2022
AUGUST
NEWSLETTER
Photo by Brittany Cox
Thank you, CATALYST Level Members!
POINTS TO PONDER
From the Executive Director
T
he shortage of available and affordable housing here in Lander is not just a local problem. Towns and cities all across Wyoming and, indeed, all across the country, are experiencing the same housing troubles as we are here in Fremont County. At a recent meeting of the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee, Cody Mayor and President of the Wyoming Association of Municipalities (WAM) Matt Hall shared with legislators a survey of 41 Wyoming communities recently conducted by WAM. (Lander, Riverton, Dubois, and Shoshoni were among the respondents.) Here are some of the sobering results: • • • • • • • •
90% are experiencing some sort of housing shortage 88% need more affordable housing 83% need more workforce housing 63% need more housing for seniors 70% indicate that a lack of workforce housing was hurting their efforts to attract or grow business in their communities 60% indicated their workforce housing shortage has stopped new or growing business from expanding 56% are seeing their seniors move away to communities with suitable senior housing 63% indicate that hiring and retaining municipal employees is negatively impacted by a lack of housing
According to 28% of the participating municipalities, a major contributing factor to the shortage is the growing trend of in-state and out-of-state investors purchasing properties to rent them as long or short term rentals. Such rental properties can be extremely helpful to local businesses who rely on traveling nurses, for example, or who host summer students training for professional physical and occupational therapy degrees. On the other hand, many businesses (sometimes the same kinds just mentioned) are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit high-earning, potentially long-term employees who want nothing to do with the rental market. In an effort to learn more about the causes of Lander’s housing shortage, I have begun attending City Planning Commission/Board of Adjustment meetings. As a result, our Lander Leadership Council will be meeting with Commission members later to share their struggles and discuss possible solutions. Would your business like to participate? Call me at 332-3892 or email me at owen@ landerchamber.org.
Owen Sweeney Executive Director Lander Chamber of Commerce
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Eric Andrews President Fagnant, Lewis & Brinda P.C.
Ann Espinosa Vice President Home Source Realty, Inter Mountain Builders
Chris VonHoltum Treasurer Central Bank & Trust
Jon Tonkowich, Past President Wyoming Catholic College
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Dave Fehringer Fremont Engineering
James Whiting Whiting Law PC
Alyssa Lozier Edward Jones
Tom Davis Fremont Therapy Group
Jennifer Hamilton SageWest Healthcare
PROFESSIONAL STAFF Owen Sweeney Executive Director
Carol King Associate Director
Carlos Solis Membership Services
COMMUNITY EVENTS
4th of July - Lander Style!
MEMBER HIGHLIGHTS
In 1986 the local U.S. Steel mine closed. Caring neighbors concerned how this economic downturn might affect their neighbors came together with the goal of sourcing food to lessen hunger. This was Lander Care & Share Food Bank’s beginning. The mission of the LCSFB is to provide emergency food to people in need, regardless of income. A non-profit 501(c) (3,) managed by a volunteer board of directors and an executive director, the Lander Care & Share Food Bank is almost entirely supported by donor contributions. For more than 30 years, from a tiny dilapidated house at the LCSFB’s current location, neighbors continued to acquire and distribute emergency food to hundreds of hungry neighbors. As the need grew, in 2008 the facility at 281 Garfield was built. Now, over 50 caring volunteers’ acquire and distribute emergency food to well over 1,000 individuals each month, a number that rose to 2,000 during COVID. Although demand eventually decreased with the addition of new food banks, (some temporary, others permanent) the LCSFB is observing an increase in food insecurity. Adding to that is the lack of affordable food available for the food bank to purchase through its regular vendors. The LCSFB hopes to find new opportunities and expand its purchasing base. Lander Care & Share Food Bank is looking forward to the local vegetable season and has partnered with Wyoming First Lady Jenny Gordon’s Hunger Initiative to not only grow, but also to receive local produce. It has always been the LCSFB’s goal to try to include nutritious items in our food boxes. Lander Care & Share Food Bank thanks the community for its continued support both financially and with food donations throughout the years. The LCSFB could NOT have stayed open to distribute food essentials if it were not for the generous support of neighbors. While a student at Pepperdine University in 2008, Ryan Sawtelle established there the Wave of Flags 9/11 memorial, consisting of 2,977 U.S. flags paying tribute to the fallen. Later that year, Ryan co-founded the Ride to the Flags motorcycle ride to raise funds for military causes.
In 2011, Ryan officially formed White Heart Foundation to improve the mental and physical health of post-9/11 veterans through eco-therapy and specialized medical care. The Foundation’s flagship mental health program, the Guardian Project, was launched in 2016 right here in Lander. Groups of veterans are taken on remote outdoor excursions that utilize nature and team-building exercises to help heal the mental wounds of our nation’s veterans. Guardian Project has grown to multiple excursions over multiple states. All of White Heart’s programs -- Guardian Project, One Life, and Ride to the Flags -- aim to bridge the gap between government support and the care our veterans deserve. On Saturday, August 27th, the Foundation will again host “A Night with Our Military Heroes” at the Lander Community and Convention Center. The event/fundraiser will welcome this year’s veterans to Fremont County to be treated to the comedy of Cam Bertrand, a finalist on America’s Got Talent. Ten program participants will be present, including EOD2 Jordan Stevenson who survived a gunshot wound to the head – and subsequent 25-foot fall off of a border wall - while in Afghanistan. Told by doctors that he would never walk again, Jordan is joining his fellow veterans not only as a participant, but also as a returning mentor.
EVERY TUESDAY Carnegie Book Nook at the Lander Library 1-5 pm EVERY WEDNESDAY --Rotary Club noon, Oxbow Restaurant --Sip ‘n Shop 10-5, Red White Buffalo --Eagle Spirit Singers & Dancers Museum of the American West, 7 pm --Jackson Hole People’s Market, Center for the Arts lawn --Music at the Dubois Museum 7-9 pm EVERY THURSDAY --Parkinson’s Support Group, Lander Senior Center 2-3 pm --Kiwanis Club, noon, Mamaw’s Kitchen @ Inn at Lander (formerly Summit) THIRD THURSDAY --Foot Care Clinic, 8-noon, Lander Senior Center --Dubois Farmers Market, 202 E. Ramshorn St., Dubois EVERY FRIDAY --Carnegie Book Nook at the Lander Library noon-4 pm --Friday Night Rodeo Clarence Allison Memorial Arena Dubois, 7:30 pm
SOUTH PASS CITY --Carissa Mine & Mill tours Every Thursday-Sunday --English Tunnel hike & tour Every Saturday & Sunday 1 Hot Notes Cool Nites Concert in the Park 7 pm, Lander City Park 1-6 Fremont County Fair & Rodeo fremontcountyfair.org for full schedule 2 Brooks Lake Lodge Ranch Tour 9am-2pm, Dubois Museum 4 Lander Presents Summer Concert 5 pm, Lander City Park 5 First Friday All Fremont County Museums, 9-5 5 Wild Country & Homesteaders of WY 7 pm, Dubois Museum 6 Shoshone Mission Trek 10am-noon, Pioneer Museum, 332-3339 for reservations 6 14th annual RiverFest 10 am, Lander City Park
13 Gold Panning Day 1 pm, Pioneer Museum, 332-3339 for reservations 13 ‘Third Highway Into Dubois’ Fly-In & Community Aviation Day 6:30am-1pm, Dubois Airport 13 Riverton Ranch Day 1 pm, Riverton Museum 13 Dubois Volunteer Fire Department Buffalo BBQ 4-7 pm, Dubois Town Park 15 Movie in the Park by Olsen Orthodontics 7 pm, Lander City Park 16 Tie Hack Trek Dubois Museum, advance registration required, call 307-455-2284 18 Lander Presents Summer Concert 5 pm, Lander City Park 18 Trumpeter Swans in the Area 7 pm, Dubois Museum 18-21 Jurassic Classic Mountain Bike Festival jurassicclassicfest.com for info 22 FCSD#1 First Day of School
9 Sublette Pass History Trek 9am4pm, Dubois Museum
27 J.B. Okie Manor Tour 9 am, Riverton Museum, 856-2665 to EVERY SATURDAY 11 The Story in the Rocks 7pm, register --Lander Valley Farmers Dubois Museum 27 The Granier Ditch Market Lander City Park, Adventure Trek 10am-3pm, 9-11:30am 11 A Geologic History of Pioneer Museum, meet at --Improv Acoustic Music Jams Fremont County Pioneer Granier Meadows with ATV Lander Art Center 10 am-noon Museum, 7 pm --Fremont County Master Gardeners’ Farmers Market Riverton City Hall, 9-11 am --Music at the Museum Dubois Museum, 7-9 pm (JuneAug.)
12 Spring Mountain Geology Trek Dubois Museum, 9am2pm, 307-455-2284 for reservations
30 Mystery Sheep Trap Trek 9 am, Dubois Museum
CALENDAR
August Events
MEMBER HIGHLIGHT
The LOR Foundation is excited to Ami Vincent announce that Ami Vincent has joined the team as Lander’s community officer. Ami will work directly with local residents to support community-driven projects that improve quality of life in Lander. Ami Vincent has lived in Lander since 2012 when she, her husband, and their two young children moved to the foot of the Wind River Range in search of a new adventure; it wouldn’t be her first.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Ami lived in Burkina Faso, West Africa, where she spent a year volunteering with Burkina Faso Outreach. She spent that time traveling into the bush, interviewing families who needed help with their children’s school fees, and emerged with a deep passion for community work. Eventually, she moved back to Missouri, where she and her husband started a family in the St. Louis area. A job opportunity for Ami’s husband brought the pair to Lander for an interview, and Ami remembers walking up and down Main Street, visiting what was then Olde Town Coffee, the Lander Public Library, and Wild Iris (back when it was still between Third and Fourth streets). Immediately, she knew Lander was what she was looking for— not just an escape from the concrete and humidity, but a walkable, quiet place with a tangible sense of community. As she drove up Sinks Canyon and put her feet in the Popo
Agie for the first time, the wanderlust that had taken Ami all over the world settled into a steady rhythm in her chest. She was home. Over the past decade, Ami’s love for Lander and the quirky, talented people who call it home has only grown stronger. When she took a job as a part-time children’s librarian at the Lander Library, she found herself in a space that represented the intersection of so much happening in the community. And after a few short years, she worked her way up to lead adult librarian, founding the Bookmarked Literary Arts Festival along the way. Now, as the LOR Foundation’s Lander community officer—she started the new job in May— Ami continues to build connections between people and resources, listening to the challenges Lander residents face and helping to launch solutions to address them. As a former LOR grant recipient herself, she brings a unique perspective and understanding to that process. As Ami embarks on yet another adventure, she considers it an honor to work alongside Lander residents, supporting and cheering them on in an effort to build a stronger community together. You’ll likely find Ami biking and walking around town this summer, admiring the many things that make Lander unique. And if you do, stop her and say hello—and share an idea about how to make Lander an even better place to live. You can contact Ami Vincent by phone at (307) 349-2654 or by email at ami@lorfoundation.org
Center of Hope - Volunteers of Gambles America Shane Meyer Daniela Palma, Program Coord. 420 Main St., Lander 223 W. Adams, Riverton Kiwanis Club of Lander City Plumbing & Heating Inc. PO Box 803, Lander Mike & Lynn McRann 340 Main St., Lander Lander Children’s Museum Colleen Conilogue, Community Health Center of Administrative Director Central Wyoming., Inc. 465 Lincoln St., Lander 115 Wyoming St., Lander Lander Valley Cattlewomen Dillon Vista Apartments LLC PO Box 1431, Lander 105 Dillon Dr., Lander Nature Conservancy Edward Jones Hayley Mortimer, Wyoming Lonnie Bull Director 175 S. 5th St., Lander 258 Main St., Lander
State Farm Insurance Justus Jacobs Ins Agency 990 Main St., Lander
Huff Sanitation Richard & Sherry Huff 540 Wind River Ave., Lander
William H. Smith & Associates 155 N 1st St., Lander
Family Chiropractic Vince Irene 8135 Hwy 789, Lander Fremont County Roller Derby Kendrea Herring PO Box 1108, Riverton
Olsen Orthodontics Marc Olsen 799 S. 2nd St. Suite B, Lander
Strike Consulting Group LLC Andy Strike 205 S. 3rd St., Lander Sweetwater Food & Beverage Ron Hansen 8116 Hwy 789, Lander Valley Automotive Inc. Jerry & Tammy Johnson 7854 Hwy 789, Lander Whiting Law PC James Whiting 277 Main St., Suite 3, Lander
Rotary Club of Lander PO Box 502, Lander
Wind River Physical Therapy Ty Francies 150 Lincoln St., Lander
Schurg Financial Services Rodney Schurg 405 Main St., Lander
Wyoming Windows & Cabinets Chris & Karlene Moore 3011 Hwy 287 N, Lander
Book Your Next Meeting at the Chamber! Looking for a brighter, roomier, more professional and technologically advanced place to host a meeting? The Chamber’s got you covered! Full Zoom Room Functionality Our two DTEN video conferencing boards provide our members with a simplified professional meeting experience. The dual setup provides a multi-touch video display alongside a digital whiteboard that allows live onscreen annotation of documents and content sharing. Contact Us to Reserve Your Meeting Today! You don’t need a Zoom account to take advantage of this benefit. Chamber members without their own Zoom license can use ours to host meetings with unlimited minutes for up to 100 participants. Member-only rental pricing makes this an affordable benefit for your business, and conference room is included in some memberships. Contact us today to schedule your meeting!
RENEWING MEMBERS
Thank You, Renewing Members!