Since 1977, Community Bridges has been providing care and support to residents around Santa Cruz County, including the San Lorenzo Valley. Mountain Community Resources (MCR), the local branch of the social services juggernaut, has been a compassionate partner within SLV, and has offered residents financial assistance and respite following natural disasters and personal calamities.
For all the support that MCR provides locally, that celebration of the spirit of giving is annually reflected back onto a chosen volunteer within the agency. Named for Mountain Community Resource’s founder Mary Hammer, the Mary Hammer Green Heart Award was created in 2010 to honor individuals who have gone above and beyond to support Mountain Community Resources and the San Lorenzo Valley community it serves.
For 2024, volunteer Tia Verches has been selected as the winner. Her award will be presented to her at the annual Mountain Affair fundraiser for MRC on Friday, Oct. 25, from 5-9pm at the Highlands Park Senior Center in Ben Lomond.
Verches, an ICU nurse with Kaiser Permanente, has been volunteering with the MCR food pantry for five years. In 2019, she approached MCR seeking to volunteer supporting children and seniors after completing a BS degree in nursing science.
Verches has also served as a Girl Scout camp nurse every summer for the past nine years, and she served as a troop leader for two years. She is a team player, working with other volunteers with sensible suggestions and a quiet wry sense of humor.
Over the years, other volunteers have known they can count on her to do whatever is required to make the weekly pantry a success.
“Our work at Mountain Community Resources has increasingly relied on the generous support of our community, as funding from traditional sources like local government has gradually declined,” said Tony Nunez, marketing and communications manager for Community Bridges. “Without this ongoing community investment, we wouldn’t be able to assist the more than 1,000 valley residents we serve each year. The Mountain Affair is not only a crucial fundraiser that helps us continue providing essential services and resources to those in need, but also a celebration of our community’s ongoing commitment to offering a helping hand to their neighbors.”
The Mountain Affair is always a well-attended event. Dotted with local dignitaries and past Green Heart Award recipients, the dinner and donation occasion serves to remind residents that there’s always an opportunity to give of their time, treasure and talent, and there’s no better way to keep those dollars invested in the local community than by offering support to MCR.
For Verches, she said, “The award was a surprise and a reminder—a reminder that even though I tell myself I volunteer for me, my efforts really do have an impact and help others. I enjoy my volunteer work because it is the opposite of my day job and it usually lifts my spirits.”
Come lift your own spirits—and those of community members who rely on MCR—at the 39th annual Mountain Affair event. For tickets and information, visit communitybridges.org/events/.
