New Hires

• Trios Health has hired Dr. Maria Vitug as an internal medicine provider. Vitug will see patients at the Trios Care Center at Vista Field in Kennewick. She treats patients for a variety of conditions, including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, chronic illness, stroke, preventive care, diabetes and more. Vitug attended medical school at the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Medicine and Surgery from 1986-90 and completed a postgraduate internship at Santo Tomas University Hospital and an internal medicine residency at Sinai Samaritan Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Most recently, Vitug was a physician at Madison Medical Clinic in Wisconsin. She has also been a physician at Fond du Lac Regional Clinic, St. Agnes Hospital, Milwaukee Health Services, and St. Martin de Porres Medical Clinic, all in Wisconsin.
• Chris Blotsky is STCU’s new director of real estate origination and sales. He brings more than 10 years of financial industry and real estate leadership experience and will oversee STCU’s home loan offerings. Previously at Numerica Credit Union, Blotsky is a graduate of Lewis and Clark College and the Washington Banker’s Association Executive Development Program.
• Laura Coolidge has joined the health care team at Miramar Health Center in Pasco as a physician’s assistant. She completed her master of science in physician assistant studies at the Medical University of South Carolina, in Charleston, South Carolina. She speaks Spanish.
• Summer Mattson joined Creekstone Senior Living as the new resident care coordinator in Kennewick. She has been a caregiver since 2014 when she was a caregiver for developmentally-delayed adults. After a year she moved to working with the elderly in an assisted living setting. She’s enrolled at Columbia Basin College, pursuing a registered nursing degree.

Donations

• United Way of Benton & Franklin Counties announced that local nonprofits will receive $146,732 from the latest round of Emergency Food & Shelter Program, or EFSP, funding.

The program addresses the needs of people across the country and United Way facilitates the process for the bicounty region. The local EFSP board allocated the funding to 15 programs at 14 local agencies.

Most of the funds support food assistance, with $116,732 awarded for the following programs: Critical Care Boxes (Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton & Franklin Counties), $13,000; St. Vincent Center Food Bank (Catholic Charities), $2,032; Lunch Buddies Food Distribution (Central United Protestant Church), $2,400; Emergency Food Grocery Cards (Columbia Basin College Foundation), $5,000; Opportunity Kitchen (Columbia Industries), $12,500; Emergency Food Assistance (Riverview Adventist Church Food Bank), $8,000; Family Assistance (Safe Harbor Crisis Nursery), $11,950; Healthy Food Access (Second Harvest), $10,000; Food Assistance (Salvation Army), $8,000; Food Assistance (Tri-Cities Food Bank), $12,500; Food for Good (Women of Wisdom Tri-Cities), $4,950; and My Friends Place served meals (Safe Harbor Crisis Nursery), $12,500.

Additionally, Domestic Violence Services received $20,000 and St. Vincent de Paul Society $10,000 for their respective emergency shelter and support services.

• Gesa Credit Union and Columbia Basin College announced the creation of the first CBC co-branded affinity debit card. The new card is designed to raise unrestricted funds for the Columbia Basin College Foundation to allocate toward its Emergency Fund, which is used by students for books, supplies, rent and tuition. Each time a cardholder swipes this special Visa debit card, a donation is made to help cover one-time expenses that may prevent a CBC student from continuing their education or being successful. To kick off the partnership, Gesa Credit Union donated $10,000 to support CBC students. The co-branded debit cards are free to Gesa members with a checking account.
• Energy Northwest raised $83,000 for United Way of Benton & Franklin Counties. Led by an employee committee, the campaign kicked off in October 2020 with a pledge drive. In February, the committee hosted a silent auction and donation drive, raising another $10,000. Additional cash contributions by employees and matching funds donated by senior leadership pushed the campaign over goal of $80,000. This year marked the first time the committee partnered with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 77 and United Steelworkers (USW) Local 12-369 unions, with union members serving on the committee and the unions generously contributing items to the silent auction. Energy Northwest has partnered with United Way since 1994.
• US Cellular donated $7,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties, thanks to Northwest customers participating in US Cellular’s holiday “Give with US” campaign. US Cellular pledged $5 to Boys & Girls Clubs for every device traded in during the month of December, up to $100,000. Customers traded in more than 20,000 devices.

Awards and Honors

• The Tri-Cities Cancer Center Foundation received the Guidestar Platinum Seal of Transparency for 2021. The award recognizes the foundation’s commitment to transparency and excellence in philanthropy.
• The 23rd annual Crystal Apple awards for excellence in education recipients are from the following school districts in Educational Service District 123: Deanne Rada, Columbia-Burbank; Jennifer Yochum, Finley; Katrina Kutschkau, Kennewick; Rick Harding, Kiona-Benton City; Erin Glossen, North Franklin; Karen Magaña, Othello; Jacqueline Brewster, Pasco; Connie Hachtel and Dean Smith (teacher team), Prosser; and Linda Johnson, Richland. These winners receive a glass crystal apple, certificate presented by their superintendent and a $1,000 check.
• SVN Retter & Company in Kennewick has ranked 28th out of more than 200 SVN offices in 2020. Three of its senior advisers, Rob Ellsworth, Scott Sautell and James Wade, placed in the top 100 out of more than 1,600 advisors.
• McKenzie Thoelke of Kitchen & Bath ReStylers in Kennewick recently has become a certified kitchen and bath designer through the National Kitchen and Bath Association. NKBA certifications are globally recognized credentials. Thoelke is a lead designer with Kitchen & Bath ReStylers, a 33-year-old design-build kitchen and bath remodeling firm.
• Petersen Hastings, an investment advisory firm, has been named one of InvestmentNews’ 2021 Best Places to Work for Financial Advisors in the nation. This program identifies and recognizes advisory firms across the United States that empower, encourage and inspire employees to provide their clients with the best investment and financial planning advice. This is the fourth consecutive year the firm has earned this award.
• Matthew Riesenweber of Cornerstone Wealth Strategies, Inc., an independent wealth management firm in Kennewick, has been honored by LPL Financial by being included in its executive council. Those named to the council make up less than 1% of the firm’s more than 17,000 financial advisors nationwide. LPL Financial is an independent broker/dealer specializing in the retail financial advice market.
• Jason E. Johnson, a wealth advisor with Ameriprise Financial, was named to the list of “Best-in-State Wealth Advisors,” published by Forbes magazine. The list recognizes financial advisors who have demonstrated high levels of ethical standards, professionalism and success in the business. Johnson is part of 509 Wealth Management, a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise.

Boards

• Michael Crowder of West Richland, manager/shareholder of Barker Ranch, was installed as the president of the National Association of Conservation Districts, or NACD.

Crowder has an extensive résumé of farming, ranching, conservation and volunteer service experience, including serving on the Board of Benton Conservation District. He was first elected to the NACD officer team in 2017 as second vice president after previously serving as national director for the Washington Association of Conservation Districts on the NACD Board of Directors.

Crowder was selected as a Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business Young Professional in 2015.

• Jennifer Harper of Kennewick has been elected president of Drive Electric Washington, a nonprofit working to aggregate the efforts of the state’s electric vehicle associations. She and her husband, Mark, have been involved in the Mid-Columbia Electric Vehicle Association since 2017. She is a project manager for Energy Northwest.