Beano Solomon is a caring Parkite and mother who fights hard for the underserved children in our community.
From her support of People’s Health Clinic to Park City Hospital to the Utah Pride Center, she wants children to know that they are loved and accepted. When Solomon moved to Utah, she met many young Mormons who were struggling. When they came out to their family, they weren’t being accepted. Being a mother herself, she wanted all of the kids in this state to know that there was a mom out there who thought that they were ok. She applied to get a license plate that read “GAYS R OK” so she could share that message everywhere she drove. However, she was denied—twice. With the help of the ACLU of Utah, she was able to win that case. That was 14 years ago, when “Mom” beat the establishment.
With this win, Solomon decided to expand her efforts and went on to create the Solomon Fund. The vision of the Solomon Fund is to provide opportunities for Latino children in Park City to participate in sports and recreation. The exact moment that Solomon decided that she wanted to start the Fund was when she heard someone say, “You are nothing in this town if you don’t ski.” The Solomon Fund exists to make activities more inclusive and accessible so that kids can build relationships and foster friendships through sports. The Fund isn’t sponsoring elite teams, but instead overcoming barriers that keep kids from being active. These include things like getting kids warm socks for cross country skiing, helmets for mountain biking and soccer balls. The principle is if kids play together, then they will become friends and sit together at the lunch table.
Solomon has always been an inclusive warrior. Like any good mother, she is empathetic, kind, strong, supportive, loving and humble. Through the help of Park City Community Foundation, she was able to launch the Solomon Fund to help low-income Latino children and help make Park City a more complete community. Solomon doesn’t like to publicize her philanthropy, but she appreciates that if the knowledge of her giving encourages others to give, then it is worth it.
