The home in Highland Estates was gifted to the Summit County Clubhouse. The Park City Community Foundation also contributed to the renovation.
Executive Director of the clubhouse Amber Mackay says it provides a safe space for adults who suffer from mental illness – a place where they can focus on recovery, connect with others, and learn new skills.
“So, members can come and all of the work of running a nonprofit is up to the clubhouse members," Mackay said. “It's their home, their space. And so, they come in and they take care of lunch - we make lunch every day. They take care of paying the bills. They can get on the computer and look for jobs. They use the state of the art computers to do our newsletter every month. So, it's a lot of opportunity to build confidence and purpose through work.”
The building was originally a house, and the clubhouse is only used during the day, so it needed some reconfiguring. Mackay says that involved a lot of help from members.
“We knocked down a lot of walls, which was really actually kind of therapeutic and fun. The clubhouse members actually participated in a lot of the renovation from you know, pulling up carpet, laying down flooring painting, picking up all the picking out all the aesthetics of the how we wanted it to look. And so, we knocked down a lot of walls to make it bigger space. And it's been a really awesome space for us now.”
The clubhouse is open from 8:30 to 4:30 on weekdays, and also offers a social program on Wednesday evenings, which clubhouse member Rick Killpack is grateful for, since he’s working a full time job.
“For me honestly, it's like a family because I don't have a family in Park City,” Killpack said. “So, Amber oversees, you know, the camaraderie there's so much camaraderie and connection there and building of confidence. So, I would say through that socialization. And then and then going out and then working in the community at Whole Foods Market and then coming back and seeing them on Wednesday night really makes a huge difference.”
The clubhouse has about 20 active members and now that the construction is completed and COVID isolation has ended, they say they will be recruiting new members. Mackay says they’re also making friends with their neighbors – some of whom weren’t too happy when the clubhouse moved into the neighborhood.
“Actually, Mackay said, "our neighbors have been pretty amazing. I think once we got there and they saw how dedicated we were to making the space beautiful and the yard really nice, I think that they were really appreciative of our contribution to the neighborhood and the aesthetics. And we've made friends with our neighbors, and we've taken them Valentine's Day cookies that we made in our clubhouse kitchen, and you know, things like that."
You can find out more about the clubhouse here.
