Non-profit organizations provide important services to all communities, including ours. This year, the annual Idaho Gives program – which is designed to bring the state together, raising money and awareness for Idaho nonprofits – runs Monday, April 29 through Thursday, May 2.

While Brundage Mountain believes that all Idaho non-profits serve valuable needs, we would like to highlight a few of the local organizations participating in Idaho Gives that have a direct impact on recreation and community-building at Brundage and in our local communities.

CIMBA – Central Idaho Mountain Biking Association

The Central Idaho Mountain Bike Association (CIMBA) operates out of McCall, ID, which is designated as a Silver Level Ride Center by the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA). The CIMBA mission is to protect, enhance and create quality trail experiences for the mountain bike community in Central Idaho. CIMBA actively works to promote the sport of mountain biking and responsible riding, advocates for trail access and builds and maintains sustainable trails in the McCall area.

CIMBA recently completed the Brundage to Bear Basin Connector, and is working on the McCall Flyway and Eastside Payette Lake trails.

Donate to CIMBA

Valley County Pathways

Valley County Pathways seeks to connect our communities from Cascade to McCall with 70 miles of walking/biking trails. They also want to connect from McCall to New Meadows and the northern terminus of Weiser River Trail. They strive to build an awesome valley-wide trail system that matches the grandeur of our world-class valley.

Valley County Pathways has completed the new Heinrich singletrack sidewalk pathway and is now working on the Samson Trail singletrack sidewalk pathway. 

Donate to Valley County Pathways

Payette River Bicycle Movement

Do you remember the first time you rode a bike? Payette River Bicycle Movement (PRBM) works to create the opportunity for as many kids as possible to have this same experience. PRBM’s mission is to refurbish donated bikes and provide new helmets to children who wouldn’t otherwise have a bike.

PRBM is actively involved in bike safety and bike maintenance education for children and runs programs using obstacle courses and hands on skills for preschool age on up.  In 2019, PRMB built a mountain bike trail at the local elementary school with the help of many dedicated volunteers. Students are now able to use it during recess and it has turned into a resource for the community!

Through community and school partnerships PRBM has refurbished and given out bikes and helmets to more than 300 kids. 

Donate to Payette River Bicycle Movement

Friends of the Payette Avalanche Center 

The “Friends” believe education leads to awareness, and awareness leads to safe backcountry travel. The goal is to foster the community and government support that will allow the P.A.C. to continue to grow and provide individuals the tools and information necessary for safe backcountry recreation.

Donate to FPAC

Valley County Search & Rescue

Valley County Search and Rescue (VCSAR) is a volunteer group dedicated to serving the residents and visitors of Valley County, Idaho. VCSAR members search, rescue, and render aid to people in difficulty or distress. Members support community events and work with neighboring counties, the Idaho State Search and Rescue (ISSAR), and other organizations to provide these services.

The area served by VCSAR is a recreation paradise. Valley County is vast and rugged, with more than 3700 square miles of tall mountains and deep river canyons. Wildlife is abundant, so hunting and fishing are popular. The county includes a large portion of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, an immense roadless land area. Much of the county is mountainous at high elevation, so a deep winter snowpack offers more than 500 miles of snowmobile trails.

The outdoors opportunities, weather, and terrain here all combine to provide many challenges to search and rescue. VCSAR members become experienced to meet those challenges through mentoring, training, and feet-on-the-ground. We search in all weather, from blazing summertime heat in the canyons to deep winter snows and sub-zero temperatures on the mountains. VCSAR utilizes a diverse set of tools in our searches, from hiking boots to ATVs, snowshoes to snowmobiles. Each search requires a broad range of skills, from comms (radio communications) to navigating unknown terrain with map, compass, and GPS. Due to the rugged terrain and primitive roads, sometimes just getting to the search area is a challenge.

Your donations will help fund equipment and training, and lead to positive outcomes for those in need of rescue.

Donate to Valley County Search and Rescue

McCall Ski Heritage Foundation

The McCall Ski Heritage Foundation seeks to preserve, protect, and perpetuate the nationally recognized history of ski jumping, Nordic, and Alpine skiing, as well as the winter sports culture in the McCall area. To help us create this engaging and modern museum, we have hired Unrivaled, one of America’s most experienced museum design firms. The museum will be a celebration of McCall’s people, history, culture, and community, while also representing our healthy and accessible outdoor lifestyle. 

Donate to McCall Ski Heritage Foundation

Adaptive wilderness snowsports of mccall

The mission of Adaptive Wilderness Sports of McCall (AWeSOMe!) is to improve the quality of life for kids and adults with disabilities by increasing awareness and benefits of outdoor recreation opportunities.

AWeSOMe! facilitates participation in outdoor activities, including alpine skiing at Brundage Mountain and Tamarack Resorts, nordic skiing at Bear Basin, Ponderosa Park and Tamarack, snowshoeing throughout Valley County, and summer recreation activities like paddle sports, mountain biking, swimming and camping. More Info is available at: www.awesomemccall.org

Donate to the Ponderosa Center

Ponderosa Center

The Ponderosa Center is a 501c3 non-profit organization with a vision to become a community hub for learning and enrichment, bringing music, the arts, and educational opportunities to the West Central Mountains.

The ultimate vision is to create a multi-functional facility to serve the McCall area as:

A place to LEARN…

A place to EXPERIENCE…

A place to SHARE…

A place to GET INSPIRED…

A place to GATHER…

A place to CELEBRATE…

Donate to the Ponderosa Center

Payette Land Trust

Since 1993, Payette Land Trust has been dedicated to conserving the scenic, agricultural, ranch, recreational, historic and wildlife values of West Central Idaho, for current and future generations. The Payette Land Trust and Payette Riverwalk Alliance have teamed up to conserve 44 acres of riverfront property on the North Fork Payette River. The goal is to provide: daytime public recreation and fishing access, a small system of walking/biking trails, take-out areas for water recreationalists, habitat for game and non-game species and habitat connectively for the river corridor.

Donate to the Payette Land Trust

Roots Forest School

Roots Forest School provides a balance of child-led play and focused experiential learning. Students at Roots engage with their surroundings and are immersed in nature. The school’s place-based curriculum follows the flow of the seasons with the study of local ecology and seasonal changes, as well as learning the importance of taking care of this place, its creatures, and each other. Research shows that this approach encourages the development of executive functioning skills that will contribute to a student’s success in future academic and personal endeavors.

Through nature-based early childhood education, Roots Forest School fosters curiosity, community, and imagination to inspire stewardship and empower life-long learners.

Your donation will ensure that income is not a barrier for families who wish to send their children to Roots. Your gift also enables the school to retain high quality staff and provide them with benefits and a livable wage. They would not be the program they are without the dedication and professionalism of their hardworking teachers and administrators. Your donation makes it possible to continue their connections between staff and family, nature and youth.

Donate to Roots Forest School

These aren’t the only non-profits working hard to make our communities more livable places. You can read about other great causes using the menu bar at the top of www.idahogives.org.

Thank you for supporting Idaho and our communities!