Things seem to just come together for the folks at the Carly Stowell Foundation.

First the foundation grew so quickly it had to slow down and assess before moving forward on some major goals and fundraising.

In November Chuck and Elena Stowell hosted the foundations second major fundraiser in Auburn. They started the foundation in honor of the memory of their daughter Carly who died suddenly of a heart arrhythmia in April 2007.

“The fundraiser went really well,” Elena Stowell said. “It was really well attended… what I really liked about it is that it had a really good community feel.”

In fact, it was so well attended, Stowell added, they ran out of food.

There was music, a basketball jamboree, a silent auction and more.

It was something of a last minute thing that Chuck Stowell suggested to the foundation’s board, just something to celebrate the organization and the families in the Jammin’ program.

But, it quickly became a bigger event than the Stowells originally envisioned, all for the better it turns out.

“You worry and panic about all of those things and somehow all those things fall together,” Stowell said. “We were kind of worried, but a lot of people stepped up to the plate.”

The Carly Stowell Foundation is dedicated to providing opportunities in athletics and music, areas where Carly excelled in life, to young people who demonstrate a passion for learning and a will to excel. The Jammin’ program offers teams in volleyball and basketball as well as classes, strength training and other opportunities to grow as athletes and people through sports or music.

This fundraiser generated a net $17,000 with the proceeds going to provide scholarships, Stowell explained, “money to help pay for band trips, tuxedoes, little things like that, and of course, to participate in the sports.”

That was in addition to the $17,000 they had already given out in scholarships during the foundation’s first two years of existence.

Stowell was particularly happy that for some of the people involved who may be new to the program the fundraiser was an opportunity to learn about their daughter, the oldest of their three children.

“As we keep growing there are people who wouldn’t have known Carly,” she said. “It’s important to me for people to know how this started.”

At the same time as they were preparing for the fundraiser in November, the foundation was in search of a place for its sports programs to call home, as it was using gym space in Kent schools. That was a juggling act, Stowell said, and while they appreciated the chance to use those facilities the foundation’s Jammin’ programs needed a facility to which there was greater access.

Not too long ago, a partnership came together that led them to using the facilities at Camp Berachah off Auburn-Black Diamond Road, just a short drive from Chuck and Elena Stowell’s home.

She explained that Jasen Baskett, founder of Emerald City Basketball Academy, approached the foundation because he was expanding.

Stowell said Baskett was asking them if they knew of any gyms in the South King County area because he wanted to set up his programs, which draw 250 too 300 athletes a month, in this part of the region. In addition to offering programs in Seattle, ECBA also runs classes and teams out of Edmonds and Issaquah.

“We never had any capital. We never had any investors. That’s what he had,” Stowell said. “He worked out a deal with Camp Berachah. So, now we have partnered with Emerald City and we’re out at Camp Berachah. In one respect, it’s still kind of ours because Chuck and I still run it.”

Yet, they don’t have to worry about maintaining the facility or the lease, so it’s a great resolution Stowell said. They get to use it from 4 to 9 p.m., Monday through Friday during the school year, and this summer they will be able to use the space from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays.

Their sports programs have a home not too far from where their athletes come from, drawing players from not just Covington and Maple Valley, but Renton, Kent, Enumclaw and beyond.

Plus it puts the space at Camp Berachah to use, so, everybody involved wins.

Baskett brought in a hardwood basketball court that had been in a university’s practice facility.

The Stowell’s did the labor, installing and painting the floor and putting up additional hoops along the side of the gym.

“We have three courts now and we got all the courts drilled for volleyball,” Stowell said. “So, we’ll be able to run our volleyball program out of there. We recently got new sets of volleyball equipment. Eventually Jason would like to build and do more. He’s excited because we have the volleyball program and he’s never done that before.”

Now Stowell hopes things continue to come together as the foundation moves on to its next big goals.

“Our big thing this spring, our focus… has been to really beef up the music program,” she said. “It’s always been in the shadows because of sports. We’ve really ramped things up for the summer.”

In addition to the Summer Parade Marching Band, which will perform at a number of area festivals including march in the Covington Days Grand Parade on July 17, there will be a pair of jazz improvisation classes offered, and there has been talk of an elementary jazz program.

And it seems like the next big fundraiser will happen again in November between the end of fall sports and start of winter sports because “that timing works out really well.”

It will be another chance to celebrate and “thank all the people who have stood beside us through all of it.”

And even if things don’t go exactly as planned it should all keep falling together for the Carly Stowell Foundation.