Local nonprofit reports growth in school mental-health services and senior meal deliveries

Tammy Verhus, interim executive director of the Rainier Foothills Wellness Foundation, updated the Eden Plus City Council on the foundation's mental-health work in local schools and its senior hot-meals program.

Verhus said the foundation has served 82 students in the most recent reporting period — 62 at Enumclaw High School, nine at Enumclaw Middle School and 11 at Thunder Mountain — and that six Enumclaw High School students had graduated from therapy. She highlighted a modest improvement in behavioral-intervention metrics and a slight rise in average GPA across the cohort. On senior services, Verhus said the program currently serves 66 seniors and has prepared about 400 meals a week, delivered three times weekly by roughly 87 volunteers.

Verhus thanked the council for past support and invited council members and residents to contact the foundation with questions or staffing referrals as they recruit a new executive director.