colvin will perform.
However, having these special performances does not come without its challenges. One of the nonprofit’s biggest struggles is when third parties sell inflated ticket prices.
“We sacrifice to keep our ticket prices affordable,” Hassan said. She encourages her consumers to purchase tickets through the center itself — and not through a separate seller.
Utah Avalanche Center
When asked how the Utah Avalanche Center saves lives, Paige Pagnucco, UAC’s Avalanche Awareness program manager, chuckled, saying that there are “thousands of decisions that are made on a daily basis based on our forecasts that actually keep people out of trouble.”
A nonprofit established in 1989 with the U.S. Forest Service, the UAC is “responsible for the majority of avalanche awareness and education in Utah,” according to its website.
“We have a whole curriculum that we go through,” Pagnucco said, explaining how the UAC teaches those interested in backcountry recreation about recognizing avalanche terrain, measuring slope angles and reading the UAC forecasts.
According to Pagnucco, many natural avalanches come as a result of sudden weather or temperature changes, but there are still other human-caused avalanches. Because not every UAC staff member can be in the field when an individual is in crisis, teaching self-rescue is paramount, Pagnucco said.
To better raise awareness of UAC and its programs, they worked with the Utah State Legislature in 2019 to officially recognize the first week of December as Avalanche Awareness Week.
During Avalanche Awareness Week, the UAC brings its partner organizations (such as WNDR Alpine) and search and rescue groups to Sugarhouse Park in Salt Lake City, where they invite the media to provide education beyond the valley, according to Pagnucco.
“We try and bring in all aspects from the avalanche world to show the public just what resources are available to them in terms of avalanche safety, avalanche education and avalanche rescue,” Pagnucco said.
Nordic United
When Rex Davidsavor began working with Nordic United in 2012, he didn’t expect he would become president of the nonprofit in October 2022 — but he was ready to help in any capacity.
The nonprofit provides education on caring for Utah trails, cross-country ski classes and races, as well as their own trail grooming services to cultivate the best winter recreation environment, according to Davidsavor and Nordic United’s website.
Nordic United focuses on a few trails: one in Smithfield Canyon and a couple in Green Canyon, Davidsavor said. One trail in Beaver Bottoms is for skating and classic skiing, while others draw snowshoers, cyclists and others looking for outdoor adventures.
Volunteer trail trimmers and groomers help smooth the trails by working with the National Forest Service to remove rocks, trim down trees and restore the road systems in place. But perfecting these trails is no easy task, according to Davidsavor.
“Most of the grooming is done in the dark, so we want to groom in the coldest part of the day, and not the warmest part of the day. Most groomers are up there anywhere from midnight to 5 a.m.,” Davidsavor said.
But such hard work pays off, according to Davidsavor. In fact, on Jan. 21 2023, the nonprofit hosted its fifteenth Crowbar Backcountry Ski Race — which ended up having a hundred participants from across the state and nation because of Nordic United’s supporters and volunteers.
“This community is really good for supporting nonprofits in lots of different areas,” Davidsavor said.