From the bottom of my heart, thank you

To our lifeguards at the Eagle and Gypsum pools, our housekeepers, our fitness class instructors, our Rec Kids staff, our swimming instructors, our front desk staff, our gymnastics coaches, our summer camps instructors,  our sports leagues coaches, our full-time staff and to so many more;

It is no secret that our guests recognize and applaud all your work this summer in keeping our community safe, allowing our facilities to be open, and for recreation to continue in our towns.

From the bottom of my heart – thank you.

This summer we faced extraordinary challenges never seen by Mountain Recreation, let alone our community. The arrival of COVID-19 challenged how we operate as a district, and yet you found creative ways to offer programs across our indoor and outdoor facilities. I am proud to say that it is because of your courage in meeting this challenge head on, with joy, we have been successful in delivering our community the recreation they needed most.

We have all had our challenges due to COVID-19 and one in particular continues to torment our valley: mental health. Your work in recreation coupled with creating avenues and connections for our community to come together directly impacts the positive outlook of everyone’s mental health.

Following our brief and unprecedented district-wide closure, we worked hand-in-hand with Eagle County Public Health officials to maximize facility access and offerings. Thanks to the steadfast collaboration between those health officials and our staff and peers, we successfully set in place social distancing protocols for Mountain Rec programs and facilities that were soon adopted by rec districts across the state of Colorado and throughout the nation.

I am overjoyed to share with you that so far this summer we have had over 21,000 total reservations to visit our facilities in Gypsum and Eagle as well as over 2,600 sign-ups for youth & adult programs – all on top of the Gypsum Rec Center being the first to reopen in the state of Colorado amidst COVID-19.

Everyone deserves to be healthy and happy; this is why we do what we do. Thank you for stepping up to the challenge which required constant learning and adapting to how we can better serve our community. Thank you for your patience, understanding, trust, teamwork, and ultimately for your great sacrifice by being physically present on the front lines, day in and day out. Our facilities are a supporting arm to our community and a home away from home—thank you for keeping them open and safe.

Though this challenge is far from over, I am confident in your abilities and passion to persevere together. We have had our difficulties and tough times, but we have also had great opportunity, accomplishments, milestones, and new beginnings for our district.

Let us not be kept down by COVID, by fires, by ephemeral adversity. Rather, let us set our focus on new possibilities. We have not only adjusted and created new programming, but we have also been creative in rethinking our spaces and creating new ones. We will continue to examine how we can realize our full potential with our tools at hand and determine which new tools and spaces are necessary in our pursuit of excellence.

It is truly an honor to work with each and every one of you. We are in this together, and I could not be prouder of you or more inspired by you.

In great appreciation,

Janet Bartnik
Executive Director

Join us in thanking our staff! 

Tell us about your favorite Mountain Rec staff experience this summer to be entered in our $125 Mountain Rec gift card giveaway. Two gift cards will be awarded and are applicable to any Mountain Rec program. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, September 8. Final day to submit is Monday, September 7.

Share your experience by emailing us at info@MountainRec.org or send us a message on our Mountain Recreation Facebook page.