Grand County Rural Health Network Celebrates Successful Virtual Fundraiser, Gratitude for Grand

The year 2020 and start of 2021 have made it especially challenging for our local nonprofits to raise funds needed to support their programs and services. This has been no different for the Grand County Rural Health Network (GCRHN), whose programs and services have been in more demand than ever since the COVID-19 pandemic began and then amped up more so after the East Troublesome Fire displaced many residents. 

Typically in August GCRHN hosts a large, in-person fundraiser event at the B Lazy 2 Ranch & Event Center, called Bulls, Boots & BBQ. The event raises $25-30k between sponsors and donors attending the event, which directly supports GCRHN’s services and programs. 

With statewide restrictions for events during the COVID-19 crisis, the GCRHN staff took action to develop a virtual means of raising funds in lieu of their annual fundraiser. The “Gratitude for Grand: Give a High Five for Health” creative concept emerged from a desire to allow our community members to show their appreciation to those individuals, organizations, and businesses that have made a difference to them during COVID-19. By “giving a High Five” donation, people could select their recipients and say personally the reasoning as to why they felt that individual or organization deserved a “High Five”. 

Executive director of GCRHN, Jen Fanning, explains, “We knew doing a new virtual fundraiser couldn’t replace the fun folks have at our Bulls, Boots & BBQ event, but we really wanted people in Grand County to be able to give back to those that helped them in some way – whether it was providing physical or mental services, being on the front line to keep essential and retail businesses going, being a first responder, sewing masks to raise funds for food pantries… you get the idea. There are so many awards that were understandably well-deserved.”

Grand Country Rural Health Network’s Gratitude for Grand virtual fundraiser raised $10k in net profits. According to Fanning, “It was amazing to see the incredible sponsor support of our first-ever event and to read the amazing reasons donors wrote for their Gratitude for Grand award recipients. We received numerous responses to the email certificates we sent out to awardees, that receiving the heartfelt award was very touching to many. That, in itself, made our efforts worth it.” 

To share with all of Grand County the Gratitude for Grand recipients, as well as the 2020 Award for Excellence in Health Service Winner: Grand County Covid-10 Incident Management Team Command Staff, an award banner has been created with over 200 hands with the names of each and every award recipient. The award banner will be mobile, circulating throughout the county over the next few months. Here is the planned schedule: 

  • March 1-14: Fraser Ace Hardware in Fraser 
  • March 15-28: Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre in Grand Lake 
  • March 29-April 11: Mind Springs Health in Granby 
  • April 12-25: Kremmling Mercantile in Kremmling 
  • April 26-May 9: Grand County Rural Health Network in Hot Sulphur Springs 

This schedule for the mobile award banner will be posted on our website, www.gcruralhealth.org/highfive. Also, you may read more about the recipients of the 2020 Award for Excellence in Health Services on our website. 

We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to all the sponsors of our virtual event, and a special thanks to the following main sponsors: 

Denver Health Winter Park Medical Center, United Business Bank, Climax Molybdenum, Fraser Valley Ace Hardware, and Mountain Parks Electric. 

For a full list of our sponsors, visit www.gcruralhealth.org/highfive. 

As for fundraising efforts in 2021, GCRHN’s Board of Directors and staff have already made the tough decision to not move forward with planning an in-person fundraising event. Per Jen Fanning, “We are excited to again host the virtual Gratitude for Grand: Give a High Five for Health fundraiser in the fall of 2021. We saw that we were getting real momentum, especially toward the end of the fundraiser week, so we believe people will catch on to the idea more quickly this year and will have their lists of who they personally would like to acknowledge with an award, which in turn supports our cause.” 

About Grand County Rural Health Network

At Grand County Rural Health Network, we believe everyone has the right to healthcare and to understand how to access that care. We have the resources and capabilities to help everyone living in our community access care. Our office phone number is (970) 725-3477 and website is https://www.gcruralhealth.org. The health resource guide can be found at https://www.healthygrandcounty.com.