Rainier Foothills Wellness Foundation reports growth in school counseling and senior meals

Tammy Verhus, interim executive director of the Rainier Foothills Wellness Foundation, updated the Eden Plus City Council on the nonprofit’s school mental-health services and senior hot-meals program during the council’s July 13 meeting.

Verhus said the foundation has served “a total of 82 students,” including 62 at Enumclaw High School, nine at Enumclaw Middle School and 11 at Thunder Mountain. She said six Enumclaw High School students have completed the foundation’s therapy program and the group has tracked an improvement in behavioral-incident metrics compared with the prior year. “The average number was at 0.69. It increased to the 1.016, which is 32 percent of improvement in number of behavioral incidents,” she said.

The interim director also described academic outcomes: she said the group observed a small GPA increase across its participants (about 1.25% year over year). Verhus acknowledged the program’s limits: “We are not privy to those exact behavioral incidents,” she said, and characterized the figures as program-level outcomes rather than student-level disclosures.

On senior services, Verhus said the foundation serves roughly 66 enrolled seniors and has delivered more than 80 seniors’ meals year-to-date, preparing about 400 meals from scratch each week. She said volunteers—about 87 people—support shopping, meal preparation and delivery. “We have a great staff…they were all working, getting…the people that prepare the meals, that shop for the meals, and then deliver the meals,” Verhus said.

Council members thanked the presenter and were told how to request follow-up information. Verhus encouraged council members and residents to contact her or foundation staff for details or questions about staffing and program operations.

The foundation presentation was part of the regular council agenda; no formal council action was taken on the foundation’s programs at the meeting.