Vail Resorts CEO gives $2 million to support mental and behavioral health programs, including a grant to Gunnison Valley
Vail Resorts, Inc. Chief Executive officer Rob Katz and his wife, Elana Amsterdam, have made significant contributions totaling more than $2 million to support emotional wellness programs in nearly every mountain resort community in which Vail Resorts operates.
Among the grants was a $30,000 award to Gunnison Valley Health Foundation to help with building renovations for therapy rooms in Crested Butte.
The 30 grants were issued by the Katz Amsterdam Charitable Trust and will impact thousands of people seeking mental and behavioral health support across North America.
“Change depends on a community having the courage to say enough is enough and no more,” said Leslie Hughes, executive director, Gunnison Valley Health Foundation. “The Gunnison Valley Health Foundation supports the vision of our health system to promote lifelong health and wellness in our valley. Unfortunately, we are currently experiencing a mental health crisis. We believe that increasing access to mental health services at the north end of our valley in Crested Butte is one way that we can help provide the needed support to our resort community, where residents often face the stress of economic challenges and being isolated from family. We are so grateful to Rob and Elana for believing in our vision and helping us go after it.”
“It is our hope that these grants will help improve access to much-needed services around mental health and substance abuse and reduce the stigma and misunderstanding around these issues to encourage more people to get the help they need,” said Katz. “It is our privilege to be able to support so many outstanding organizations and meaningful programs already in place across our local communities in Colorado, Utah, Tahoe, British Columbia, Vermont, and New Hampshire.”
Katz and Amsterdam have donated nearly $100 million in recent years to the family’s charitable trust and foundation and named Beth Ganz executive director of the foundation in October to facilitate community engagement, sponsor research, and collaboration and to work with non-profit partners to drive towards improved mental health outcomes in mountain resort communities. Ganz joined the Katz Amsterdam Foundation after 11 years as vice president of public affairs and sustainability for Vail Resorts.
“We are spending time getting to know the issues that each community faces around emotional wellness and the non-profit organizations that are working to make an impact in this space every single day,” said Ganz. “I’m thrilled to join Rob and Elana in finding ways to help fill the gaps in delivering critical services and improve the outcomes across our extraordinary local communities.”
These grants are in addition to the $12.9 million of contributions made by Vail Resorts in 2018 to more than 250 community organizations as a part of the company’s EpicPromise program. Awards from the Katz Amsterdam Foundation went to resort communities in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Hampshire, Vermont, and British Columbia.
Read more about this at The Ski Guru
