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School district nursing staff gives away its Christmas party

Jennifer L. Grubbs
Janice Chivington, center, holds up the money donated Friday to the Community Budget Center staff by the Moffat County School District nursing staff. The nursing staff decided to give the money they would have used for a Christmas party to the Budget Center staff so that they could have a nice party of their own. Pictured with Chivington, from left, are Krisha Fox, Rita Updike and Shirley Zulian. Not pictured are Community Budget Center employees Debbie Knez, Mary Willson and Karen Brown.
Jennifer L. Grubbs

The employees of the Community Budget Center know a little something about paying it forward.

Every day, they help others in need by providing money for food, shelter, clothing, medicine and more – and all through community donations of cash and goods.

But, on Friday, they were the benefactors of a pay-it-forward plan.



At about 10 a.m., the Moffat County School District nursing staff showed up unannounced at the Budget Center and presented the center’s employees with a certificate of appreciation, a bar of good-smelling soap and $140 in cash.

Each nurse or nursing technician pitched in $20 – money that otherwise would have gone toward the group’s Christmas party. Instead, they chose to give the money to another group of ladies who help them every day in their jobs by providing students and their families with clothes, medicine and other types of support, so that they could have a special Christmas party.



“If we have a family that needs medicine or a treatment, they’re the first ones to cut us a check,” Moffat County School District Nurse Terri Jourgensen said of the Budget Center staff. “Anytime we call, they say, ‘Find out how much it is.'”

It was a big surprise for Budget Center employees, who consider what they do normal, not something worthy of praise.

“We never think about appreciation,” Janice Chivington said. “We just go on day after day.”

The nursing staff said they hoped the nonprofit’s staff would use the money for themselves.

Chivington said they would: for their employee Christmas breakfast.

In addition to running a thrift shop, the Budget Center also receives funding from Energy Outreach Colorado to help pay people’s heating bills, and from Moffat County United Way, which aids in paying for prescription medicine, food, clothing and shelter (usually deposits on apartments), Chivington said.

Shirley Zulian, a member of the center staff, said that they often receive a thank-you from people who come to the center to buy items in the thrift store or for help, but that a group or organization choosing to recognize their work is a rarity.

“We do get thanks individually,” she said, “but for an organization to do it:”

Her fellow center employee Rita Updike agreed.

“It does make us feel appreciated,” Updike said.

Jennifer L. Grubbs can be reached at 875-1790 or at jgrubbs@craigdailypress.com


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