The bottom of Alyssa DeHart’s work email includes her title – Director of Development & Communication for TURN Community Services, and a quote from Helen Keller:
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
TURN is Utah’s largest nonprofit provider of disability services. DeHart and her organization are on the front lines practicing what they preach (or at least what her email tag says.) Among her myriad of responsibilities, DeHart will take over TURN’s “Labor of Love” holiday program: helping facilitate gifts for 200 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Utah. It’s also a program that Mountain West Small Business Finance (MWSBF) has participated in each December for over 30 years.
The History
Zianibeth “Z” Shattuck-Owen has worked for MWSBF for 20 years. She currently serves as the company’s Vice President of HR and manages the Administration department. But long before she joined the Mountain West team, she served as director of the non-profit Salt Lake Arc. On a national level, The Arc is the largest national community-based organization advocating for and with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. While Salt Lake’s local chapter of the organization underwent some name and leadership changes (ultimately branching out on its own for more targeted local impact), the organization was eventually wrapped into TURN Community Services.
In those early days, the organization rented office space from Mountain West, “and there I found a group of wonderful, giving individuals who wanted to be involved with Labor of Love,” Z shared. Z says Mountain West’s involvement increased the program’s outreach. “We had a huge number of volunteers, buying a huge number of gifts at one centralized location. Mountain West would give employees time off to shop, subsidize the cost of the gifts, and facilitate wrapping. It was massively helpful.”
Tender Moments, Tender Memories
Getting a little nostalgic about the holiday tradition, Z shared about one specific individual and a Labor of Love gift that made a lasting impression,
“We reach out to [the individuals], and find out what their needs are, and this older gentleman, all he wanted was food for his cat. He was a kind and wonderful individual. I asked him, ‘Is there anything else we can get you? Any immediate needs?’ But his concern was entirely for his cat. Eventually, he agreed to take a six-pack of coke, but after all the years of doing it, that was one highlight that stands out.”
A New Chapter
Z was eventually recruited by the Olympic Organizing Committee but said that Labor of Love has always remained close to her heart. So even though Z was working in a new capacity, Mountain West continued their Labor of Love tradition, now working with Cynthia Proctor, Z’s replacement and director of Labor of Love. Proctor is set to retire at the end of the year, making this her Labor of Love swan song.
“Cynthia has been the heartbeat of the program,” DeHart shared, and her passion for the program and its people are well illustrated in a quote she made when Labor of Love was featured in the City Journals last year. “We have volunteers that come year after year, some have participated for more than 20 years, and they bring more friends and extended family members each year because they find it so rewarding to help these people who often have no family members left to help with their basic needs and holiday celebrations. (…) They know they are extending critical help to this overlooked and underserved part of the community whose needs are very real, extensive, and still often invisible.”
Keller Was Right: Together we can do so much.
Z said that during the pandemic, MWSBF made a generous monetary contribution to Labor of Love. However, 2024 is the first year back to the tradition of individual name lists and the coveted wrapping party held on December 12, 2024. And it was the employees asking for a return to personal support. More than a third of Mountain West’s workforce have opted in to choose an individual to shop for, and MWSBF continues the tradition of $100 towards the gift as well as paid time for shopping and wrapping.
DeHart says the company’s impact has been vital not only this year but historically, “Mountain West’s participation in TURN’s Labor of Love program year after year, means that we can reach more participants with disabilities. It’s so helpful to have organizations who have the mind and heart to support those in our community who would not have Christmas without help.”
Even with Mountain West’s help, Labor of Love was still about $5,000 short of their $25,000 goal for this year’s drive (at press time). So join Mountain West and its employees and help support Labor of Love! To learn more about the program visit https://turncommunityservices.org/labor-of-love/