Each year as winter approaches, Stefanie and Austin Nelson and the team at Spa Country in Craig offer a remarkable gift to the communities they serve.
Their annual Wellness Contest invites residents throughout the Yampa Valley and surrounding communities to answer a simple question: How could having a hot tub at home improve your overall wellness and family time?
For people who might benefit tremendously from one but can’t fit it into the family budget, the question opens the door to dream a little. Then Spa Country makes that dream real.
From the entries they receive, the team selects stories that particularly touch them and awards the winners a new hot tub, including delivery and setup. For a family-owned business that has served Routt and Moffat counties for decades, it is a meaningful way for Austin and Stefanie to give something back to the communities that have supported Spa Country over the years.
This year’s winning entries have something particularly fitting in common.
Both came from women whose professions revolve around caring for others.
WINNER
At just 24, Abigail McStay works as an Adult Protective Services caseworker for Moffat County, helping vulnerable adults navigate some of the most difficult periods of their lives.
Abigail loves the work, but carrying others’ needs day after day can take a toll, both physically and emotionally. “A hot tub would provide a place where I could slow down and care for my body,” Abigail wrote. “After long days spent advocating for others, having a peaceful place to relax and recharge would mean more than words can express,” she shared in her contest entry.
For Abigail, what many of us might consider a luxury represents something different—a place to recover, stretch sore muscles, quiet her mind, and replenish some of the energy she spends serving others. “It would be a reminder to take care of myself so I can continue taking care of others,” she wrote.
That line alone makes it easy to understand why Abigail’s essay rose to the top.
“Stefanie and Austin are such caring people. From the moment I walked in the store, they greeted me with a warm smile and open arms. Winning the wellness contest means so much to me, and it’s hard to express how grateful I truly am. Thank you, Spa Country.”
– Abigail McStay
WINNER
Heidi Mendisco dedicates her life to helping others as the Executive Director of the Yampa Valley Autism Program. Between her full-time career serving children and families and the responsibilities of raising her own family, Heidi realized that somewhere along the way she had allowed her own wellness to become a lesser priority.
Over the past two years, she has been changing that. Heidi returned to the gym and strives to be more physically active outside of work, to share some of her caregiving with herself. But those accomplishments come with tired, sore muscles at the end of already busy days.
“Having a hot tub would provide a space to relax, reduce stress, improve sleep, and recharge after many long days supporting our neurodiverse community and their families,” Heidi wrote.
Beyond what a hot tub could do for her, she imagined the space becoming a gathering place for her husband and children—a spot where phones and schedules could temporarily disappear, and conversations could take their place. Heidi explained, “In a world moving so quickly, a hot tub will give us a reason to slow down and be present with one another, while supporting both physical wellness and family connections.”
And apparently, the Mendisco family has already been practicing. Heidi closed her contest entry with one detail that surely earned a few smiles from the Spa Country judges. “Currently, we are using an oversized stock tank, which is quite funny, and the water is obviously always cold,” she shared with a giggle.
Not anymore, Heidi. Soon, warm water will be waiting on that deck.
There is something beautifully full-circle about this year’s winners. Abigail spends her days protecting vulnerable adults. Heidi spends hers helping children and families. Both submitted essays asking, in their own ways, for a small sanctuary where the people who continually give their energy to others could restore some of their own.
Long after the excitement of winning fades, these hot tubs will be there: a place for Abigail to exhale after a difficult case, a place for Heidi’s family to gather and talk, and perhaps this story is a quiet reminder to our readers that people who spend their lives caring for others deserve to be cared for in return.
Austin, Stefanie, and the Spa Country team were in a position to provide that sanctuary—and chose to. Sometimes giving back isn’t complicated.
Sometimes it’s simply giving someone a warm place to recharge.
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