Community Corner

Who's Who: Enumclaw Regional Healthcare Foundation Executive Director Rene' Popke

This Enumclaw native keeps a busy schedule supporting a variety of organizations in the community.

Rene' Popke wears many hats in Enumclaw. She has helped plan several events in recent years that benefit the local community including the annual Street Fair and the Enumclaw Wine & Chocolate Festival this past February. Just recently, she took on a new role as the executive director of the Enumclaw Regional Healthcare Foundation

With Franciscan Health System now in charge at , the local Foundation has taken the opportunity to reassess its direction and focus on better serving the people on the Plateau. Popke took time recently to chat with Patch about what she's been working on as well as why Enumclaw continues to be an amazing place to live.

Tell us about your background here in Enumclaw.

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I grew up here. I went to school through Enumclaw School District and graduated from Enumclaw High School in 1991 so I'm approaching my 20-year class reunion! I went to , which is where I started event planning under Diane Anderson at the time. I then went to Western Washington University and got a bachelor's degree in communications and public relations. I came back to Green River where I worked -- five years on the main campus and then out here for a year. I married my high school sweetheart and we have three boys. We reside here; we have a small farm.

You do a lot around the community. Tell us about some of your work.

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At the time that I left Green River, I became involved with the Enumclaw . I volunteered with them. I helped with their auction for a number of years, and I helped with -- at the time, it was called the Downtown Sidewalk Festival before it became the Street Fair -- so I helped with some components of that. I have been doing the Street Fair for four years now and also was involved with bringing Oktoberfest and Festival of Crafts to town; and I also did the Enumclaw Wine and Choclate Festival, so I just volunteered here and there.

What is it about event planning that suits you? 

The busy-ness. I love the busy-ness. I’m a very detail- and task-oriented person, and planning an event is definitely that. The fact that I can continue doing that with the [Enumclaw Regional Healthcare] Foundation is going to be filling that niche that I love, but I'm also taking my passion for having a career to the next level and challenging myself. Working with the board will be fun and just having a purpose of helping the community in the healthcare world and bringing healthcare issues and wellness programs to the community is going to be very fulfilling.

Can you talk a little about how your role as executive director now fits into the Foundation's vision? 

Since Franciscan took over the hospital, the Board at the Enumclaw Regional Healthcare Foundation was wanting to continue having the foundation in town. There’s a lot of investors. They had hired a consultant over the last year and that person came in and helped put together a strategic plan; since Franciscan has its own foundation, the Enumclaw Regional Healthcare Foundation decided that moving downtown would be more beneficial.

The Foundation has a desire to work with the difference task forces and increase the task forces' efforts. Putting together a fundraising campaign is a high priority so that we can continue to partner with organizations like the , , and other human service organizations. Healthcare and wellness is top priority to the Foundation and providing programs back. A good example of that is the . That was huge and it has exploded. That program illustrates that there’s obviously a need, so it’s about continuing to develop programs like that that my position will continue to create and support.

What are these task forces that you mentioned?

There are currently three task forces: a drug and alcohol task force, violence prevention, and access to information.

The drug and alcohol task force is currently waiting to hear if they'll receive a grant; that task force works closely with the Enumclaw School District and the White River School District, and right now they’re currently getting out into the communities of presenting some pretty shocking results of drug and alcohol use in the high schools -- actually all the way down to sixth grade. Their goal right now is to educate the community, and then to put an action plan together. They’ll find out in June if they receive that grant. If they receive that grant, that grant is actually to hire a part-time person to come in and put together an action plan and actually apply for a federal grant that would help implement some hands-on programs to support their efforts.

The violence prevention task force – they’re up and running and they’re going full force. They actually have a kickoff in June – the end of June – and they’re goal is to really unite neighborhoods and to support the programs that will happen in October during violence prevention month. They do the blue lights and they actually put the silhouettes on City Hall, but they’re going beyond. They’re trying to hit neighboring communities in August. They’re actually doing neighborhood block parties and the concept behind this is if somebody is a victim of domestic violence, that person will likely go to their neighbor before going to the police, so bringing neighbors out and building a relation is the goal for the task force for that.

And they’re also supporting Rachel’s Challenge with the school district so they’ll be a part of that program in September.

The access to information task force is literally doing what it’s name is: they are getting healthcare information out to the community. Their major project is putting together a website [will hopefully be ready by month's end]. The website has local healthcare access resources up-to-date so it’s very similar to the print version that you’ve seen through the but this is hopefully going to be a little bit broader and will be a little bit more current. We definitely have reached to outside community healthcare resources as well at the county level and so that will be promoted in the schools and just around the community as soon as that’s complete. 

What about you? What are your goals within the foundation?

I’m defining those goals, but right now, to partner with other organizations and to define who the Enumclaw Regional Healthcare Foundation is and what our mission and vision is at this point is really top priority – not just for the Foundation but for me as well.

I think I get asked daily or commented ‘oh you work for the hospital now.’ No, I don’t work for the hospital; I work for the Enumclaw Regional Healthcare Foundation. Making it clear that we’re not a part of Franciscan is top priority. I also do hope to continue to partner with Franciscan. They have resources that we don’t have and so I think it’s important to continue to bridge the two together, but I think it’s also important for me to identify us as a separate entity.

As far as more personal goals -- my goal would be to raise awareness for new donors to eventually support the Foundation. And health and wellness is important to me; it’s important for me to implement in my household, and so if I can help other households understand the importance of health and wellness, that’s at a personal level. But I think it’s important to reach some of the younger communities in the Enumclaw/Buckley area so that we can continue to support health programs on the Plateau.

Can you help us make a clearer distinction between the Franciscan Foundation and the Enumclaw Regional Healthcare Foundation?

I don’t know that I can actually speak for them. I know that they have an outreach person who’s in the community one day a week and I think her goal is to partner Franciscan with the community as well. One thing that’s very different is that all of the funds that come through the Foundation stay local to Enumclaw and Buckley and the Plateau. That’s very different from Franciscan’s as their funds are spread throughout the region.

They definitely have the resources for more educational components like bringing guest speakers and physicians on staff who can talk about their specialties. That’s definitely something that’s a natural fit for them. I just can’t really can’t speak on behalf of them.

Back to you. It sounds like you'll continue to wear a lot of hats around town. Where will we be seeing you?

I’m going to continue to coordinate the Enumclaw Street Fair with Jaclyn [VanHoof]. So that’s a fun event that I enjoy. ... It fills a lot of personal niches that I love. So I definitely am going to stick with coordinating the Street Fair. Other things ... I'm just involved with my kids and their sports programs.

In the name of health and wellness, we hear you're a runner.

I love running. [Not a part of a running group though because] for no reason other than time. It’s really hard for me to commit to run in organized group running times . I run when I can. I love running. I love working out. I love gardening. I love spending time with my family. We camp quite a bit. My boys [12, 8 and 4] are my life and so during wrestling season, it’s pretty absorbed with wrestling. And now they’re into bmx racing.

What do you enjoy most about living in Enumclaw?

This is an amazing community. It just has that small, hometown feel. I love the surroundings. I love the area though I would prefer a little more sunshine.

For example, recently some friends of ours incurred some huge, life-changing medical needs in their lives. So a group of friends and I put together a fundraiser and literally in three weeks, we put together the most amazing fundraiser for them; we had the goal of 200 people and we had over 650 people show up. It’s the community that made that possible. It's a community that really steps up and helps people out; it’s just an amazing place to live. You hardly can walk into a restaurant and not say 'hi' to somebody that you know. I just love that. I love that I’m grounded to this community. I love raising my family here. The school district is great and I just love the farm aspect of it. Not that we’re huge farmers but we have our little small farm outside of town. We raise cows, chickens, goats, and it’s fun to be able to send the boys out and gather eggs, and in the summer to send them out to get some vegetables out of the garden. Sometimes they make it back if they don’t eat them all.

How has the town changed? Or has it?

The goodwill of community members is forever growing and there’s so many warm hearts in this community. I don’t think that’s changed. The small town care and compassion and the grassroots family history -- that stays the same. I don’t know that it’s changed much. Obviously it’s grown but it's still the good old Enumclaw. I love that they have not allowed big franchises or box stores in town because it does keep the small, hometown feel. It's definitely a place I enjoy and will continue to raise my family. 


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