Anchorage Daily News

WASILLA -- A new charitable foundation to benefit the Upper Susitna Valley will carry on the life work of a longtime Talkeetna caregiver who died last summer.

The Jessica Stevens Community Foundation was established in memory of Stevens, a physician's assistant and former medical director of the Sunshine Community Health Center who was killed at age 47 in June 2007 in a car accident near Sunshine.

The foundation, which is an affiliate of the Alaska Community Foundation and is sponsored by the Rasmuson Foundation, will award grants annually to organizations that promote compassionate health care, innovative education, social engagement, active enjoyment of the natural environment and creative artistic expression in Talkeetna, Trapper Creek, Petersville and other communities in the Upper Susitna Valley.

"These are the ways Jessica Stevens contributed to our region during the last 14 years of her life, embodying a holistic vision of healthy communities that provides guidance for this foundation," according to a media release from the fledgling foundation.

The fund has garnered more than $21,000 in contributions -- including $5,000 seed money from Rasmuson -- since December, according to Robert Ambrose, Stevens' widower and a foundation co-founder.

The money will be invested in a permanent endowment; the interest earned by that endowment will fund the annual grants, Ambrose said.

When the contributions reach $25,000, the Rasmuson Foundation will contribute another $50,000, plus a $5,000 pass-through grant for distribution to community organizations, according to the media release. If a second $25,000 is raised within one year, Rasmuson will contribute another $50,000 to the fund and another $5,000 pass-through grant, according to the release.

"In one year there could be $150,000 endowed for the perpetual benefit of our communities and $10,000 helping to make life better for us all," according to the release.

A foundation of this sort is something Stevens, along with Ambrose and longtime friend Joe Page, had dreamed of forming for more than a decade, Ambrose said.

Making that dream a reality, Ambrose said, is "really important for me personally. It's a way to make her vision and contribution permanent for the community."

While Stevens would likely be embarrassed that the foundation is named for her, "she would be thrilled that these communities are coming together in a grand project to perpetually improve life for everyone living here," he said.

Contributions to the Jessica Stevens Community Foundation can be made online at www.alaskacf.org, or by mailing a check to ACF, 400 L St., Suite 100, Anchorage 99501. Checks should be made payable to ACF -- Jessica Stevens Fund. All donations are tax deductible.

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