Snohomish County Camp Fire’s tireless fundraiser to leave in May

Published 9:20 pm Sunday, February 8, 2009

Toby Brown will leave Camp Fire USA Snohomish County in May.

Her work will be done — hopefully. Brown has been the capital campaign coordinator for more than two years, hired to raise money for the organization.

Executive Director Dave Surface said Camp Fire offers a variety of programs, including camping and small group activities, to “build confident youth and future leaders.”

Raising money in a down economy can be difficult, she said.

“Be understanding of other people’s positions,” Brown said. “Good people want to help, but sometimes they can’t.”

She keeps an upbeat attitude: When things are difficult, work smarter, harder and do more to reach goals.

Meeting goals, she said, brings up mixed feelings because you must leave something you love and move on to the next adventure.

She especially loves Camp Killoqua, south of Stanwood, where money she raises is used for upgrades.

“I was out at camp the other day,” she said. “It always renews my spirit and leaves me inspired.”

For more than 20 years, she has volunteered to raise money for children’s programs and senior citizens. She does nonprofit work, in and out of the office.

When one of their sons, Jake, was in the fourth grade when they lived in California, the teacher asked if his father, Theo Brown, a ghostwriter, would rewrite Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” for the class.

Not only did he rewrite the play, the couple produced it and did the costumes, sets, props and lighting.

One Christmas, they traveled from California to Everett to visit son Jeff while he was in the Navy.

“It was beautiful,” Brown said. “We decided to move.”

In the early 1990s, the Browns ran Generations Theatre at the Northshore Senior Center in Bothell. It was a children’s theater program that gave seniors an opportunity to be involved.

“I do the show, and Toby does the business,” Theo Brown said. “Toby saw the Generations Theatre as a great promotional opportunity for the center and the theater program, and she made that happen.”

Toby Brown worked on the $1.1 million capital campaign to move Bethany of the Northwest, a skilled nursing facility for seniors, from its Broadway building to the Providence Pacific Campus in Everett.

Then she worked for eight years at The Howard Group, an event production company in Lynnwood, where she became director of corporate affairs.

Wanting to work closer to her home in Everett, a friend mentioned a job at Camp Fire.

She saw it as a way to help kids and a fine organization.

“Toby’s energy, enthusiasm and commitment to success are the reasons I invited her to join Camp Fire USA Snohomish County Council as our capital campaign coordinator,” executive director Dave Surface said. “She has done an outstanding job.”

Brown knows the campaign’s success means improved youth services for kids in Snohomish County. Her focus is on raising money so Camp Fire will qualify for a $100,000 Murdock challenge grant.

She said the key to raising corporate money is researching people, foundations and corporations to contact.

“Only write to places that fund what you need money for,” she said. “Contacts help — knowing someone, or knowing someone who knows someone else.”

And always say “Thank You” and be polite, even when you don’t get money.

She’ll grease the wheels until May at Camp Fire in Everett.

“I have had the privilege of doing some wonderful work in my life, and I look forward to doing a lot more,” Brown said.

Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.