Roots and Wings Foundation visits Three Rivers Hospital.

BREWSTER – Three Rivers Hospital Foundation President Dan Webster hosted a special guest on March 17 when a representative from the Washington-based Roots and Wings Foundation toured the hospital.

Webster reported to the March 27 meeting of the TRH Board of Commissioners that it was the first on-site visit by the group that has been working with the hospital since 2021. Webster and a group of hospital staff provided a guided tour of the facilities and Webster followed up with a tour of the City of Brewster as well.

According to its website, rootswings.org, the Roots and Wings Foundation was founded in 2019 by Judy and Dr. Gordon Faulkner, both of whom have worked in healthcare-related fields. The organization focuses on funding nonprofit organizations that help low-income children and families reach their full potential through prevention, early intervention, and in-depth programming that changes lives.

Roots and Wings first contacted Webster in 2021 and since then has awarded Three Rivers three annual grants of $30,000 in 2022, and $35,000 in 2023 and 2024.

“We are able to accomplish so much more for our community hospital with these funds,” said Webster.

Three Rivers Foundation selects some of its target acquisitions from a capital purchases request list provided by the hospital. The foundation is working to establish a budget and application process where the hospital can submit requests to help acquire specific items.

For the last years, the foundation has been doing scholarships for each of the five schools in the district,” said Webster. “Last year we put out $10,000. We want to keep that ongoing. This year it will be five $1,500 scholarships to Mansfield, Bridgeport, Brewster, Pateros, and Liberty Bell.”

Next to Roots and Wings another steady source of funds come from the hospital staff itself.

“The rest of our funding comes from community donations and the generosity of the hospital and clinic employees,” said Webster. “Their donations come from voluntary payroll deductions.”

One foundation goal was to acquire a wheelchair capable patient transport vehicle, and a surplus cabulance was recently donated by Ballard Ambulance in Wenatchee. 

“If there was a swing-bed patient in Brewster who needed dialysis twice a week they could take that patient back and forth to the Omak dialysis center,” Webster said citing one of several examples where a van makes that possible.

Three Rivers Hospital Foundation is incorporated and recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization. Tax deductible donations can be made through a link on the foundation’s website, threerivershospitalfoundation.org.

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media