By Talaina Kor A group of three women has created the Holbrook Foundation, an organization dedicated to what the board’s president Kathleen Smith called a way “to make positive change from a grass roots perspective.” “We believe that positive action makes positive change,” added Smith. The board consists of Smith, Debbie Shumway and Linda Kor, and each of these women hold a personal stake in the Holbrook community. Smith’s family owns AZ Kitchens & Baths, Shumway’s family has Shumway Insurance, while Kor is renovating the Sundown Motel building, with hopes to eventually restore it as a Route 66 motel. Shumway explained that the effort by the Foundation is to “have it (Holbrook) look better, to have the people that live here be happier with their quality of life through activities and amenities and events.” While the pandemic has forced many planned endeavors to be postponed, the foundation conducted a recent community survey hosted on social media to gauge what the community sees as working or not working regarding economic development, quality of life and the efforts of elected officials and city administration. “We know what changes we want to see in the community, but we wanted to make sure our ideas were aligned with the citizens,” stated Smith, “So the survey was launched with that intent. We found that they meshed with the mission of the foundation, which is economic development, revitalization and community pride.” The foundation intends to follow up with an in-person town hall and invite the city council and the mayor to take part sometime in March. Shumway explained what inspired her to serve on the foundation board. “Everyone says that Holbrook has great potential. We want to turn that potential into something instead of people just wishing we could. I (would be) driving down the road and I would be thinking, I wish that building was cleaned up, I wish this one would be torn down, I wish this one had a paint job. That was my motivation. Some of those things are just little things that we can do.” The Foundation is currently collaborating with the Holbrook Chamber of Commerce with a mini-grant program that provides non-matching funds to local businesses to meet COVID business regulations and general business revitalization. The plan is for the chamber to turn over the program to the Holbrook Foundation once this round of grants are dispensed, which will work to perpetuate it with funds donated by other businesses and funding sources. By serving on the foundation, the members themselves are unable to partake in any grants or funding opportunities that may be offered through the foundation to improve local properties but the women realize that what benefits one, benefits all. “We believe that if the people of Holbrook work to improve what they have, then their neighbors will too. Pretty soon, that will inspire further development as the community begins to take pride in their surroundings,” stated Kor. Other upcoming events that the foundation will be facilitating aside from the town hall include the reinstatement of Holbrook’s Yard of the Month program and Happy Holbrook beginning in April. Happy Holbrook is a favorite annual project for Smith, which is a month-long commitment to support the welfare, happiness and success of its citizens. “Another project will be the formation of a local business owner round table. The intent is to discuss some of the challenges and solutions faced by local business owners,” explained Smith. To learn about upcoming events and opportunities that will be hosted by the Holbrook Foundation, information can be found at its Facebook page.
