Hospital donates to Nate Chute Foundation
Pam Ellis, with the North Valley Hospital Foundation, presents a check to Nate Chute Foundation Executive Director Kacy Howard. (Photo courtesy North Valley Hospital)
The North Valley Hospital is honoring one of the employees of its foundation by making a donation to the Nate Chute Foundation.
Through the North Valley Hospital Foundation, the hospital is making a $2,500 sponsorship to the Nate Chute. The sponsorship honors Pam Ellis, who is the executive assistant for the hospital foundation.
Katie Lesar, NVH Foundation Board Chair, said the foundation board wanted to honor Ellis with the decision of how to support the goals of the hospital.
“Pam has been the glue of the Foundation for the last nine years, and her dedication to North Valley Hospital and our community shows through in the work she puts into the Foundation and NVH,” Lesar said in a release.
The Nate Chute Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to reducing suicide among young people in western Montana through education, outreach and training.
Ellis, a Flathead Valley native, has served in several venues in her North Valley Hospital Foundation position from working with the Foundation Board of Directors and donors as an executive assistant to event planning, administration support staff, and buyer/manager of the hospital gift shop.
Ellis says jokingly her previous position as a high school principal’s secretary at Kentridge High School in Kent, Washington, and being a mother of twins has prepared her with the ability to multi-task.
“I selected the Nate Chute Foundation to receive the sponsorship funds from NVH because of the tragic statistics of suicide in our valley,” she said in a release. “It is an issue that is close to me personally and more so after working in a high school where I experienced first-hand how impactful educating our youth can be to help save lives. Suicide has no barriers; we all can be touched by this issue. I have great respect for the Nate Chute Foundation and their efforts to educate youth and teens to help prevent suicide.”
The $2,500 award will be donated to the Nate Chute Foundation in addition to the North Valley Hospital community sponsorship program’s annual support for the Nate Chute Foundation.
“We are so honored by this gift,” said Nate Chute Foundation Executive Director Kacy Howard. “Our partnership with North Valley Hospital to increase suicide prevention programs and access to resources has been a great benefit to the community just in the last few years of growth, so we are very grateful for the support of the hospital and the NVH Foundation.”
Lesar said honoring both a long time employee and a collaborative community nonprofit makes the sponsorship even more impactful.
“We are so thankful to work with Pam — she does everything behind the scenes, so we really wanted to recognize her commitment to the Foundation and the hospital and her hard work over the years,” she said. “We are proud of her decision to ask North Valley Hospital to support the Nate Chute Foundation.”