Melaleuca employees donate food, presents for regional charity effort

The Christmas tree and donated presents at Melaleuca's Idaho Falls headquarters.

Melaleuca and hundreds of its employees have been making the season a little brighter for some eastern Idaho families in need, buying food for pantries and presents to go under Christmas trees.

After buying 12,500 pounds of food, Melaleuca identified and assisted several families from Ashton to Pocatello who are suffering extreme hardship. Each family received a three-month supply of non-perishable food, 40 pounds of meat, new clothing and toys for the children. The company also donated more than 1,000 cans of food to help the Idaho Falls Soup Kitchen.

Employees also helped by purchasing new toys for 300 children adopted through The Salvation Army’s Angel Giving Tree program. They donated new toys, books, video games, sporting equipment, gift certificates, art supplies, coats, snow boots, and other clothing for children ranging from infants to teen-agers.

Over the past six weeks, many employees in the Idaho Falls and Rexburg customer call centers opted to trade all or a portion of their incentive checks for presents going toward children who otherwise might not have had anything to open this Christmas.
This is the 12th year Melaleuca has participated in The Salvation Army’s Angel Giving Tree program. Salvation Army volunteers will wrap and distribute the gifts in the coming days.

“With the need greater than ever, we appreciate Melaleuca’s significant charitable contributions and its steady commitment to improving the Idaho Falls community,” said Maj. James Halverson of the Salvation Army's Idaho Falls office. “We appreciate Melaleuca’s mission of enhancing lives, which shows in its desire to help disadvantaged children smile a little brighter and receive a Christmas gift this year.”

More details on the west side Walgreens

The northwest corner of West Broadway and Skyline Drive, where Walgreen Drug plans to build a new store.

Earlier this month we reported on Walgreen Drug's plan to build a new Idaho Falls store on the northwest corner of West Broadway and Skyline Drive. After a visit to the Idaho Falls Building Department, here is some more information about what we'll be seeing in 2014.

Walgreen's will be close to the corner, following the pattern the chain adopted for all its stores more than 10 years ago, guaranteeing that no customer will be parked too far from the main entrance. This will be the fourth store of its type in the Idaho Falls-Ammon area, and will replace the operation the company set up in the old Westgate Drug building.

Wells Fargo Bank, which has been near the corner of Broadway and Skyline, will move to north of the new Walgreen's store. The strip mall that is home to Walker's, Karnation, CoCo Beach, etc., will be torn down as will the old City Floral building and greenhouse. A new strip mall is being proposed for the area between Bank of Commerce and the new Walgreen's, said Reginald Fuller, the city's building official. "It's going to be pretty much a complete overhaul of that whole corner, he said.

Bitrick Consulting Group open for business

Monica Bitrick

Monica Bitrick, active on the Idaho Falls business and non-profit scene for more than five years, has started her own company, Bitrick Consulting Group, aimed at helping large and small enterprises with customized business and management solutions.

Since coming from Boise in 2007, Bitrick has helped businesses in the area as director of human resources for Advantage Employer Solutions. Before that, she was employed with Manpower International and Workscape, Inc. in Boise. She holds a bachelor’s in business administration (general business administration and human resources management) from Boise State University.

“My career has always centered around helping businesses and organizations become better at what they do," she said. "It seems only logical that I create a business the focuses on just that.”

Bitrick also has volunteered her abilities to non-profit organizations, serving as treasurer of the Suicide Prevention Action Network of Idaho. She is a member of Idaho Falls Rotary, and serves as Bronco Contact for southeast Idaho with the Boise State Alumni Association.  Previously, she served as the chair of the Military Affairs Committee, Young Professionals Network, Distinguished Under 40 Awards Program, and the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce's Fourth of July Parade.  She participated in Dancing with the Idaho Falls Stars in 2013 to benefit the American Cancer Society. She is an active volunteer with EITC Foundation and Calvary Chapel Christian School.

Bitrick’s accolades include the “Accomplished Under 40 Award” from the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce, Service to Others Award from the Military Affairs Committee, and the POW-MIA Recognition Award from the Veterans for Foreign Wars.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, call (208) 932-8436. Bitrick Consulting Group can be found on Facebook with this link.

Watkins Distributing opens new warehouse

Tony Watkins, who with his brother, Mitch, owns Watkins Distributing, which opened a 100,000-square-foot warehouse south of Idaho Falls this past month.

Try to visualize 1.3 million cases of beer, wine, soda pop and bottled water and you'll get an idea of the volume that Watkins Distributing is doing out of its new warehouse on the south side of Idaho Falls.

Co-owners Tony and Mitch Watkins had been in Idaho Falls for more than a decade, operating out of the old B&F warehouse on Iona Road near U.S. Highway 20. The new 100,000-square-foot warehouse near I-15 Exit 113 offers many more advantages.

"Being close to the freeway was very important to us, with the inbound and outbound loads," Tony Watkins said.

Watkins was founded in Havre, Mont., in 1933, right after the repeal of Prohibition. It has warehouses in several location. This newest one, which opened in late November, serves 23 counties, distributing close to 430 different products.

The estimated cost of the warehouse is more than $8 million. Watkins said they don't plan to expand employment right now, but eventually the number of people working there will be between 40 and 45.

The building was built by Ryan Companies US, of Minneapolis, which specializes in tilt-up concrete buildings all over the world. Watkins said more than 80 percent of the work on the building was done by local subcontractors, however, and that the people from Ryan were impressed with the speed and quality of the local work.

Center for Aesthetics opening Jackson Hole office

The Center for Aesthetics' new office in Jackson, Wyo., at 3395 Pines Way North, Suite 102.

Dr. Catherine E. Durboraw

The Center for Aesthetics is planning a "Grand Opening and Cool Night Out" at its new office in Jackson, Wyo., this Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m.

The new office is in Teton Pines, at 3395 Pines Way North, Suite 102. In Idaho Falls, the Center is located at 2375 East Sunnyside Road, Suite G.

At Thursday's event in Jackson there will be free Coolsculpting consultations with the centers board certified providers, complimentary makeovers, wine and hors d'oeuvres. Seating is limited and must be reserved in advance by calling (208) 529-8232.

Coolscuplting, non-surgical fat reduction, on one of the services provided by the Center, founded in 1998 by Dr. Catherine E. Durboraw. A graduate of University of Tennessee Medical School, Durboraw studied ophthalmic plastic surgery at Albany Medical Center. A fellowship trained and board certified surgeon, she has performed more than 125,000 dermal filler and neurotoxin injections.