WHO WE ARE.
"TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN THE SWEET HOME COMMUNITY."
We encourage people to Give Where You Live. Your support helps us to accomplish our mission of organizing and helping charitable groups and projects for the residents of the Sweet Home Oregon area.
For more detailed information check out our "Leave a Local Legacy" handout.
Each year the Sweet Home Community Foundation opens an annual grant cycle and accepts applications. The grant cycle opens in January and closes sometime in February. Board members review and score all applications based on a set criteria (see application) and meets as a group to make final decisions on which grants qualify and will be funded. Grants are awarded in the late spring each year and recipients must complete their projects before the next grant cycle starts.
SHCF Mission and Founding Principles
After many years of discussion, the Sweet Home Community Foundation (SHCF) was organized to receive and disburse funds for the benefit of the greater Sweet Home community. The Sweet Home Economic Development Group (SHEDG) sponsored the establishment of the foundation. SHEDG felt the long term benefits of a foundation, providing grants from the annual interest earned on a significant endowment fund, to be very important to the Sweet Home Community.
BOARD OF
DIRECTORS.
Name: Robert (Bob) Burford, SHCF Board President
Board Member Since: 1997
Employment: Retired Police Officer
How long have you lived in SH and/or what is your connection to SH: I moved to Sweet Home in 1986 as a police officer. I worked as a Detective and later a Sergeant before being appointed Chief in 1994.
What do you love most about Sweet Home: My wife and I raised our family in Sweet Home and the community has always been good to us. In 1997 I was asked to help form SHCF, as a way to make a positive impact on the community’s future. I’m confident the Foundation has made, and will continue to make, a difference.
Name: Tami Nightingale, SHCF Vice President
Board Member Since: October 2018
Employment: Retired from 21 years of working in the dental field (Dental Assisting and office management).
How long have you lived in SH and/or what is your connection to SH: I was born in Sweet Home, but my parents moved our family to Umatilla, Oregon for 12 years when I was 2 ½. We returned in 1986, when my dad took a job with Linn Co. Road Department and I have been here since then, growing up and raising two children (one that is now grown with her own children who live here also).
What do you love most about Sweet Home: Sweet Home is a wonderful, small, tightknit and supportive community that I feel proud to call my home. I speak from firsthand experience when I say that this community rallies together to support their family and friends when times are hard.
Name: Wendy Younger, SHCF Board Secretary
Board Member Since: 2006
Employment: Linn-Benton Housing Authority, Family Self-Sufficiency Program Coordinator
How long have you lived in SH and/or what is your connection to SH: My dad grew up in Sweet Home before moving to Eastern Oregon in 1974 for work. In 1986, he brought our family back to Sweet Home where I grew up, graduated from high school, and started a family.
What do you love most about Sweet Home?: I have wonderful memories of visiting my grandparents (before we moved to Sweet Home in 1986) and then 28 years of memories living in this great community.
Name: Jennifer Hill, SHCF Board Treasurer
Board Member Since: March 2017
Employment: Administrator at Holley Church
How long have you lived in SH and/or what is your connection to SH: My husband and I moved to Sweet Home in the spring of 2001 from Idaho to pastor at Holley Church
What do you love most about Sweet Home: Sweet Home is filled with natural beauty from its surroundings AND from its people. It is a great community in which to live, work and make a difference.
Name: Terry Martin, SHCF Board Member
Board Member Since: December 2022
Employment: Sweet Home School District Superintendent
How long have you lived in SH and/or what is your connection to SH: 3 years (since 2020). My first connection to Sweet Home is that my Aunt who lived on the coast would drive over to her favorite campground, Sunnyside. Anytime we could, we joined her. She just loved camping there.
What do you love most about Sweet Home: To me, along with the natural beauty, the people of Sweet Home are what really makes a difference! Sweet Home rallies to support its own, and there are great people here all across the community.
Name: Vance Monroe, SHCF Board Member
Year Joined Board: December 2022
Employment/Title: Radiator Supply House(Sales Manager)
How long have you lived in SH and/or what is your connection to SH? I’ve been in Sweet Home for 32 years now. I graduated from Sweet Home High School in 2004. After that I left for a couple years to get a college degree, but of course came back to this beautiful town.
What do you love most about Sweet Home? I love our community's dedication to enhancing our town that isn't just a mission; it's a testament to their love for both its history and its future.
Name: Tina Larsen, SHCF Board Member
Board Member Since: September 2023
Employment: Federal Cartridge Company dba HEVI-Shot (Manager; Marketing)
How long have you lived in SH and/or What is your connection to SH: 17 years. My sister, Angela Weld, has lived in Sweet Home for many years with her family. I decided to relocate my family to Sweet Home when my dad retired and moved to Sweet Home.
What do you love most about Sweet Home: Sweet Home offers a small-town kindness, lakes and rivers, but most of all a community that shows support for all kind. I’ve gone thru a couple tragedies myself since moving to Sweet Home and have experienced the outpouring of support from this community. I am reminded each day as I drive to work, how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place.
Name: Karla Hogan, SHCF Board Member
Board Member Since: November 2020
Employment: I’ve been a licensed Real Estate Broker since 1998. My current brokerage is HomeSmart Realty Group.
How long have you lived in Sweet Home /or connection to Sweet Home? My entire life (since ‘75) My parents owned a floral shop downtown & I was quite literally raised there!
What do you love most about Sweet Home? There are so many things I love about Sweet Home. Starting with aesthetics - What other place gives you so many views! Foster Lake, the Santiam River, the mountains surrounding us & the rolling grasslands? Beautiful views abound here.
Name: Nick Tyler, SHCF Board Member
Year Joined Board: December 2022
Employment/Title: Fire Chief Sweet Home Fire District
How long have you lived in Sweet Home /or connection to Sweet Home? I grew up in Sweet Home and am a member of the Class of 1997. I married my high school sweetheart, Rachel Tyler. After serving in the US Navy, we chose to live back to Sweet Home to raise a family. I have served the community in many ways, but coaching sports for Sweet Home will always be one of my favorites.
What do you love most about Sweet Home? There is a lot to love about Sweet Home. It’s a beautiful area with mountains, rivers, lakes and streams. It’s a great place to recreate, but a better place to live. The community members are what make Sweet Home special. I’ve been involved in many tragedies. I have seen horrible things, but in those moments Sweet Home stands out. Our community takes care of each other. We are here for you, when you need help. That aspect of the community is what I love the most!
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Name: Courtney Paul, SHCF Board Member
Board Member Since: 2022
Employment: Director of Development for The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Greater Santiam
How long have you lived in SH and/or What is your connection to SH: I was born and raised in Sweet Home. I graduated from Sweet Home High School in 2006, where I then moved to a few towns in the surrounding area eventually moving back to where my husband and I live, work, and raise our 3 children.
What do you love most about Sweet Home: Whenever a tragic event happens in our little town, I love seeing how the Community comes together and rallies to support and help with whatever is needed.
Name: Kelcey Young, SHCF Board Member
Board Member Since: November 2023
Employment: City Manager of Sweet Home
How long have you lived in SH and/or What is your connection to SH: I have lived in Sweet Home since October of 2022. I came here to be City Manager, and moved my family here. I have family in Eugene and Corvallis, but like Sweet Home so much more.
What do you love most about Sweet Home: I love how beautiful it is here. I love the lakes and the river and all the trees. I love the small town feel. I feel like the whole community looks after my two boys, and I love all the volunteerism that goes on here. It is a very special place.
