Sun West Ranch and Madison Valley Hospital Close In On $1M Goal

“Project Giveback” Fulfilling Promise to Community

Cameron, Mont., (February 23, 2007) ¾ Just over seven months after launching, “Project Giveback” continues fulfilling the promise made to the Ennis area community. A new donation of $300,000 was presented by Ted and Heidi Gildred, developers of Sun West Ranch to Sam Korsmoe, representing the Madison Valley Hospital Foundation at The Madison Valley Hospital & Clinic (MVH&C) on Tuesday, February 20, 2007. In addition to their latest contribution, the Gildreds also committed to another $500,000 pledge, extending Project Giveback into a second round of funding once the initial $1 million goal is reached. The community and the Gildred family are confident they will meet the $1 million fundraising goal for MVH&C well before Project Giveback’s first anniversary in July.

Launched in July 2006, “Project Giveback” was initiated when Sun West Ranch Developers Ted and Heidi Gildred pledged an initial $100,000 donation to the MVH&C that required a matching $100,000 fundraising effort by the community. For every $100,000 raised by the community and every additional Sun West Ranch property sold, the MVH&C was eligible for $100,000 donation from the Gildreds. To date, Sun West Ranch has sold three additional home sites, bringing their donation total to $400,000.

The Madison Valley community has responded by raising $429,845 in cash and pledged donations. With a fourth sale at Sun West Ranch pending, Project Giveback is well on its way in reaching the $1 million fundraising goal. Once the initial goal is reached, “Project Giveback, Phase II” will begin with the goal of raising a second million dollars in donations. Time is of the essence to complete the second phase of “Project Giveback” due to escalating building costs, projected to increase 1 percent per month for every month that construction is delayed. If ground breaking does not occur this summer, delaying building until summer of 2008 could cost an additional $500,000.

“We are thrilled to see such passionate giving and hope that the community is as excited as we are that we have only $70,000 left to meet our first million-dollar goal. We are looking forward to starting a second round of Project Giveback after this goal has been met,” said Sam Korsmoe, executive director of the Madison County Economic Development Council. “We’ve received more than 325 separate donations. We have had some large, generous donations but the bulk has been smaller gifts, which shows the level of community support for this project. Remember that the entire population of our hospital district is just 4,000 people. It seems everyone is coming forth, donating funds and buying bricks. Every bit adds up, and best of all, everything doubles because of Sun West Ranch’s Project Giveback.”

JGA Architects and Engineers of Billings, Mont., have been engaged to design and engineer the new Madison Valley Hospital Clinic. They are currently completing the schematic designs and expect blueprints to be available by early summer with anticipated ground breaking scheduled for summer 2007. The medical facility is expected to be complete by the fall of 2008.

“We’re delighted to be involved in an initiative of such importance to everyone,” said Ted Gildred, creator of Sun West Ranch. “What could be more important than providing quality healthcare to a growing community like Ennis and the greater Madison Valley? We are urging the community to help build the new hospital this year by contributing to the success of reaching our fundraising goal in the next few months so that we can begin construction this summer. Our heartfelt thank you to everyone who is helping make this vision a reality for our community.”

Project Giveback began as part of an effort to raise a total of $8.5 million to build a new top-notch 31,800-square-foot medical facility in Ennis. The MVH&C is a Critical Access Hospital (CAH). This is a Medicare designation for rural hospitals with less than 25 beds and at least 35 miles from an alternative medical facility. Medicare provides cost-based reimbursements to CAH facilities which helps them to remain solvent. Because the existing facility no longer meets the minimum standards required to qualify as a CAH, the greater Madison Valley area would be without any emergency clinic/hospital unless the ongoing fundraising efforts continue successfully towards the $8.5 million goal.

About Sun West Ranch

Sun West Ranch is a unique development community in a highly sought-after area of Southwestern Montana. A vast 2,000 acres, the ranch offers three miles of private Madison River access and features phenomenal views of the Madison Valley, Gravelly Mountain Range, Beaverhead National Forest, Madison Mountain Range and the Continental Divide.

Sun West Ranch is the antithesis of a “typical development.” From its active community outreach to its public stand on conservation and preservation, Sun West Ranch strives not only to develop a new community, but also to preserve a thousands-of-years-old legacy and ranching way of life for generations to come. For more information, visit http://www.sunwestranch.com.

About Madison Valley Hospital & Clinic

The Madison Valley Hospital opened in the summer of 1950. Over the following six decades, it expanded in size and services a total of seven times. The most recent expansion took place in August 2006 with the inclusion of a Computerized Tomography (CT) scanner extension temporarily housed adjacent to the existing hospital, awaiting a dedicated space in the new facility.

Additionally, the new hospital will connect to other facilities and specialists globally through a telemedicine network so that an X-ray, CT, blood draw, or other type of diagnostic test can be conducted in Ennis while analysis and interpretation can be enhanced by specialists in other medical facilities anywhere in the world. For more information on the building project, call 406-682-5923.