SUMMER 2022
431 Hours of Community Service
This summer, our 11 participants from nordic skiing, ski racing, and freestyle skiing completed 431 hours of community service working with various other nonprofits of the Flathead Valley. Thank you to Land to Hands, Stumptown Art Studio, Foys to Blacktail, and North Valley Food Bank for letting us volunteer.
Powdered Soul Ski Movie Night @ Montana Tap House
We had a great turn out to our first ski movie at the Tap House on September 30th, screening Attack of La Niña. Thanks to Matchstick Productions for the movie, Sportsman SkiHaus, The Toggery and BlackTie Rentals for some awesome raffle items.
2,030 POUNDS
Thank you for everyone who came out on July 9th to recycle glass at Flathead Recon. So far we have been able to save 9,000 pounds of glass from ending up in the landfill and have raised over $3,000 with this event over 3 years!
WINTER 2021/2022
Check out what some of our participants have been up to during their winter sports.
305 HOURS OF COMMUNITY SERVICE
Over the course of the summer 2021 term, 14 participants completed 305 hours of community service with other nonprofits in the Flathead Valley. Thank you to all of the organizations that allow us to give back to our community.
2,441 POUNDS
Thank you to everyone who came out on September 11 to recycle their glass and help support our local youth! Thank you to Flathead Recon for hosting Powdered Soul and helping us fundraise for our participants.
OUR 2021 TERM IS UNDERWAY! COME VISIT US AT THE WHITEFISH FARMERS MARKET OR CHECK OUT OUR GLASS RECYCLING FUNDRAISER ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2021 AT FLATHEAD RECON IN COLUMBIA FALLS!
DIRECTIONS TO FLATHEAD RECON CAN BE FOUND HERE.
SUMMER 2021
THE SUMMER 2019 SCHOLARSHIP AND ENTREPRENEURIAL PROGRAMS ARE UNDERWAY!
What an amazing Saturday morning volunteering with Foys to Blacktail Trails! Kevin, Lauren, Addi, and board member Deborah dug their hands in the dirt, pulling over 30 lbs of noxious weeds. They joined other community members as well as many members of Montana Conservation Corps. .
After the event Deborah noted, “I think Kevin won honors for most tenacious, Addi was most successful getting last years crop with the nasty seeds intact while getting a few (a lot)of the burrs on herself as well. Lauren was the entertainment for the group providing stories, insightful thoughts, and a little bit of LED Zeppelin. I think we were all happy to be helping a great cause working with Foys to Blacktail, the Lone pine park and MT Conservation Corps. And now they have no excuse to help out at home picking weeds... they’re experts!” Thank you @foystoblacktail for the fun day!
Come see us at the Whitefish Farmers Market every Tuesday from 5-7:30 in Depot Park. Our participants work hard to create quality products, filling a unique niche in the market. All profits go directly to athlete’s fees and tuition in their chosen sports.
Participants develop useful business and marketing tactics, communication skills, and leadership qualities.
THE 2019 SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM IS PLANNED TO BEGIN IN MAY 2019.
Our 2019 Scholarship Program will run May- September 2019.
We will be offering this program to athletes in the Flathead Valley involved in ski racing, freeride, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, hockey, figure skating, and gymnastics. This allows primarily winter sport athletes to earn funds for their sport in the “off season” when they have more time for other activities.
Up to 30 applicants will be accepted into the summer 2019 program.
The summer 2019 program will be available for athletes ages 12-17 (please contact us)
The application for participation will be available starting February 1st and due April 1st.
FEBRUARY 2018
RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS TRASH PICK-UP
We had a fantastic time tonight at our final Random Act Of Kindness service project for this term! We spent 2 hours in downtown WF picking up trash left behind by the parade. We picked up almost 200 lbs of trash! It was a fantastic evening serving our community!
JANUARY 2018
FLATHEAD VALLEY FOOD BANK
Volunteered with the Flathead Valley Food bank, assisting in preparing staples to be distributed to Flathead families in
need
DECEMBER 2017
WHITEFISH CHRISTMAS STROLL
We had a great night at the Whitefish Christmas Stroll tonight spreading holiday cheer! Our group not only saw how easy it is to bring joy and happiness to the world, they worked on talking to strangers, approaching large groups and general speaking skills!
NOVEMBER 2017
FOOD BANK HOLIDAY CRAFTS
We had a wonderful time this weekend making holiday crafts to be included in the senior food packages from the North Valley Food Bank.
Our goal is to produce adults that are
Community minded and active. The goal of this project was to show our participants how a hobby can be turned into good for the community.
You don’t have to have a lot of money or extra time to make a difference in the world. Share your passion with the community. Do you sew? Sew blankets for hospital or nursing home patients. Do you crochet? Crochet hats for NICU babies or cancer patients.
The list is endless. Never feel like you can’t make a difference in the world. The more kindness we put into the world, the kinder the world will be!
NORTH VALLEY FOOD BANK STUFF THE BUS
OCTOBER 2017
TRICK OR TREAT FOOD DRIVE
We hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! Our group members spent last weekend Trick-Or-Treating around the Flathead. Not for candy, for donations to benefit area food banks! We collected over 700 items for local food banks. While learning how to talk to adults, how to talk to strangers, AND how to talk to strangers while a crowd is watching!
Building life long skills in community minded citizens!
SEPTEMBER 2017
We are excited to announce our Spring 2017 Youth Scholarship results. At the end of this 5 month term, we were able to award over $11,000 in scholarship funds to Flathead Valley Youth. Our per hour award amount came to $17.79! Not only were our participants able to EARN scholarship funds to follow their passions, they each came away a different person. They have pride in what they earned, they see how important it is to connect with their community, and the business world is something fun, exciting and understandable to them. We couldn't be more proud of our participants this term!
WE LOVE OUR TEACHERS!
For our latest community service project, Powdered Soul is adopting local schools. Our goal is to provide each teacher with a basket of supplies that they would normally purchase with their own money. Some of these items include hand sanitizer, pencils, notebooks, markers, pens, etc. Our participants will be collecting these items in the upcoming weeks in order to provide the school with the supplies they need without a personal financial burden on the teachers. Powdered Soul delivered 38 baskets full of school supplies to teachers across the valley. We were also able to deliver extra Kleenex and hand sanitizer to school offices. Each basket contained an average of $40 worth of school supplies. This means we were able to deliver over $1500 worth of supplies to assist teachers in the Flathead Valley. Thank you to all of our donors and sponsors for helping us make this happen!
RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS WEEK
Nominate someone in your community for a YARD PARTY provided by our organization participants during our RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS WEEK
Do you know someone AHHHmazing?!? Someone that our community would be different without? Someone that is going through one of life's "down" moments, and would benefit from a surprising ray of sunshine? Someone having a birthday? Someone that needs to FEEL loved?
Nominate them for Powdered Soul's Random Act of Kindness Week YARD PARTY! Powdered Soul will bring a group of our youth members and leave a little love around their yard. NOTHING makes you feel special, loved, and like a gitty 8 year old again than seeing streamers and signs in your yard!
Send us your nomination via email or through our website! Make sure you provide their name, address, description of house, and a short description of why they deserve and Random Act of Love. If you would like to nominate through the website please visit our contact page.
Powdered Soul's Flathead Valley Random Act of Kindness week starts August 7!
HEART LOCKER RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS
Powdered Soul, a local nonprofit benefiting area youth, completed their first major community service event for the summer. Over the past month youth participants have been collecting gently used children’s clothing, protein/snack bars, gently used adult clothing, and toiletry items to donate to Kalispell Heart Locker. Kalispell Heart Locker is a nonprofit organization organized to assist homeless youth. It is run in conjunction with the Kalispell School District.
Kalispell Heart Locker expressed that their most urgent needs were children’s clothing and protein/snack bars. Powdered Soul participants cleaned out their own closets and asked friends, family, and the community at large. One family printed a flyer for their youth participants to pass out to any business they visited during the month. Powdered Soul’s mission is to assist area youth in earning money for extracurricular activities. One opportunity for our youth to be awarded money is via community service projects such as this. Powdered Soul participants visited Kalispell Heart Locker, helping to unload their items, tour the facility and receive a lecture from Kalispell Heart Locker’s Executive Director Nichole Heyer.
The initial goal for the Powdered Soul team was 250 items. They turned in 2,047 items! Powdered Soul’s Executive Director, Valerie Kneeland said, “To see our youth become so invested and committed to this process is exactly what we are aiming for at Powdered Soul. Not only do we want to assist the youth in earning money to fund extracurricular activities, we want to see them grow in their understanding and commitment to their community. We couldn’t be prouder of our participants.” Powdered Soul’s next large community service project is free lawn care for community members in need. They are also hosting Flathead Valley’s Random Acts of Kindness, August 7-11.
DREAM ADAPTIVE VOLUNTEER PARTNERSHIP
Youth participants with Powdered Soul have been assisting DREAM Adaptive Recreation with their summer Paddleboard Series. The Summer Paddleboard Series runs multiple days from June to August. Powdered Soul participants assist with unloading trailers and setting up each event. They also assist with needs of participants. This includes things such as playing with them on the shore, cheering them along, or accompanying them in the water. “Watching our members grow during this process has been very rewarding,” Valerie Kneeland, Executive Director for Powdered Soul. “To not only give our participants a solid understanding of the challenges that differently abled athletes go through, but to teach them the skills to be accepting and helpful to these individuals is a large part of our goal at Powdered Soul.” Powdered Soul will continue attending the Paddleboard Series this summer and looks forward to working with DREAM Adaptive Recreation during their winter program.