Rathdrum: shining together

Despite canceling the annual awards dinner due to COVID restrictions, the Rathdrum Chamber of Commerce honored its 2020 Citizen of the Year, Business of the Year, and Nonprofit of the Year winners for their roles in helping the growing community shine.

On Friday afternoon, Chamber officials highlighted Steve Michael, Champion Concrete Pumping, Inc., and the Rathdrum Community Center as their 2020 award recipients. Nominated through the public, city officials, and business leaders, executive director for the Chamber Ashley Moore said the three winners made noticeable differences in Rathdrum last year.

“We take pride in how this community comes together, especially in times of need,” Moore said. “We are so thankful to all of our sponsors, our local businesses, and our residents for pushing forward and supporting each other.”

Steve Michael’s name has come up many times before the Chamber, Moore said, but this year his drive within the community was unmatched. Since moving back to Kootenai County decades ago with his wife, Tamara, Michael has volunteered with several Rathdrum area programs, and coached the Timberlake High School Tigers soccer team for 13 years.

In 2010, Michael found his passion as a praise and worship leader with the Community United Methodist Church, opening up a Rathdrum congregation as a pastor for the past four years.

Now, community members can find Michael at the food bank, handing out water at events, doing roadside cleanup on the North Community Church’s adopted highway, tending the farms of the elderly, and delivering community meals with the Rathdrum Community Center.

“Steve has gone out during the night or whenever he is called for the last four years to plow snow for elderly couples, shovel off their roofs, decks, and whatever else they may need,” Tamara Michael said. “He has been called late in the evening to take people to hospitals and sit by the bedside at the hospice center for days.”

For Steve, donating his time back into Rathdrum is him doing his part to connect with others and develop a giving culture. Recognizing his efforts and the positive impact he brings to the city, the Rathdrum Chamber of Commerce named Michael the 2020 Citizen of the Year.

“I’ve received so much over the years from the community, and I love the fellowship with people,” Michael said. “We were created to connect with one another and be together. We all have an opportunity to do our part in making a difference.”

Serving the Rathdrum area for almost 35 years, Champion Concrete Pumping, Inc. and owners Dawn and Roy Thompson opened the company to provide for their family, set roots in the community, and give back.

In between the day-to-day operations, Champion Concrete Pumping, Inc. sponsors over 20 different programs and local organizations in Kootenai County. Some of the groups they support, like the Lakeland baseball program and the youth volleyball team, stem from their children’s participation in the Lakeland School District, which Dawn Thompson said has produced lifelong friends for their whole family.

“It’s an awesome tight-knit community, and everyone is supportive of each other,” she said. “There are so many people who care, and I think that is why it’s so amazing.”

Most of the programs Champion supports are in Kootenai County because the Thompsons want to help create a healthy environment for every family, child, teen, or single young adult. By aiding organizations like the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the “Hard Hats, Hammers and Hot Dogs” Construction Career Day at KTEC, the Idaho Youth Ranch, Idaho Special Olympics, Juvenile Justice Outreach, Children’s Village, Kootenai County 4-H, UGM Coeur d’Alene Center for Women and Children, the St. Vincent de Paul Warming Centers and over nine other groups Champion hopes to help spiritually, emotionally, and even financially.

“Champion believes it is imperative to support and encourage those in our local communities,” Dawn Thompson said. “We rarely can be hands-on, but we can support those that are in the trenches and on the front lines making a difference.”

For their work in the community, the Rathdrum Chamber of Commerce awarded Champion Concrete Pumping, Inc. the 2020 Business of the Year Award.

“We are humbled and appreciative of this recognition,” Thompson said. “We know there are many, many generous businesses in our community that do so much to support, help, and meet the needs of others.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rathdrum Community Center, also known as the Rathdrum Senior Center, chose to stay open for meals and small group activities. In doing so, kitchen staff and center volunteers provided over 11,000 meals to the area in 2020, director Rhonda Story said.

“The Rathdrum Community Center exists to provide people in our community with resources for food, socialization, education, and foster relationships along the way,” Story said.

When the virus hit and many facilities closed, the Rathdrum Community Center received calls from citizens worried about seniors, homebound residents, and people in need of food around the community. Gathering a team of volunteers, city administration, and police officers, the Rathdrum Community Center developed the Community Assistance Network to make home deliveries and box food supplies.

“We had canned food, boxed food, peanut butter, jelly and bread they could use at home, tuna and canned chicken, anything we could,” Story said. “It was a great mission because we had some wonderful people step up locally, businesses giving donations, it felt like a big family.”

Starting Feb. 16, Story said the center is excited to reopen, have in-house meals, offer Bingo, Quilting, Art classes, cooking classes, church services, and other community resources. For their generous giving and community outreach, the Rathdrum Chamber of Commerce honored the facility with the 2020 Nonprofit of the Year Award.

“We’re just better together,” Story said. “I believe that you only will grow so much as you allow others to help you. If I had tried to do these things by myself, it wouldn’t have been half as amazing. We are so thankful.”