Idaho
Idaho Gives starts today. Here’s how to support more than 650 organizations. • Idaho Capital Sun
Today marks the start of Idaho Gives, Idaho’s largest online fundraising event for nonprofit organizations.
The event will raise funds for over 650 nonprofits across Idaho focusing on different areas, ranging from animal rescue, education, housing, arts and more. Idaho Gives will last from April 29 to May 2.
Last year, the event raised $3.8 million from nearly 13,000 donors, Kevin Bailey, CEO of the Idaho Nonprofit Center that organizes Idaho Gives, told the Idaho Capital Sun in an interview. The event, in its 12th year, has raised nearly $24 million in previous years.
Bailey hopes Idaho Gives can reach $4 million donations this year.
“Nonprofits are at the heart of every major thing that our cities and towns and rural areas are involved with,” Bailey said.
Many nonprofits say they need more funds to meet a higher demand on a range of services, Bailey said, like addressing wait lists for child care and housing, or even filling up seats in arts facilities, as demand grows amid Idaho’s population growth.
When you walk down the main street of nearly any Idaho city, Bailey says you’ll walk by a theater hosting art performances, a housing nonprofit, a homeless shelter or see trails maintained by nonprofits.
“It’s really on the backs of nonprofits to solve our state’s toughest challenges,” Bailey said. “Not that it should be necessarily. But there’s a lot of pressure and burden and opportunity, frankly, on the backs of nonprofits to kind of create communities where everyone can thrive where people have access to food, to housing, to culture and arts opportunities,” Bailey said.
How to give to Idaho nonprofits during Idaho Gives
Information about all of the nonprofits participating in Idaho Gives this year are available on the Idaho Gives website, idahogives.org. Nonprofit organizations are searchable based on their location and based on the cause they are involved with.
A variety of nonprofit organizations from around Idaho participate in Idaho Gives to support causes such as poverty and homelessness, health and wellness, the environment, arts and culture, education, disaster relief, substance abuse prevention, immigrant services and more.
Some organizations can leverage Idaho Gives donations for other fund sources.
That includes a housing nonprofit NeighborWorks Pocatello, which Bailey said can leverage funds to match federal grants or foundation funds. A donor to the Boise Bicycle Project has also promised a $50,000 matching donation.
The average Idaho Gives donation last year was $168, said Kim Ellsworth, marketing and communications director for the Idaho Nonprofit Center.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Donations to Basque Museum in Boise to fund Ellis Island immigration exhibit
One organization that is participating in Idaho Gives this year is the Boise’s Basque Museum & Cultural Center, located on Basque Block on Grove Street in downtown Boise. Boise’s history of Basque immigration history ties back to the late 1800s, when Basque immigrants came to the area to work as sheepherders.
Idaho Gives donations for the museum would go toward developing a Basque immigration exhibit in the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, said Annie Gavica, executive director of the Basque Museum & Cultural Center. That New York immigration station is how many Basque immigrants came to the U.S. in the late 1800s and early 1900s, she said.
The exhibit would likely have a feature on the Basque Block in Boise, and Boise’s basque community and museum, Gavica said.
“But the hope is that it tells kind of the overarching Basque immigration story because there’s Basques beyond just Idaho,” she said. “There’s Basques in Washington and California and Nevada and Oregon. … It’ll tell kind of a larger story through oral histories of Basque immigrants and their families. But then tell very specific stories about things like the Basque museum or the Boise Baskin community.”
The Boise Basque Museum previously organized an exhibit on Ellis Island in 2010, Gavica said.
But for the Basque Museum in Boise, Idaho Gives is more about raising awareness of Basque culture than raising funds, Gavica said. The nonprofit just wrapped up a major fundraising event, she said.
Few Idaho Gives donors to the Basque Museum were already among the almost 1,000 museum members, Gavica said.
Sometimes, when the nonprofit thanks the new Idaho Gives donors, some have become members, she said.
“It’s an opportunity for us to reach an audience that we don’t typically reach, and receive donations that we don’t typically get from them,” she said.
The USDA has issued a public health alert for various meat and poultry products containing FDA-regulated dairy that may have been contaminated with salmonella. The recall was originally issued on April 30th, but the contaminated product list could continue to grow as more products are identified.
The Food Safety and Inspection arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued the public health alert and there have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of the products listed below, consumers are still advised to dispose of the items or return them to the place of purchase. Great Value and Pork King Good products sold at Idaho Walmart stores are included in the alert and recall.
Public Health Alert and Food Recall Issued For Pizza and Pork Rinds Sold in Idaho
As of right now, the food list includes pork rinds, breakfast pizzas, and chicken bacon ranch pizzas. The list could grow and the USDA advises consumers to check the list frequently. We will also update the list here when possible. The contaminated products carry a variety of ‘Best By’ and ‘Produced On’ dates, so check the lists carefully to make sure you don’t consume a contaminated product.
The nationwide brands to look for are Mama Cozzi’s from Aldi stores, Pork King Good, and Great Value at Walmart Stores.
Photo Credit USDA – 1
Photo Credit USDA – 1
You can also look through these label photos to see if you have the product in your freezer.
Photo Credit USDA Recalls
Photo Credit USDA Recalls
Photo Credit USDA Recalls
Photo Credit USDA Recalls
Photo Credit USDA Recalls
If you feel sick and have consumed a contaminated product, the USDA advise you to contact your health care provider.
Guy Fieri’s Top Idaho Moments On Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives
Food Network just posted a compilation video of Guy at these spots!
Gallery Credit: Shannon Buccola
With Idaho’s primary election coming up, which ballots are Idaho voters eligible to cast? Well, it depends.
The state leaves it up to political parties to decide whether their primary is open or closed.
WATCH: Open or closed? More on Idaho primary elections
Voting in Idaho: What are closed primaries?
The Republican Party has a closed primary, meaning only registered Republican voters can participate. Meanwhile, the Democratic primary is open to all registered voters, regardless of party affiliation.
RELATED | How to register to vote in Idaho
Voters can change affiliation to take part in a different party’s primary, but state law requires voters to switch their affiliation no later than the 12th Friday before the primary, which in the May 2026 election has already passed.
A previously unaffiliated voter can affiliate with a party of their choice on the day of the primary and participate in its primary.
Each voter is only allowed to cast one ballot.
IDAHO FALLS — As a waterfall quietly trickled nearby, the Rotary Club of Idaho Falls and Idaho Falls Parks and Recreation celebrated two new shelters at Heritage Park on Wednesday.
Before a ribbon-cutting ceremony, city leaders and Rotary Club members said the shelters wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for the club’s annual duck race held along the Snake River.
“As you look around at this park and look at the greenbelt, it is a great success for which Rotary has been one of the main drivers,” said Stephen Boorman, president of the Rotary Club. “As we look at these shelters that are here today, they are a success funded by last year’s duck race.”
Wednesday’s event was also the kick-off for the 35th annual duck race in Idaho Falls. A small parade featuring some of this year’s prizes, including a sedan donated by Stone’s KIA and an ATV donated by Idaho Central Credit Union. Ducks will soon be available for sale online or at sales booths around the community this summer, according to a news release.
This year’s race festivities will run from Friday, Aug. 7, to Saturday, Aug. 8. More information can be found on the duck race’s website.
PJ Holm, Idaho Falls Parks and Recreation director, said the two new shelters are part of more than $1 million that the club has donated to the city since 2019 for the purpose of building Heritage Park.
“These shelters aren’t just wooden structures, they’re gathering places where families will celebrate birthdays, or friends will reconnect with each other, where community events will happen and memories will be made,” Holm said.
City leaders also announced that a lodgepole pine has been planted in Heritage Park in recognition of Kevin Call, owner of Farr’s Candy Company and a member of the Rotary Club that helps put on the duck race. Holm said the city will be doing fundraising to place a plaque beside the tree.
“We’re going to dedicate this lodgepole pine to Kevin Call for all of his dedication, all his work, all his commitment to our community,” Holm said.
=htmlentities(get_the_title())?>%0D%0A%0D%0A=get_permalink()?>%0D%0A%0D%0A=htmlentities(‘For more stories like this one, be sure to visit https://www.eastidahonews.com/ for all of the latest news, community events and more.’)?>&subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20EastIdahoNews” class=”fa-stack jDialog”>
-
Lifestyle12 minutes agoUnmistakable Love of Austin, the Texas Longhorns and Each Other
-
Education18 minutes agoArt Abounds on Campuses Outside of New York City
-
Technology24 minutes agoCanvas is down as ShinyHunters threatens to leak schools’ data
-
World30 minutes agoIranian dissidents seize on Trump remarks about armed resistance, fueling revival of Reagan doctrine
-
Politics36 minutes agoTrump praises Susie Wiles’ cancer fight in surprise gala video: ‘Winning it decisively’
-
Health42 minutes agoHantavirus in the US: Where the rare, sometimes deadly disease has been found
-
Sports48 minutes agoDeonna Purrazzo touts Ring of Honor as having ‘great women’s wrestling,’ should be seen as landing spot
-
Technology54 minutes agoHumanoid robot named ‘Gabi’ ordained as Buddhist monk, pledges devotion to ‘holy Buddha’