Rigby nonprofit focused on giving back to community, and it wants your help finding recipients
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RIGBY – For the last several years, The Alegre Foundation has been focused on giving to families in need.
The Rigby-based nonprofit partners with local businesses to provide Christmas gifts for families who otherwise wouldn’t have any. The tradition started in 2021, and the organization hopes to double the number of presents it gives this year. It will start accepting nominations in October.
The foundation gives back in other ways as well. It frequently makes donations to The Giving Cupboard, a food pantry in Rigby. Two years ago, it launched a back-to-school initiative to provide clothes and backpacks for underprivileged students in Jefferson County.
Kelsey Hess, the Alegre Foundation’s volunteer coordinator, explains how it works.
“We’re going to set up the conference room in here as a shopping experience. We’ll have a clothing rack and lay out the clothes and the backpacks. They can pick what they want,” Hess says.
K-12 students are eligible for the back-to-school giveaway. Members of the community nominate the recipients.
Anything that’s not taken is returned to the store.
A date for the event has not been determined, but it usually happens in the first or second week of August. This year’s event will be held inside the J&J Enterprise Holdings building at 658 North 4116 East in Rigby. J&J Enterprise Holdings is a management company for multiple businesses, including The Alegre Foundation.
Maresa Nunez, who sits on the board for The Alegre Foundation, says the nonprofit was started by the owner of J&J Enterprise Holdings. She requested we not mention his name because he is a private person. Giving back to the community is something he’s always been involved in, particularly around Christmastime, and he wanted to have a better idea of who he could help.
“When I started here almost seven years ago, he said, ‘I have this amount of funds. I want to give back to a family. Can you find a person or organization who’s providing Christmas gifts?” Nunez recalls. “We donated money and gifts to another organization for a couple of years.”
Eventually, Nunez suggested they organize their own ways to give back. That’s how The Alegre Foundation was born.
Nunez hopes to see the foundation continue to increase its capacity to give back to others. It’s hoping to double the amount of presents it provides for Christmas this year. She’d also like to see more businesses contributing so that more funds are available.
“We’ll always be focused on families,” Nunez says. “We want to keep it in east Idaho because this is our community … but the sky is the limit. We can do just about anything.”
Those who’d like to nominate a recipient or get involved should fill out this form. You can also call (208) 745-7996 or email maresa@alegrefoundation.com.