The Heroes Discount Program
You found it — the somewhat-secret list of permanent discounts at The Clay Hole. If you teach, serve, respond, heal, study, foster, or you’ve got 65 years on the clock, there’s a standing discount on your membership here. Not for a month. For as long as you qualify.
Do us a favor and keep it on the down low.
Two taps. Then one text.
Let’s find yours.
Nobody should have to read about six discounts that belong to somebody else.
Answer both and we’ll show you your part.
Your discount, the exact photo we need, how often we need it again, and what to do next. Nothing that isn’t yours.
Teachers & educators
Off your membership every month, for as long as you’re working in a school. Public, private, charter, preschool, Head Start, daycare, university adjunct. And paras, subs, counselors, librarians, custodians, bus drivers and lunch staff. If a school couldn’t run without you, you’re in.
Photo we need
Your current school employee badge. No badge? A class schedule with your name on it, a school email signature, an offer letter, or a pay stub with the dollar amounts blacked out all work fine.
How often
Once a year, each August. One text, thirty seconds, and you’re set for another school year.
Military — active & veterans
Off your membership every month. Active duty, Guard, Reserve, retired, honorably discharged — same discount, no ranking system.
Photo we need
Veterans: your DD‑214, a VA ID card, or the veteran designation on your driver’s license. Active: an LES, orders, or a unit roster line. Please don’t photograph your CAC — the DoD asks you not to, and we don’t need it.
How often
Once. That’s it, forever. You don’t stop having served, so we’re not going to keep asking.
Military spouses & dependents
Off your membership every month, at the same rate your person gets. You hold the whole thing together while they’re gone, usually in a town you didn’t pick, surrounded by people who just got here too. That counts here.
Photo we need
Your dependent ID card, a DEERS enrollment printout, or a marriage certificate alongside their proof of service. Any one of those is plenty — we don’t need all three.
How often
Once. Ever. Same rule as the person you’re attached to.
First responders
Off your membership every month. Police, fire, EMS, dispatch, corrections, wildland fire, search and rescue. Dispatchers count. Dispatchers always count.
Photo we need
Your department badge or agency ID. A current certification card — EMT, paramedic, POST, red card — works just as well if your badge isn’t something you want photographed.
How often
Once a year. We only re‑ask because people change agencies, not because we doubt you.
Healthcare workers
Off your membership every month. Nurses, techs, aides, therapists, counselors, social workers, doctors, CNAs, home health, hospice, dental, pharmacy, vet techs, and the people who clean the rooms between patients. All of it counts.
Photo we need
Your hospital, clinic or practice badge, or your active state license or certification — RN, LPN, CNA, LCSW, RT, MA, DVM, whatever you hold.
How often
Once a year. Same reason as everybody else: jobs change, and we’d rather ask than assume.
Students
Off your membership every month you’re enrolled. High school, college, grad school, trade school. Full‑time or part‑time, we don’t care which.
Photo we need
A student ID with a current term or expiration date printed on it. If yours doesn’t have a date — and a lot don’t — send a current class schedule or an enrollment verification instead.
How often
Every school year, each fall. This is the one that lapses most, so put a reminder in your phone for September now while you’re thinking about it.
Seniors, 65 and up
Off your membership every month. And for what it’s worth, some of the best potters in this building are on this line of the list.
Photo we need
Any government‑issued ID showing your birth date. Cover the ID number with your thumb — we only need the date.
How often
Once. Ever. Time is going to keep doing its thing without our supervision.
Nonprofit staff & service corps
Off your membership every month. Paid staff at a registered nonprofit — shelters, food banks, arts orgs, advocacy, humanitarian work. Plus AmeriCorps, VISTA and Peace Corps members, who are stipended rather than employed and get left off these lists constantly.
Photo we need
An employee badge, a pay stub with the amounts blacked out, or your name on the organization’s staff page plus one line telling us where you work. Service corps: your service agreement or placement letter.
How often
Once a year. Nonprofit work has a way of moving people around.
Foster & adoptive parents
Off your membership every month. Currently licensed foster parents and adoptive parents. Almost nobody offers this one, which is exactly why we do. And if there is a single person on this page who needs three hours where nobody is pulling on them, it’s probably you.
Photo we need
Your Utah foster care license, a placement letter from your agency, or adoption paperwork. Black out everything except your name and the date — we do not need a single detail about the kids.
How often
Foster: once a year, whenever your license renews. Adoptive: once. Ever.
Black out anything we don’t need. We’re looking for your name, your face, and the one line that proves it. Not your ID number, not your address, not what you make. Cover the rest with your thumb before you take the photo.
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Join first, at the new member price.
This is the part people get backwards. Whatever first‑month deal is running right now is worth a lot more than your hero discount, and the two don’t stack. Take the bigger one first.
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Then send us your proof.
Text the photo to 385‑241‑5528 and ask for your hero discount, or hand it to our membership manager in the studio. Either one works, and there’s no form to fill out.
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Your discount starts on month two.
Once it’s on your account it stays there. Every month, automatically, for as long as you qualify. There’s nothing to reapply for and no code to remember at checkout.
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Text us the photo.
Send it to 385‑241‑5528 and tell us which group you’re in. Or grab our membership manager next time you’re in the studio — whichever is less effort for you.
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We put it on your account.
A human looks at it and applies it. Usually same day, sometimes the next one. We’ll text you back when it’s done.
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It shows up on your next bill.
Not the one you already paid. We can’t reach backwards and refund months that have already run — so the sooner you ask, the better this gets. Today is cheaper than next month.
Or just ask in the studio. We’re open seven days a week and somebody at the front knows how to do this.
If the text button doesn’t open your messages, send this: Hi Clay Hole — I'd like to ask about the Heroes discount. Photo attached.
Copied
Not on the list? That’s genuinely the whole list — but the new member deal on the sign‑up page is open to absolutely everybody.
Everyone we say yes to.
All nine, out in the open, so you can check whether your sister qualifies before you tell her about it.
- Who Off What we need to see How often
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Teachers & educators15%What we need School badge, class schedule, school email signature, offer letter, or a redacted pay stub. Public, private, charter, preschool, daycare, adjunct, and all support staff.How often Once a year, each August
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Military — active & veterans15%What we need DD‑214, VA ID, veteran designation on your license, LES or orders. Not your CAC.How often Once. Never again.
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Military spouses & dependents15%What we need Dependent ID, DEERS printout, or a marriage certificate with their proof of serviceHow often Once. Never again.
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First responders15%What we need Department badge, agency ID, or a current EMT, paramedic, POST or red card certification. Includes dispatch, corrections, wildland fire and SAR.How often Once a year
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Healthcare workers10%What we need Hospital, clinic or practice badge, or an active state license. Includes therapists, counselors, social workers, home health, hospice, dental, pharmacy and vet techs.How often Once a year
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Students15%What we need Student ID showing a current term, or a class schedule or enrollment verificationHow often Every school year, each fall
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Seniors, 65 and up10%What we need Any government‑issued ID with your birth date. Cover the ID number.How often Once. Ever.
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Nonprofit staff & service corps10%What we need Employee badge, redacted pay stub, or your name on the org’s staff page. AmeriCorps, VISTA and Peace Corps: your service agreement.How often Once a year
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Foster & adoptive parents15%What we need Utah foster care license, agency placement letter, or adoption paperwork. Black out everything but your name and the date.How often Foster: once a year. Adoptive: once.
Three honest footnotes.
You can be two of these at once. A school counselor. A nurse who served. A student working at a food bank. They don’t stack — but tell us both and we’ll put you on whichever one is bigger.
Black level is the one exception. There are only a handful of black level shelves in the building and they have to go out at full price to keep the lights on. Green, Yellow and Purple are all fair game.
Shared memberships and Shared Shelf Passes work with this. Those are products, not discounts. One catch: the discount belongs to you, not to the shelf — so if you share with someone who isn’t on this list, it only comes off your half. We work that out by hand so the charge lands right.
We don’t advertise this one.
There’s no banner for it. It isn’t in the new member email, it isn’t on the sign‑up page, and we have never once run an ad for it. You had to go looking, and that’s deliberate.
The second a thank‑you becomes a marketing tactic it stops being a thank‑you. So we’d rather leave it sitting here quietly for the people who find it than wave it around at people who don’t need it.
And here’s the thing about who’s on this list. You spend your days being needed. Somebody wants a decision, a diagnosis, a grade, a rescue, an answer. All day, every day, and usually all at once. Then you walk in here and the most urgent problem in the building is whether your cylinder is going to wobble.
Nobody in this room needs a thing from you. That’s the whole point.
The not‑so‑fine print.
Short version: ask us, show us, and it’s yours from your next bill forward. Long version, in plain language, right here rather than three clicks away.
Getting it, and keeping it+
- You have to show valid ID or documentation for your category. No proof, no discount — and please don’t ask us to make an exception, because the whole thing falls apart if we start.
- You ask us. We don’t go looking. Text 385‑241‑5528 or find our membership manager in the studio.
- Students renew each school year with a current student ID. Teachers, first responders, healthcare, nonprofit staff and licensed foster parents re‑verify once a year, because those are jobs and licenses and both change. Military, military families, adoptive parents and 65+ verify once and never again.
- These are for what you’re doing now, not what you used to do. Military service and turning 65 are the only two that never expire. A retired teacher, nurse or officer under 65 doesn’t qualify on that basis — we know how that reads, and we’d rather say it here than have somebody hear it at the front desk. You may well qualify on another line, and you will at 65 regardless.
- If your discount lapses because you didn’t re‑verify, send us fresh proof and we’ll turn it right back on from your next bill.
- Once it’s applied, it’s automatic. There is no code to enter at checkout and nothing to remember each month.
What it does and doesn’t stack with+
- Hero discounts can’t be combined with other offers or first‑month deals. One discount per account at a time.
- If you joined using a new member deal, that deal covers your first month and your hero discount takes over from the second month on. Come talk to us and we’ll set it up.
- That order is the right order. Whatever new member deal is running is worth considerably more than 10–15%, so take it first and let this one take over afterward.
- Shared Memberships and Shared Shelf Passes are products, not discounts, so your hero discount applies to those normally.
- The discount belongs to the person, not to the shelf. If you share with someone who isn’t on this list, it comes off your share only — not theirs. We adjust that charge by hand so it comes out correct.
- If you fall into two categories, you get the bigger one, not both. Tell us both anyway and we’ll work out which that is.
- Not available on black level memberships. We only have a few of those shelves and they need to go out at full price for the studio to work.
The unflattering parts+
- There are no refunds for months you already paid. If you forgot to ask, or didn’t know this page existed, we can’t go back and credit you. It isn’t us being difficult — those months are already spent on clay, glaze, gas and instructors.
- This never applies retroactively. It starts on your next bill, full stop. Which is the entire reason we’re saying it this loudly instead of putting it in 9pt grey at the bottom.
- We reserve the right to change or end this program if it stops being financially feasible. If that ever happens, anyone already receiving a discount keeps theirs.
- We may ask for proof again at the intervals above. If we can’t verify you, the discount comes off — and you can put it right back on whenever you can.
You’ve spent enough time holding other people together. Come make something that holds soup.
A 10,000 square foot studio, 29 wheels, 650+ glazes, four instructors in every class, and a table of people who will notice the week you don’t come. Roughly $33 a session before your discount even lands.
Beginners welcome, and that is not a courtesy — most of the people in this building had never touched clay. Monthly membership, no contract, cancel yourself any time.
Questions about any of this, or not sure which group you land in? Text us and ask — 385‑241‑5528. A human answers.