In early September, three couples — two that were locals, one just visiting — gathered at Garlic Mike’s. Over steak and pasta, the group connected on the anguishes of parenthood: the loss of a child or the pain of watching one struggle.
Weeks later, one of the locals, Mary Beth Kelley, picked up a letter in the mail from one of her dinner companions, containing a $400,000 check. The money was slated for Kelley’s nonprofit, Gunnison Sanctuary Housing, specifically to pay off the remaining debt on Gunnison’s only sober living home. With the mortgage settled, the board can now focus on opening another home for women and their children.
“God is blessing something that people are willing to step out in faith and do,” Kelley said. “I think God rewards that.”
Kelley and her husband Scott, alongside community partners in substance use recovery, opened Gunnison’s first sober living home at the start of 2024. The home is located in the northwest corner of town, and offers a supportive environment for those seeking sobriety from drugs and alcohol. The house is managed by Oxford House, a sober living organization with locations throughout the Western Slope.
While tenancy at the home has fluctuated in its first year, the board kept renovating the space. In the final months of 2024, the nonprofit — with help from the Gunnison Community Foundation’s new crowdsourcing platform — added a much-needed third bathroom. They also kept fundraising, in hopes of paying off the house and setting aside rent revenue for another sober living home for women.
Before the donation, the Sanctuary board applied for numerous grants to pay off the loan on the current home, but kept hearing that grantors don’t shell out for debt reduction, Kelley said. Even if they could raise money for a downpayment on a new home for women and kids, the board was not interested in taking out another loan, which would have put the nonprofit in nearly $1 million in debt.
The mysterious visitors in question are Greg and Kay Potter. Greg is in the concrete business in Dallas. The Potters don’t own a second home in Crested Butte, and were simply visiting for a vacation, Kelley said. They met up for dinner through mutual friends, and were soon sharing stories of their professional lives and parenthood.
Greg later expressed to Kelley that he wanted to help the nonprofit in some way. Many phone calls and emails later, he cut the check and sent it northbound to Gunnison.
“He seemed to have a really good heart,” Kelley said. “He [told me], ‘You know, we give a lot of money to our church. I've scattered money around to different charities as they touch my heart … In my lifetime, I just want to do one big thing. I can't explain any better than that.’”
Kelley recalled the nail-biting week when her business partner Edward Howard was out of town, and the sizable check sat in his office before Kelley could deposit it. She called her banker at Gunnison Bank and Trust the same day she deposited the check, directing him “if it clears, pay the loan off immediately,” she said. The check cleared, and the debt was paid.
Since the donation, the board has lowered rent for current sober living tenants. The house is not fully occupied, but Kelley expects it to fill in coming months. Once the current home is back to capacity, the board will begin fundraising for a down payment on a women’s house.
(Abby Harrison can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or abby@gunnisontimes.com.)
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