Career educator Linda Colahan knows that a child’s academic and personal development requires more than great teaching. During her 32 years in elementary classrooms, Colahan celebrated hundreds of success stories, but she also saw poverty push children “through the cracks.”

“Some students showed up in pajamas, having no clean clothes to wear,” she recalls. “Some arrived at noon, or not at all. . . . All these years later, I recognize the names of some of those students, now involved with law enforcement.”

It was while attending United Way luncheons as a Sky Lakes Medical Center volunteer that Colahan learned about the Friends’ mentoring model and saw the intervention her students had lacked.

“I was drawn to the support for the kids and their families,” she remembers. “I thought – if my students and their parents had had a good support system like that, they could have been successful.”

Linda and her husband Keith initially supported Friends – Klamath Basin through annual Potato Sale purchases. Later, they began donating a portion of their retirement account’s annual required minimum distribution. They were especially excited to help fund the Old Fort Road clubhouse and attend its open house in 2023.

An avid quilter who creates quilts for cancer patients undergoing treatment at Sky Lakes, Colahan recently added to her financial support by donating a quilt to the 2026 Friend Raiser auction. We thank her for wrapping love around so many in the Klamath Basin!