By Amber Ford The Mountain Times
Although the Mt. Hood Villages communities are small in size and numbers in comparison to other mountain and vacation towns, there’s one thing that makes it large in spirit and fellowship: the many nonprofit organizations that call Mt. Hood home. Each unique in their dedication and service to The Mt. Hood Villages, nonprofits within the community have now decided to use their individual qualities and resources for the overall benefit of working together.
Forming an alliance in the summer of 2024, The Hoodland Community Resource Collaboration [HCRC] is a quarterly meet-up of several important and impactful nonprofits and local social service organizations that serve The Mt. Hood Villages. Like many businesses who collaborate on events, The HCRC is looking to do the same with the services they provide to The Mt. Hood Villages. Bri Dittlinger of The Hoodland Women’s Club has been a proponent of The Mt. Hood Villages’ charitable organizations uniting to provide the best services possible to the community. “We are not an independent group or organization,” Dittlinger said. “We are a collection of local entities that collaborate to share resources, upcoming community events, and brainstorm ways to tackle community needs together,” Dittlinger added.
With over a dozen local 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations and other nonprofit entities meeting, the HCRC’s common goal is to share resources and networks that could positively impact The Mt. Hood Villages. “The primary purpose is to collaborate mountain efforts to better support our community,” Dittlinger said. “We wanted all of the community organizations at the same table to brainstorm, collaborate, and network,” Dittlinger added.
Although each organization represented through the HCRC addresses a special need in the community, the HCRC as a whole has the ability to encourage growth through shared resources and networking abilities. Thus far, the HCRC is composed of The Hoodland Women’s Club, Mt. Hood Lions Club, Neighborhood Missions, Hoodland Senior Center, Hoodland CPO, Welches Schools, Welches PTCO, Hoodland Library, Camp Arrah Wanna, Kiwanis Camp, Mt. Hood Unida, Church on the Mountain, Mt. Hood Livability Coalition, Hoodland Wildfire Partnership, Orchid Health, Sanctuary Inn and Hoodland Holiday Baskets.
The HCRC meets quarterly at The Kiwanis Camp with their next scheduled meeting on Thursday, May 1st at noon. As with each organization’s goal of addressing the community’s needs first, HCRC’s goal is to ensure their resources are shared among the network of organizations which comprise HCRC. “At each meeting, we review each group’s mission, resource availability, upcoming community events, and community needs that we could support,” Dittlinger said.
The HCRC is currently in the process of making a website dedicated to their mission and goals, but for community members interested in knowing more information please email HoodlandCRC@gmail.com.