The Park City Center for Public Policy

Mary Kaye Huntsman

Mary Kaye Huntsman is a passionate advocate for youth and has created several programs aimed at helping kids cope emotionally with various challenges. Her first project began as a result of her daughter's diagnosis with juvenile diabetes. Although the doctors and nurses explained the physical impact of the disease, the Huntsman family found the emotional impact to be just as challenging. This prompted Mrs. Huntsman to create a mentoring program to help other children newly diagnosed with diabetes. Together, she and her daughter Liddy made a gift bag filled with items and information her daughter wished she could have accessed at the time of her diagnosis, and they delivered it to a newly-diagnosed patient at a local hospital. This grew into a nationwide program, through the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, known as the "Bag of Hope."

Mrs. Huntsman used this same kid-to-kid, heart-to-heart approach to create programs that provide companionship and hope to children recently diagnosed with cancer, through the Huntsman Cancer Institute, and then for children who are terminally ill. These projects were put together by gathering children who were going through these difficulties, and gaining their perspective on what was most needed. Mrs. Huntsman has expanded this concept into a statewide program known as Power in You www.powerinyou.org. The initiative focuses on the emotional side of "at risk" behaviors, as well as "life challenges" that teenagers face. Mrs. Huntsman also currently serves as Honorary Chair of the Literacy Commission and acts as an Honorary Chair of the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault. She has twice co-chaired the annual "Speaking of Women's Health" conference.