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About SCRC
Welcome to SCRC (Smelter City Recreation Complex) where our passion for community well-being takes center stage in the heart of Southwest Montana. Nestled in the breathtaking landscapes of the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness, our non-profit organization is dedicated to fostering health and wellness through the creation of a state-of-the-art recreation complex in Anaconda, Montana.
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At SCRC, we believe in the transformative power of community engagement and physical activity. Our vision is to build a recreational haven that not only serves as a hub for fitness enthusiasts but also becomes a vibrant center for families, friends, and neighbors to come together, promoting a healthier and more connected community.
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We invite you to be a part of our journey towards a healthier, more connected Anaconda. Whether you're a passionate advocate for community well-being, a potential donor, or someone eager to contribute your time and skills, there are numerous ways to get involved. Together, we can build a recreation complex that not only becomes a symbol of health and vitality but also a testament to the strength of community spirit.
Thank you for joining us in creating a brighter, healthier future for Anaconda and our surrounding communities!
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Board of Directors
OFFICERS
Vanessa Romero, President
Mission-driven organizations motivate Vanessa who was thrilled to get involved with SCRC upon moving to Anaconda in early 2017. She believes that few projects have the ability to make a real impact on the quality of life, spur economic growth, and improve the overall health of the region. Having relocated to Anaconda with her husband and her three young children, she is committed to doing her part to shaping Anaconda's future as she contributes effort toward this important vision.
Vanessa brings her skill sets as an MBA graduate and a lifelong business professional to the Board. She has built and led teams for both smaller startups and for multi-billion dollar companies. Most recently she worked as the Director of Franchise for Intuit's TSheets segment, before leaving the company to start her own consulting business that specializes in go-to-market strategy.
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In addition to business leadership and development expertise, Vanessa also has an extensive background in fitness and athletics: She competed as a collegiate and professional volleyball player and has stepped into the role of “coach” in recent years. In that environment, she has observed firsthand the benefits that an active lifestyle and wellness bring to a community.
Kylie Dee, Vice President
Kylie (Vauthier) Dee grew up in Opportunity, just east of Anaconda with her parents and brother. Her parents are both employed with the Anaconda School District #10 for over 30 years. Kylie is married to Kevin Dee, also from Anaconda and have been together since High School (17 years). Kevin’s family owns an automotive dealership, Dee Motor Company in Anaconda since 1946. Kevin started his own Construction Company; Dee Home Innovations in 2017.
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Together, Kevin and Kylie have two wonderful children; Khael (8) and Kirra (6). Having her children be active and involved in the community is very important to Kylie as the community strives for recreational growth and a greater economic outlook. She admires many of her family members and friends who are leaders in this town! Kylie loves this community and is excited to see what the future brings! Kylie believes she lives in the most beautiful place and loves the togetherness and support the community shows and couldn’t imagine living anywhere other than Anaconda. Her roots are here to stay!
Andy Stetzner, Treasurer
Andy is a lifelong resident of Anaconda with the exception of a ten-year stint in the United States Air Force. After returning to Montana, Andy started his career at St. James Community Hospital in Butte. After two years of service Andy accepted the position of Materials Manager with the Community Hospital of Anaconda. Over the years Andy served in many capacities up to and including the position of Chief Operating Officer.
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After twenty-five years in health care Andy felt it was time to move on and accepted a position with First Montana Bank as their Branch Retail Manager.
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Andy has been active in the community serving on boards, coaching athletics at all levels and is an avid spectator to all activities. Andy believes that a healthy community leads to a successful community.
More recently, Andy has joined Smelter City as the Treasurer.
Linda Moodry, Secretary
Strongly committed to the fitness and the overall health of Anaconda, the place where she was born and raised, Linda is delighted to be a founding Board Member of SCRC. Professionally, she is a program administrator for Water & Environmental Technologies - a civil engineering and consulting firm which manages the county Community Protective Measures Program regarding Superfund issues. Formerly, she served for 30+ years as the Public Information Officer for Montana State Prison and she spent eight years’ servicing in the U.S. Army Reserve. A strong supporter of victim’s rights, Linda earned a certification in Victim-Offender Dialogue and Mediation.
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Linda has witnessed the environmental and economic struggles of the region, but can also attest to the building momentum for revitalization. Since returning to Anaconda, Linda has applied her skills and work experience into service for organizations that give back to the community. In addition to her work with SCRC, she also serves as a board member of the Anaconda Community Hospital Foundation, a member of the Community Market committee on good eating and health, and a member of the Anaconda Nonprofit Association. Linda’s husband Tom and her daughters, Lacee and Jessie, are all graduates of Anaconda schools.
DIRECTORS
Kevin Baker
With a strong belief that athletics, exercise, and competition makes everyone a better person, Kevin recently joined the SCRC Board of Directors and enthusiastically supports the SCRC mission.
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Kevin was born and raised on a hay farm in Oregon that had a surrounding population of 2500 people. He understands what small towns have to offer, and with the goal of providing a similar, family-focused upbringing for his own children, Kevin and his family moved to Anaconda from Boise, Idaho in 2019. Kevin believes enthusiasm coupled with common sense, research, education around your purpose, and a glass-half-full vision can make a profound impact on the community. He is excited to apply his hard-working hay farm approach to life, and leadership skills to the efforts of Smelter City Recreation Complex.
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For nine years, Kevin worked as a Civil Engineer, before he made a shift in his career. With aspirations to have more control over his destiny, he moved into the Financial Planning/Wealth Management space where he has thrived for nearly a decade. Through both careers he’s been exposed to a variety of endeavors similar to SCRC where significant capital was needed to create the infrastructure and plans for a new addition to a community. Those numerous projects - ranging from the municipality sector to the private sector - have given him insight into the unforeseen issues that may arise at every stage of the process, and also the solutions that can be applied to combat them.
After playing college hoops for 4 years, Kevin became involved in coaching, refereeing, and competing in multiple athletic realms. He’s been a part of fundraising, volunteer efforts surrounding youth/community events, and the scheduling of multiple tournaments at multiple venues.
Kevin’s drive to be a part of this project is derived from his history in athletics, his mission to make an impact, and his goal to make Anaconda a better place for his own family and the families of others for years to come.
Amber Benes
Amber is a native of Denver, Colorado and has lived in Anaconda since 2016. She is the Director of Human Resources and Marketing at Community Hospital of Anaconda (CHA) and has enjoyed witnessing the Anaconda community flourish throughout the last few years. Whether through the addition of new business, or additional service lines at CHA, it is abundantly clear that Anaconda is on the map and is worthy of being discovered.
Amber and her husband, Anthony, have two school-aged children and look forward to the recreational opportunities that SCRC can bring to the Anaconda and surrounding communities.
Ryan Blankenship
Ryan is dedicated to sharing his commitment to health, fitness and community with Anaconda. He started his career in the fitness industry as a personal trainer and later founded a training facility in 2012. Over the years he has guided thousands of individuals from all walks of life to a healthier lifestyle. He has coached individuals, group fitness, Olympic Weightlifting, corporate health programs as well as strength and conditioning for high-school sports. He also has a competitive athletic background competing in CrossFit, Olympic Weightlifting, Mountain Bike Racing and Ultra-marathons.
After over a decade of gym ownership, Ryan found another passion in construction. He is currently the Regional Manger of a commercial construction company and leads a team of construction professionals to complete a wide variety of projects.
Ryan and his wife Katie, who is a nurse at the Anaconda Community Hospital, look forward to raising a family in Anaconda. His goal is to utilize his experience in both the fitness and construction industries to create a positive impact on the health of the local community.
Kyle Fehrer
Kyle, a native of Belgrade, Montana, received his Bachelor's Degree in Automotive Technology from WyoTech. The skill sets learned there, combined with his entrepreneurial mindset, provided Kyle with the tools he needed to launch his own business - Snubnose. Hot Rods. Kyle has seen great success with Snubnose which was recently featured in Street Truck Magazine.
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Joe Romero
The bright future of SCRC and the positive impact it will bring to the Anaconda community inspired Joe to get involved on the SCRC Advisory board in 2020. He has played a significant role in the developments of SCRC since that time. We are thrilled to now welcome him onto our Board of Directors!
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With the belief that healthy communities are built through volunteerism, education, and athletics, Joe has been active in healthcare advocacy, educational leadership, and coaching for many years.
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Joe grew up on a cattle ranch in Idaho and is no stranger to small towns. As an outdoorsman, Anaconda was a natural fit when he moved here with his young family in 2017. As a two-sport, collegiate athlete at Linfield University and an Army veteran, he understands what it takes for high functioning teams to become successful. He was a member of the 2004 Linfield University NCAA Division III National Championship football team and served in the U.S. Army Reserve as a CRNA for 9 years. During his Army tenure, he was deployed on a combat tour in Iraq as a CRNA with the Army's 948th Forward Surgical Team in support of the 101st Airborne during Operation Inherent Resolve. He earned his M.S. in Nurse Anesthesiology from the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and is a board certified Nurse Anesthesiologist (CRNA) currently practicing at the Community Hospital of Anaconda. Most recently, he also served on the Anaconda School District #10 Board of Trustees and has been coaching youth athletics.
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Joe is passionate about Anaconda and strongly believes that SCRC has the transformative power to develop a healthier community, create jobs, and expand youth program offerings. With his background, Joe hopes to leverage his experience and leadership in helping build a strong team to create these opportunities for people of all ages to lead active, healthy lives.
ADVISORY BOARD
The SCRC Board of Directors outlines the overriding strategic plan and vision of SCRC, and Advisory Board members act as an extension of our board of directors. Each advisory board member offers expertise in their specific field, guidance, professionalism, contacts and ideas. These roles are non-voting roles; yet they are vital in propelling our organization forward.
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Over the years this remarkably strong and highly-skilled group has enabled SCRC to propel its productivity forward in strides. We are grateful to have the foundation of this board built by individuals who exemplify excellence and commitment in all that they do, and we will be looking to add more advisory board members in the near future.
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Advisory board members maintain flexibility in their level of commitment but they are asked to contribute to our meetings and ongoing projects. If you are interested in being involved with SCRC and would like to learn more about advisory board member expectations, please email Linda Moodry, SCRC Secretary at linda@smeltercityrc.org.
Judy Blaz
Judy Blaz is a lifelong resident of Anaconda! She and her husband David (also born and raised in Anaconda) have been married for 42 years. They raised two daughters in Anaconda and have five grandchildren all residents of Anaconda! Judy has continued to volunteer for community events and is a member of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians.
Judy has been a loan officer at Southwest Montana CFCU for the past 32 years. She likes to boat, fish, bowl and support her grandchildren as they participate in a variety of community and school activities. Judy likes the community involvement of the SCRC and looks forward to seeing the complex become a reality.
Hannah Bruha
Hannah Bruha is a REALTOR® who serves all of southwest Montana but primarily focuses on Anaconda. She enjoys helping clients through the home buying and selling process. Her overall knowledge of the Western Montana real estate market and a close working relationship with numerous buyers and sellers. Hannah's performance with her customers has resulted in multiple recommendations and referrals as her business continues to grow.
Hannah was born in Colorado (where her father grew up); her mother was born and raised in SW Montana. A job opportunity for her dad brought Hannah and her family to Maryland, where Hannah lived from age 4 through high school graduation. Hannah loved all sports growing up and achieved a black belt in karate at the age of 11. Lacrosse played at a very high level in Maryland, became Hannah's main passion. Hannah then committed to play Division 1 lacrosse at the University of Oregon and coincidentally arrived to play for the Ducks in the fall of 2010. That scholarship was Hannah's ticket to come back west.
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Hannah then decided to transfer to the University of Montana in 2012 to study exercise science and nutrition while trying her hand at coaching the Missoula High School Club lacrosse team, another fun effort that resulted in a state championship win! Hannah got married in 2017; her husband is a Lineman for Northwestern Energy, and they now live in Anaconda with their two children, Hadley and Bo.
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Hannah has always had a special bond with Montana her whole life, from learning to ski at a young age, backpacking in Glacier Park and the Bitterroot Mountains, fly fishing and paddle boarding on the Yellowstone and enjoying the amazing outdoor life in Montana.
Hannah has led a fulfilling life enjoying the outdoors and raising a young family. She understands the importance real estate plays in her clients' lives and looks forward to many years of building relationships with her clients.
Dave Gates
Coming soon.
Judy Little
Judy Little and her husband Steve, moved to Anaconda from Sacramento, California in 2000 and never looked back. After receiving her B.A. in Education from Sacramento State University, Judy was an educator for 11 years. She then returned to Sacramento State to receive her Masters in Education Administration, and subsequently worked at the district level for 23 years as Director of Curriculum and Instruction. In that role she provided training to both teachers and administrators, and directed committees in the process of selecting textbooks for the district. She enjoyed the opportunity to move the district forward in educating students who came from impoverished homes where every day can be a struggle.
In her retired life, she spends many of her days in the outdoors whether it be playing tennis, hiking, gardening, or skiing.
Bowman Neely
Coming soon.
Colleen Riley
Colleen McCarthy Riley joined the SCRC Advisory Board in 2020. She was born and raised in Anaconda and has always participated in recreational activities. She earned her Bachelor of Science from MSU-Billings, a Master of Education from the University of Arizona and her Education Administration Certification from Utah State University.
In her professional career, Riley has been successful in collaborating and problem solving various challenges across educational settings to improve programs for children and youth.