Help
At St. John’s Health, our dedicated team of volunteers is central to our mission: to provide our unique community and visitors with exceptional and everadvancing, individualized care. Whether you’re looking for a way to give back, or interested in gaining experience in a health care setting—we invite you to join us in making positive, long-lasting impacts in the lives we serve.
To learn more, please contact our Volunteer Department at: (307) 739-7541 or volunteer@stjohns.health.
This is a valley full of volunteers.
That’s why we have the Valley Volunteer section, to highlight some of the people giving their time to make this a better place. We know Teton County is the most generous financially in the nation (if not the world), but so too is it generous in giving time.
Narrowing down stories for the Volunteer section is obviously a big task, and we are always willing to take your suggestions. The first story in this section is on Blanca Moye, who was voted the Super Volunteer. This woman has set up safety nets that many people wouldn’t remember a time without. We’ve profiled her on page 3.
Food insecurity continues to be a factor in Jackson Hole, particularly as the cost of food increases. One reporter takes a look at some of the volunteers helping that sector of philanthropy.
The Teton Pass Ambassador program has been so successful that it’s spawned other ambassadorships. Many of these are volunteer. A Victim Services volunteer helps people in the law enforcement community — both cops and citizens — deal with trauma situations.
More, a massage therapist volunteers to help people decompress; Teton Literacy Center has 120 volunteers, and we talked to a few; and a new program in the schools helps keep teeth healthy for kids. Again, all volunteers.
Send us other people we should profile. The volunteers in this community deserve recognition! Email valley@jhnewsandguide.com.
— Whitney Royster
Published by
PUBLISHER: Adam Meyer
EDITOR IN CHIEF: Johanna Love
MANAGING EDITOR: Rebecca Huntington
SECTION EDITOR: Whitney Royster
DIGITAL EDITOR: Cindy Harger
PHOTOGRAPHERS: Bradly J. Boner, Kathryn Ziesig, Armond Feffer
EDITORIAL DESIGN: Andy Edwards, Doug Sanders
COPY EDITORS: Jennifer Dorsey, Mark Huffman
WRITERS: Billy Arnold, Mark Baker, Jeannette Boner, Sophia Boyd-Fliegel, Miranda de Moraes, Tibby Plasse, Kate Ready
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Sarah Wilson
ADVERTISING DESIGN: Lydia Redzich, Luis F. Ortiz, Heather Haseltine, Chelsea Robinson
ADVERTISING SALES: Karen Brennan, Tom Hall, Megan LaTorre
Thank you to the hundreds of people who volunteer their time to serve the Chamber and our community!
The Chamber of Commerce would like to extend our thanks to the volunteer Board Members of the Chamber who help make our mission possible.
Jason Williams
Richard Uhl
Stephan Abrams
Karen Connelly
Alex Lemieux
Doug Lowham
Zachariah Turpin
Fernando Ramos
Ariel Koerber
Danny Shervin
Morgan Albertson Jaouen
Kendra Alessandro
Dick Stout
Audrey Cohen-Davis
Wendy Martinez
Steve Seamons
Bomber Bryan
DIGITAL CAMPAIGN AND MULTIMEDIA SALES MANAGER: Tatum Mentzer
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Dale Fjeldsted
PREPRESS SUPERVISOR: Lewis Haddock
PRESS SUPERVISOR: Steve Livingston
PRESS OPERATORS: Robert Heward, Nick Hoskins, Gunner Heller
CIRCULATION MANAGER: Jayann Carlisle
©2023 Teton Media Works
P.O. Box 7445, 1225 Maple Way, Jackson, WY 83001; 307-733-2047; JHNewsAndGuide.com
businesses, enhance business prosperity, and strengthen the economic climate of Teton County.
Volunteer of the Year has been a bridge over the Spanish language divide for 24 years.
By Sophia Boyd-FliegelSome see the world as broken into those above them and those below them. There are people with more money, more education, and there are people with less.
No stranger to stratification, Blanca Moye is also one of those people. What sets her apart, though, is how she brings people together.
While many of the valley’s safety net programs can be traced back to Moye, it was on a whim that she first came to Jackson Hole.
Receiving her first work visa by raffle in 1999, at 28, was a surprise, as she’d forgotten she’d applied. But she came for what she thought would be six months at the urging of her grandmother. It wouldn’t hurt to improve her English, she thought.
Moye left a good job prospect to teach literacy and GED degrees to employees of a prominent water bottle corporation in Mexico City, and headed to Jackson. She also left behind her two kids, 8 and 4 at the time.
With her children in the care of her mother and husband, and her godmother Carmina Oaks waiting for her in Jackson, she took the leap.
In 1999, Moye was part of the early wave of Mexican immigrants to put down roots in the Jackson region to work in hospitality, not agriculture, in what was soon to become the county with the greatest wealth and wealth disparity in the country.
Moye had not realized just how much money American jobs paid in pesos. She started sending money home after her first payday for housekeeping at the former Anglers Inn to pay three rents, two for herself and her children and one
for her mother’s apartment in Mexico City. Besides housekeeping from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., there was bussing and cleaning dishes at the former Anthony’s Italian Restaurant from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.
She picked up a third job with a family, and became a night manager for the Anglers Inn.
Graco Vernal, Moye’s husband, came at the end of her first month, and six months later she renewed her visa and started saving for her kids’ papers.
Despite how much she was working, Moye’s volunteering started the day after she arrived in Jackson, when she attended a wedding as Oaks’ “plus one” in a snow-covered cabin in Kelly.
The wedding was Pati Rocha’s, now an outreach coordinator for Teton County Library. The two became instant friends, and Rocha invited Moye to help answer calls for songs and shoutouts over the air on Sunday nights for the KHOL show “Al Ritmo de la Montaña.”
Over the years, Rocha said, she has seen Moye eager to grow and encourage others to do the same.
Despite Oaks’ advice that “You need to learn to say no,” Moye continued picking up volunteer gigs, even acting as an informal go-between for police and people who spoke only Spanish and were pulled over for minor traffic violations. She stepped up to give her time to the Free Clinic and the Victim Witness program, attending monthly meetings for the Latino Service Network, which grew into groups like the Networks of Care and Systems of Education. That work led to volunteer gigs running events for the Latino Resource Center and doing
medical interpretation for El Puente, two nonprofits that now are folded into leadership under One 22.
From knocking on doors to bring the federal Head Start program to Teton County to hosting cooking nights for parents with the Children’s Learning Center, Moye has never stopped embedding in the community’s basic needs.
Moye became a full-time resident in 2004, once her children had moved to Jackson, and became a citizen in 2010, crossing the state line in the meantime. She has lived in Victor, Idaho, ever since.
As new nonprofits have popped up, Moye has followed, doing outreach and interpretation for ShelterJH and serving as a mobilizer for Voices JH for two years.
You know you’ve reached super-volunteer status when the lines between work and volunteering start to blur.
“Everything I started doing years ago, like volunteer time, now is my job,” Moye laughed, “I think I never never learned to say no.”
It’s hard to be a community builder without also making people laugh, which Moye does seemingly without trying. Even talking about the uphill battle of integration for the Latino and immigrant communities, she blends sincerity with an inviting sense of humor.
“I’m pretty sure everybody has their own issues,” she said.
Running for office is perhaps the only community opportunity Moye has avoided, though not for lack of being asked. It’s not the atmosphere that bothers her. At 18, Moye was a meeting host and secretary for the Mexican
Congress, work she found both interesting and fulfilling. Then she became pregnant and stopped work and continued studying through college.
Simply, she said, her first love is working with people in the field. She thinks she might be frustrated by the pace of bureaucracy, and she likes to react.
In Victor, Moye has stretched her web even further, volunteering for the Education Foundation of Teton Valley, in addition to serving on the Community Foundation on the special grants board and the library board on the east side of the Tetons.
Her son Irwing says he’s been stopped by strangers who relay the impact his mother has had on their life.
“Not that it’s a popularity contest,” he said. “Everybody knows Blanca.” Popularity has nothing to do with Moye’s philosophy, but it’s certainly a byproduct.
To Moye, everyone is both a teacher and a student, a listener and a sharer. As she works by your side she expects you to do the same.
In Wyoming, where loneliness seems to be embedded in both natural and psychological landscapes, Moye said isolation is “not in my dictionary.” True connection takes a certain level of vulnerability, she said, from both sides.
“As a human being we don’t like to ask for help,” she said. “We feel shame and we feel like nobody’s going to understand us.”
Even her sentences share that balanced rhythm, which is probably why she’s so good at teaching CPR and first aid, classes she now gives away for free, or volunteering mindfulness and meditation courses with Becoming Jackson Hole.
“I always try to see who can support me,” she said, “and how I can support them. … That’s where integration happens.”
Contact Sophia Boyd-Fliegel at county@ jhnewsandguide.com or 307-732-7063.
“I always try to see who can support me and how I can support them. ... That’s where integration happens.”
— Blanca Moye VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR
With prices increasing for basics, volunteers in the food world have upped their game.
By Tibby PlasseFood prices are rising, and the demand for food security has grown. Hole Food Rescue and Slow Food in the Tetons volunteers are playing a bigger role than ever in getting better food to more people, and they’re also forging some connections within the community.
Samantha Rubin is a volunteer with Hole Food Rescue.
Rubin, a health coach, personal assistant and caterer, abandoned a corporate job in Boston before eventually making the move to Jackson.
If volunteering were a paid position, Rubin said, she would do it all the time. The big food rescues are some of what she enjoys about her unpaid work.
“It’s definitely fun to do a full food rescue shift at one of the grocery stores, whether it is Target, which is one of the new places, or a Smith’s rescue or Whole Foods,” she said. “They’re always usually pretty massive rescues. And so it’s cool to see what goes on behind the scenes and how the store is organized and how they get their employees on board.”
Volunteering has also connected her to a lot of “awesome community members and the community in a way I don’t think I ever would have been without it.”
That engagement with the community drives another local foodconscious volunteer, too.
Shannon Kelley started volunteering with Slow Food in the Tetons when she moved to Jackson from Washington state this past September, abandoning her job as an EMT in a rural emergency room. Her day job here had been working at Hungry Jack’s until it closed for renovations.
Kelley knows grocery prices, and she also sees the value in Slow Food’s discount program.
“The discount program is incredib le,” she said of the initiative launched this winter by an anonymous donor. “You can get 25 to 50% off, and anybody can use it.” (It’s unclear how long that program will continue.)
The program is anonymous, but Kelley said everyone uses it, including families and teachers. Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Kelley is used to more optimum growing conditions but said she has only been impressed by what the community makes happen in a Zone 4 growing region.
“I think it’s amazing that everyone is growing such an abundance of food in such a limited time frame,” she said. “I worked on friends’ farms back in Washington, but this is a much more organized community. I
think what we have is an incredible service to both the farmers and the consumers.”
Kelley said she will be extending her volunteer hours this summer at Sweet Hollow Farm in Victor, Idaho, while keeping her hours for Slow Food’s online marketplace pickups and the seasonal farm stand.
That is a good thing for Sara McIntosh, Slow Food’s farm stand and online marketplace manager.
“We are doing around 150 to 200 orders every week for the online marketplace this winter, which is significantly higher than we’ve done in the past,” she said. “And yeah, without all hands on deck it would be really difficult to get what we need done.”
McIntosh’s winter schedule is supported by Kelley, Kelsey Persyn and Hillary Cantu as they transport food items from the farm stand over to the Twigs greenhouse. There, they set up everything in accordance with the food type and producer.
In the summer Slow Food’s volunteers’ packing and unpacking cycle gets readjusted to working with the farm stand. But no matter what the time of year, volunteers are key to the organization’s mission.
“They all do a really great job of explaining the products to customers, because customers have a lot of question s regarding the food they eat,” McIntosh said. “Where it’s grown and how it’s grown ... There is definitely a lot going on when they are working their shifts.”
Contact Tibby Plasse by emailing valley@ jhnewsandguide.com.
“Without all hands on deck it would be really difficult to get what we need done.”
— Sara McIntosh SLOW FOOD IN THE TETONS
Brenda Sherwin has been a volunteer victim advocate since before 2005. She volunteers for the Teton County Victim Services office, a program that offers advocacy and resources to crime victims such as victim compensation, emergency assistance, connecting them with counseling and even helping with child care and transportation.
The office, which receives a combination of federal, state and town funding, covers court hearings, outreach events and responds on call at the request of law enforcement. It’s a joint program of the Jackson Police and Teton County Sheriff’s departments.
“We respond to be with the survivors of traumatic death or suicide incidents to assist the survivors with getting their natural support system in place,” Coordinator Tracey Trefren said. “We act as a liaison between law enforcement and the survivors during the investigation process.”
The office works with victims to know what their rights are, what the criminal justice process is, what services are available, to assist with restitution claims, and to advocate for a victim throughout the criminal justice process.
It also helps people with protection orders and works with renters and landlords to know their rights.
Sherwin’s time spent volunteering with Victim Services actually predates Trefren.
Sherwin’s experiences range from responding to those who have lost a loved one, to sexual assault and intimate partner violence calls.
Sherwin came to Jackson Hole in 1983 to work in Grand Teton National Park. She now works full time at Pet Place Plus, a retail store in town.
Sherwin, who is over 60, said she was moved to help victims in the early 2000s after reading a Reader’s Digest article.
“I remember reading [the] article a long time ago about a woman who was traveling when her husband died unexpectedly,” Sherwin wrote in an email. “I remember thinking what a terrible experi ence that would be and how helpful it would be to have people to assist emotionally and practically with that event.”
Sherwin enrolled and finished the class needed to become a volunteer victim advocate.
“The class was an overview of many different aspects of Victim Services, covering everything from protection orders, history of Victim Services (local and nationally), crime compensation, domestic violence, sexual assault, death notifications, suicide, self-care, etc.,” Sherwin wrote.
Next came the re quired ridealongs, observing court proceedings, background and fingerprint checks.
She’s had the opportunity to assist someone who was traveling when they lost a loved one in at least three different situations.
Due to the sensitivity and confidentiality of Victim Services, Sherwin was unable to elaborate but spoke generally on what her near 20 years have entailed.
“It’s been quite the variety,” Sherwin wrote. “Sometimes I’ve responded to domestic violence calls or unexpected deaths due to medical issues or trauma. A few times I’ve assisted people over the phone.
“Every call is so different, different events, personalities, scene dynamics, etc.,” Sherwin wrote. “I’ve
learned something from every single call. The most important things for me are to believe the victim and to listen to what they’re saying, both verbally and with body language.”
Body language is critical in helping Sherwin get a sense for how the individual is faring after a traumatic event.
“Are they scared, nervous, cautious, numb, unbelieving?” Sherwin wrote. “Are they okay with your presence or do you need to give them some space?
“How can you help this particular
person, in this particular situation?”
Assisting victims over the phone can present challenges, since body language is removed from the equation.
“It’s definitely different because you lose being face-to face with them, and observing how they are sitting, what they are doing with their hands and facial expressions,” Sherwin wrote.
“Taking a call, when someone has gathered up the courage to call for assistance, means you are instantly ‘on.’ You don’t have the drive-time to mentally prepare to be on scene.”
Expending that emotional energy to be fully present for those reeling from trauma is not easy. Even specially trained victim advocates need support and comfort.
Sherwin said that to decompress after a call, she leans on the paid Victim Services staff who are available to “talk it out.”
“They will listen to me when a call affects me more than usual,” Sherwin said. “They are always available to help with a call, over the phone or if I drop by the office.”
For those interested in volunteering as an advocate, Sherwin said responding to calls isn’t a necessity.
“A volunteer can assist in a number of ways but they are not required to take a call,” Sherwin wrote. “There can be ways to help in court or in outreach events.”
What’s kept her going all of these years? How fulfilling the work is.
“It can be really rewarding to help a victim or the family and friends after an unexpected event,” Sherwin said in an email.
“You need to be able to meet people where they are emotionally and to expect a wide variety of situations and reactions. You are acting as a link in a long chain of people with different skill sets and responsibilities, that may include the people in dispatch, law enforcement, the hospital, courts and other agencies.”
For Sherwin, who declined to have her face photographed for this story, her sense of accomplishment comes from knowing that she’s helping others in what may be their darkest days.
“The people that you assist may not even remember your name, but you can help make a really difficult situation a bit easier, and to give them support, and to help them access their own support systems of friends and family.”
Coordinator Trefren is grateful.
“Sherwin is truly an angel and has covered on-call, covered court hearings, helped with outreach events, and is just overall amazing,” Trefren said.
An annual training is available for new volunteers. Those interested in volunteering can reach out to the Teton County Victim Services office at 307-732-8482.
Contact Kate Ready at 732-7076 or kready@jhnewsandguide.com.
Nonprofit focuses on empowering youth through access to snowboarding and skateboarding.
By Mark BakerThey get the kids checked in. They get them “geared up.” And they teach them how to shred and how to grind a rail.
They are the volunteers of Carving the Future, and they’re having fun, too.
“It’s really cool getting to work with the kids.” said Alex Clark, 25, who helps teach underserved youth how to snowboard at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. “They each have their own personalities, and once they get out in the mountains it’s really cool to experience their first time snowboarding with them to when they become ‘proper shredders.’ I’ve gained so much from the sport, I just want to give back as much as I can.”
Carving the Future is a Jacksonbased nonprofit that aims to empower youth through access to snowboarding and skateboarding. The organization, through the generous contributions of its donors, provides gear, lessons and even athletic scholarships for youth who otherwise wouldn’t have those opportunities.
“ The skateboard community was amazing for him here,” said Katie Beech, speaking about her eldest son, Ethan, who’s now 23. Beech is now a member of Carving the Future’s board, serving as treasurer, and also volunteers to teach snowboarding and skateboarding.
Beech moved to Jackson from
If you would like to volunteer with Carving the Future, you can contact the organization by emailing info@ carvingthefuture.com or Executive Director Lynn Linker at lynn@ carvingthefuture.com.
Utah in 2009 when her kids were very young. When Beech heard about Carving the Future a couple of years ago, she off ered her services as a volunteer.
“I love how their goal is to teach kids tools and activities that have to do with Jackson, especially skateboarding,” Beech said of the organization. “All you need is a skateboard and a helmet.”
Snowboarding can be a little bit more expensive, to say the least.
This winter Clark, Beech and others have worked with kids from the Wind River Reservation at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, a group called Latina Leadership, as well as youth from the Eastern Shoshone Boys and Girls Club in Washakie and the Northern Arapahoe Diabetes Prevention group.
“For me it’s just a way to give back to snowboarding,” volunteer Sean Loehle said. “I’m in Jackson because of snowboarding. I feel just really grateful for everything I have, and I think snowboarding is a big part of that, just to inspire some kids to find something they’re passionate about.”
Loehle, 29, moved to Jackson Hole
eight years ago after leaving his hometown of Gra nd Rapids, Michigan, to snowboard in Colorado.
He works as part of the resort’s park and pip e crew and snowboards whenever he can.
So does Jer Ramirez.
Ramirez has volunteered with Carving the Future since early February, helping the Latina Leadership group on four straight Saturdays.
“I wanted to help others out and see where tha t would take me,” Ramirez said.
He has 20 years of skateboarding experience but didn’t start snowboardi ng until a few years ago, in his late 20s, largely because he couldn’t afford it growing up in Colorado.
“The barrier for entry into any ski sport is huge,” said Ramirez, who’s looking forward to helping Carving the Future with skateboarding clinics this summer.
He wants to see more females get into skateboarding.
“It’s intimidating to go to the skatepark when you’re learning,” Ramirez said. “It feels like all eyes are on you, even though that’s not true.”
Darren Moffett volunteered for Carving the Future starting last fall. His 14-year-old son, Jake, came home one day in September wearing a “Carving the Future” sweatshirt. Curious, M offett researched the
organization online, connected with its founder, Adam Dowell, who connected him with Executive Director Lynn Linker, “and the rest is his tory,” Moffett said.
“I wholly support what th eir mantra is,” said Moffett, who has 20 years of experien ce as an event industry consultant. He thinks he can help make Carving the Future a household name around Jackson by including not j ust underserved youth, but all youth.
“I just felt it was the right fit for me,” said Moffett, who’s helping Carving the Future set up a May 24 skateboarding event at the Center for the Arts. “They’re good people and they mean well.”
For Linker the volunteers are the organization’s lifeblood.
“We wouldn’t be able to run our
rely on our vol unteers to gear up all the kids with all of our equipment.
“I’m grateful for them. If it was just a one-man show we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. So the fact that they give their time is huge.”
Carving the Future is also big on mental health.
“Our goal is to promote physical, mental, and social confidence for each beneficiary as we alleviate the mental health crisis in Wyoming through board sports,” the organization says on its website, making note of Wyoming’s disproportionately high suicide rate and challenging winters.
“We’re making it available to kids who otherwise wouldn’t have that opportunity,” Beech said of snowboarding. “And, I think, living in Jackson, every ki d should have the opportunity to get on the slopes.”
Contact Mark Baker at 732-7065 or
Volunteers help land managers keep track of recreation activity on public lands, while also helping first-time visitors learn the area and the etiquette.
By Billy Arnold
Brianna Leaver has spent hours helping someone find a lost ski on Mount Glory — to no avail.
She frequently empties a trash can filled with dog poop, tries to create order of the parking morass on the top of Teton Pass, and carries a U.S. Forest Service radio and first-aid kit just in case she stumbles across a backcountry skier in trouble.
And she does it all in her free time.
“We’re lucky to have this pass,” Leaver said. “We just have to be able to share it.”
As a Teton Pass ambassador, Leaver is one of 14 or so volunteers with the Teton Backcountry Alliance who keep the peace in the parking pullout on top of Teton Pass. Years ago there was conflict between skiers, Wyoming Department of Transportation plow drivers and commuters over sharing the right of way. Now, while there’s still occasional friction, things are much improved, according to the people who manage the area. Part of that is credited to the pass ambassadors, whose role has expanded beyond parking superintendent. Now, as Leaver said, they function as a pseudo ski patrol on the pass. They keep order in parking areas, sure, but also check to see if people have the appropriate avalanche gear, give visitors a bit of beta on where to head, and provide some help in the backcountry if people are hurt or lost.
The Teton Pass ambassador program is relatively well-known to Jackson Hole’s backcountry skiers and snowboarders. But 20 years after Friends of Pathways and the Bridger-Teton National Forest first recruited Wilsonite Jay Pistono to encourage skiers to behave more responsibly while they parked and crossed the highway, the idea of recruiting unpaid volunteers to encourage community-oriented behavior has caught on. It seems like every nonprofit, federal land manager and their partners have an ambassador program.
Linda Merigliano, the Bridger-Teton National Forest’s longtime wilderness and recreation manager, was one of the people who suggested recruiting Pistono. At the time, skiers and Wyoming Department of Transportation plow drivers were close to exchanging blows over disagreements — if not throwing punches outright. She and Tim Young, then the head of Friends of Pathways, wanted a backcountry skier to encourage other members of the backcountry community to do the right thing, rather than sending a uniform-clad ranger after them.
“We don’t need to have total regulation,” Merigliano remembered, thinking at the time. “And none of us want total bedlam and chaos.”
It’s not a stretch to say that idea has stuck.
Now there are hundreds of people in Jackson Hole who take time out of their week to patrol public areas and offer visitors and locals advice rather than tickets.
In the past, PAWS of Jackson Hole recruited “poop fairies” to encourage people to pick up their dog’s poop at popular trailheads. The movement was widely credited with cleaning up the Cache Creek drainage a few years back.
Friends of Pathways gets cyclists to ride around in the summer and encourage pathways etiquette.
The Bridger-Teton National Forest’s nonprofit partner, Friends of the Bridger-Teton, has a stable of volunteers who spend their summers living in campers at some of the forest’s most popular dispersed campgrounds.
Then there’s the wildlife brigade,
which manages bear jams in Grand Teton National Park; the wildlife ambassadors who keep traffic moving when grizzlies are out on Togwotee Pass; and the river ambassadors who float the Snake, educating people about the fisheries and damping down the chaos on boat ramps.
More recently, skiers trying to find a way to make Snow King Mountain Resort’s uphill program sustainable suggested an ambassador program. The Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce has even enlisted volunteers to stand near the antler arches to greet visitors and point them around town.
Twenty years ago, none of those programs existed. Most have sprung up in the past decade or so, starting with the Teton Pass program. Pistono is widely considered the first ambassador, and now oversees a cadre of red jackets like Leaver who have picked up his mantle and kept things running smoothly as backcountry use has skyrocketed.
“There’s so many folks out there and there’s more of a tendency towards entitlement than, say, self-governance,” Pistono said. “There has to be some sort of referee there. And that’s where the ambassador thing really kicked into gear.”
But not every ambassador ends up dealing with confrontation as much as those on the forest.
In Grand Teton, for example, crosscountry ski ambassadors were originally envisioned as a way to get skiers to make sure other skiers were following park rules, like using the right lane, keeping dogs on a leash on the groomed park road and not ski-joring — hitching dogs to their waist for a boost while cross-country skiing. But in recent years, as winter use of the park has surged, the ambassadors have spent more and more time orienting visitors to the park, what there is to do, and how to handle their equipment.
Steve Morriss has been one of the park’s cross-country ski rangers since the mid-2010s, when the Grand Teton National Park Foundation started grooming Teton Park Road. Once that began, park officials saw the ambassador program as a way to set rules of the newly groomed park road.
Almost 10 years later, Morriss said, when people want a break from downhill skiing and go into Skinny Skis looking for a place to cross-country ski, they’re pointed to the park road. Business owners know about the ambassador program, and know they’ll help visitors out.
“Oftentimes that help involves getting them into their skis for the first time, helping out with other equipment issues and pointing in the right directions,” Morriss said.
Scott Kosiba, a former U.S. Forest Service wilderness ranger who now serves as the head of Friends of the Bridger-Teton, thinks ambassador programs have proliferated for two related reasons. Land managers like the Bridger-Teton and the Park Service have trouble hiring enough staff as it is, especially as demand for recreation surges, and volunteers are often a ready and willing solution. They’re retirees looking for a place to park a camper for the summer, skiers looking to give back while they’re in the backcountry, or hikers tired of pooch poop on the trails they walk themselves.
“They’re able to stay in one of the most beautiful places in the country, protect the resource and connect with people and share their own passion,” Kosiba said, referring to the forest’s campground ambassadors. “If we were
outside in some other place — in rural Illinois or something — we wouldn’t have that same recruitment potential.”
The proliferation of ambassador programs comes as the number of people visiting Jackson Hole has skyrocketed. And that’s no coincidence.
In 2005 Jackson Hole Airport recorded 250,000 “enplanements” for the first time, the airline industry’s way of gauging how busy an airport is by counting the number of people boarding planes there. In 2022 the airport reported 405,693 “enplanements,” a 62% increase. And visitation was actually down in 2022 from 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic drove visitors to Jackson Hole in record numbers. In that year the airport reported about 500,000 “enplanements,” a twofold increase since 2005 — in less than 20 years.
If Teton County is following national trends, which land managers feel it is, a lot of people visiting Jackson Hole are
also new to outdoor recreation. Camping, certainly. A 2022 report from KOA, an American franchise of privately owned campgrounds, estimated that 21% of households that went camping in 2020 were new to camping: That’s some 10 million groups. In 2021 that number dipped down to 16%, or about 9 million households. But both years represented a dramatic increase from years prior. In 2019 only 4% of households that set up show in the woods were new to camping, just under 2 million people.
“There’s a lot of people that are fairly new to outdoor activities,” said Merigliano, the forest’s recreation specialist. “So we just need to go back to some basics and not assume that everybody grew up knowing how and what to do in the woods.”
As visitors have flocked to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, officials say having a friendly face present in highly trafficked areas has helped steer visi-
tors, new valley residents and long-time locals toward behaving in a way that’s more in line with the community’s values and regulations.
For the Friends of the Bridger-Teton, the presence of ambassadors has helped prevent human-caused wildfire and euthanasia of wildlife in dispersed camping areas where they’re present. Camping ambassadors have put out over 200 unattended campfires, Kosiba said, and talked with nearly 1,000 people about food storage violations, the main cause of human-wildlife conflict. Wildlife ambassadors on Togwotee Pass have also helped keep traffic moving on the highway — and roadside bears like Felicia alive. Shadow Mountain has become a “pretty decent place to go camp,” Merigliano said. Same with Curtis Canyon.
“The Sheriff’s Office was scared to go up there because it was pretty dangerous,” Merigliano said. “Just having that daily presence has really helped transform that place.”
On Teton Pass more people are leashing their dogs near the highway and fewer people are flipping WYDOT plowmen the bird. In Grand Teton the ski ambassadors have helped enforce rules, but also become a point of contact for visitors new and old.
“Their job originally was to educate people,” said Jess Erwin, Grand Teton’s volunteer coordinator. “But they developed into so much more, which was helping visitors get oriented.”
On Teton Pass, where Pistono served as the valley’s first ambassador, the idea was to promote “responsible recreation” and keeping the peace by encouraging people to behave politely. Merigliano thinks that’s worked, at least in part. And she hopes that ethic continues to spread, ensuring it’s not a hassle to do the right thing.
“I’m seeing that start to take hold,” Merigliano said. “And that’s incredibly encouraging.”
Contact Billy Arnold at 732-7063 or barnold@jhnewsandguide.com.
Karen Terra’s touch can bring a patient to tears.
A sterile hospital room, strewn with cords, machines and medical devices, transforms into a meditative oasis when Healing Touch volunteers step on the scene. Brought to St. John’s Health in 2012, the clinical energy work program is built to promote healing and relaxation among hospital patients.
“At a hospital, where there’s nurses coming in and out and bells are ringing, the program really helps people become more peaceful,” Terra said. “You just see their body relax. From pain to trust.”
Healing Touch is intended to calm the autonomic and sympathetic nervous systems to reduce pain and
anxiety. The program was designed by a nurse as a way to maintain human touch in a time when care has become so technological.
“It’s obviously been so well-received by patients and staff alike,” said Natalie Stewart, the wellness director of St. John’s. “One [technique] is called ‘mind clearing,’ which is a light touch on the shoulders and head that really helps with anxiety.”
When a patient requests energy work from Healing Touch, soothing chimes and chanting music will play softly from a speaker. The hands of the healer will press firmly into a patient’s calves, thighs, stomach and shoulders, for example. Sometimes the healer will graze their hands over the patient’s body, sort of like reiki, for energy work.
While the program used to consist mostly of registered nurses and nursing assistants, it expanded to include three volunteers in January and will add at least five more by the end of the month. Terra is one pioneering volunteer.
“I’ve been here for 40 years and have raised four children and live four blocks from the hospital,” Terra said. “From the birth of my grandchildren to the passing of life from my mother and husband — this hospital of ours is so important to this community.”
Her gratitude for the hospital’s services prompted her to complete the 40 hours of Healing Touch training to help patients in need and to give back to St. John’s.
“Hands-on energy therapies have been used by all cultures for millennia,”
Meals on Wheels volunteers delivered over 12,000 meals. Volunteers around the Center spent over 700 hours helping serve lunch, supporting our game and clubs, office assistance, de-cluttering, kitchen help and so much more! We could not do it without you!
Terra said. “I’m new to this field and I am overwhelmed with the emotions of being fully present for this treatment, which lasts half an hour to 45 minutes.”
Terra works full time as a real estate broker in town, so she volunteers just once a week. She said she looks forward to volunteering more as her retirement inches closer: “I hope as I have more time I’ll be able to do it more than once a week,” she said. “It’s just such a unique experience for a nonmedical practitioner to be so intimately involved in the well-being of patients.”
Those interested in volunteering with Healing Touch must complete background checks and a patient experience program plus 40 hours of energy work training. While
the Healing Touch trainer has traditionally been outsourced from a medical center in Sun Valley, Idaho, the Wellness Department is training a nurse on staff, Shannon Murphy, to be an in-house teacher.
While the program had to be halted until January due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s now back in full swing and has expanded. Volunteers typically see patients only once because it’s rare to spend more than a few nights, let alone weeks, inside the hospital as a patient. However, some patients are seen regularly. Healing Touch volunteers will leave each other notes so as to best serve the folks they’ve seen before.
“We only give [the treatment] when patients ask,” Stewart said, “and sometimes the [volunteers] will provide it on one another.”
Healing Touch is one of many programs in the hospital’s Wellness Department. Others include workshops to help with grief, navigating finances, online yoga classes and drum lessons. The department even offers cooking classes, inspired by services like Hello Fresh, in which hospital workers are provided with all of the ingredients to cook a dish alongside a virtual instructor, while in the comfort of their own kitchen.
The St. John’s Health Foundation is providing funding for volunteer and teaching trainings to keep the program financially viable for healers. Interested volunteers are encouraged to apply, especially those with nursing or massage backgrounds. Email volunteers@stjohns.health to apply. Healing Touch will hold another training in May.
Contact Miranda de Moraes at 7327063 or mdm@jhnewsandguide.com.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Grand Teton National Park could not accomplish the work we do without our much-appreciated volunteers. Last year, the park hosted 540 volunteers who contributed over 40,500 work hours. Volunteers help in a variety of ways, from maintaining trails, protecting wildlife, to providing educational opportunities and assisting visitors. We hear from our volunteers that their time in the park is extremely rewarding, giving them a chance to be outdoors and connect with people from all over the world – which is why we are so thrilled when they come back year after year.
We are grateful for our dedicated and passionate team of volunteers - we get more done because of them and are in awe of their commitment, hard work, and time they dedicate to the stewardship of this magnificent place.
Interested in joining our team?
Two of the valley’s most popular volunteer gigs are looking for help, too. Those are the Meals on Wheels delivery service for the Senior Center of Jackson Hole, and the Teton Literacy Program. Sometimes those programs require volunteers to be a minimum age.
Asimple
Google search, like the rest of life these days, is the easiest way to find volunteer opportunities in the area. Most nonprofits welcome extra help, although some have waiting lists for some of the more popular shifts.
The Community Foundation of Jackson Hole tends to be a central player in letting people know about volunteer opportunities. Habitat for Humanity always needs people to help build homes. People don’t need to have a construction background but should not be afraid to wield a hammer and get dirty.
For those who love to watch wildlife, the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation hosts nature mapping workshops pretty regularly. People will learn how to report wildlife sightings such that it benefits the foundation and its
The Jackson Food Cupboard at One22 also needs help stacking shelves, giving away food and running satellite sites.
Interested in animals? The Jackson/Teton County Animal Shelter needs help showering critters with love, and th e Animal Adoption Center looks for fosters for the dogs it has in its adoption program.
The advice for those looking to volunteer tends t o be simple: Think about what interests you, what your time eligibility is and how often you can help. Many places want a weekly commitment, and some are more flexible and allow people to drop in.
Either way, volunteers are integral to the success of many nonprofits in town and will welcome the help however it comes.
Check out CFJacksonHole. org/volunteer-jh. Another site is VolunteerMatch.org/search/orgs.
With a little Googling you can find nonprofits that need the kind of help you want to give.
Some 120 volunteers give time to support literacy in the community.
By Tibby Plasse
The power of the page is sparked by the power of people. That’s the power behind the Teton Literacy Center and the program’s 1,483 volunteer hours and 86 volunteers. They fuel programs for tutoring, after-school clubs, adult English as a second language classes and even administrative and event support.
“We typically have over 120 volunteers give their time to our programs throughout the academic year, and their support is absolutely crucial for the success of our programs and organization,” said Carisa Barnett, director of operations for the K-12 programs of the Literacy Center.
Barnett highlighted tutors like Lori Clark-Erickson who reliably show up to help students with literacy.
“Our staff simply does not have the capacity to meet student, family and community needs without their help,” she said.
Clark-Erickson is a former Jackson Hole High School librarian and the current board president of Teton County Library Friends. (Clark-Erickson is also a fiercely dedicated pickleball player, so if you want to catch her, be aware you might have to catch her after hours.)
Clark-Erickson has been volunteering at the Literacy Center since 2018 and began working with her current tutoring student in 2020. As a librarian she volunteered there as she could. Now retired, she loves working with the organization more regularly.
Barnett said that during the past three years Clark-Erickson has “built a beautiful relationship with her tutoring student” that surpasses literacy. It has moved to a joy of reading, a mentorship and support for the student in middle school.
“To see the two of them together is a joy, as they clearly have a deep mutual appreciation for each other and the time they get to spend together,” Barnett said. “They simply have so much fun together, which in turn makes the learning fun for Lori’s student.”
For Barnett and the rest of the Literacy Center staff, the depth of the relationship between mentor and mentee is built on trust.
Dedicated to young learners, and a lifelong learner herself, Clark-Erickson began volunteering with a second program at the Literacy Center: adult women-focused ESL classes.
“They are awesome,” she said. “I mean, to realize what these women do day to day with their families — they are all immigrants to the United States and they all have children. ... When compared to my life, their lives are more complicated. But they realize that learning English is going to help them, and it has been so rewarding.”
Clark-Erickson’s journey with her middle school student has been a great example of the work the Literacy Center tries to accomplish with over 300 families each year.
“When I first met her in fifth grade, she couldn’t speak a word of English,” Clark-Erickson said, “and last year we did a collaboration with the local author Nanci Steveson for her book ‘Midnight at the Shelter.’”
Steveson asked the Literacy Center if it had a tutoring pair that would read an excerpt of the book for her launch party.
“We both love the book,” the literacy volunteer said, “and it just was so fun because it’s from the point of view of the dogs.”
Clark-Erickson describes her middle school literacy partner as a “rock star” and even helped her mother with studying for her test for United States citizenship.
“It’s fun to be an adult who’s not her parents and be part of her life,” she said. “And I think we have a pretty special relationship. And it’s because of Teton Literacy that I have this opportunity.”
Every new volunteer must attend an
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hourlong training before being placed in a program, and returning volunteers are encouraged to attend every five years. The training entails an overview of the organization, who participants are, opportunities to be involved, and a mock lesson plan. About 60 volunteers attend training each year, said Volunteer and Partnerships Coordinator Anna Szalay.
And this year, one of those 60 was a longtime Literacy Center student, Lupe Garcia. She enrolled in the tutor training after her high school classes had wrapped for the day.
Garcia served as a “rising educator” in the Summer Opportunities in Academics and Recreation program — a paid position — in 2022. She is one of about 35 high school volunteers who
volunteers support in more than one role and come to TLC multiple days of the week after school,” Barnett said.
Barnett said Garcia helps implement Family Literacy Night, serves as a substitute tutor when a student’s regular tutor is out, assists with office administration projects and provides support in staff-led small groups.
“The really special thing about having Lupe as a volunteer is that she has been a longtime TLC student herself,” she said. “As a sophomore she still meets weekly with the volunteer tutor she was matched with in the third grade.”
That makes her a role model and inspiration for younger students.
The Literacy Center has 40 students on the waitlist for its one-on-one tutoring program. For information on volunteering visit TetonLiteracy.org.
Our team at Singleton Peery Financial has been serving the Jackson Hole community for decades. We understand that the well-being of our community is directly connected to the wellbeing of our clients. Trust in our commitment to both your financial success and the success of our beautiful community.
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Volunteer
By Jeannette BonerWhat happened when a tube of toothpaste, a toothbrush and the tooth fairy walked into an elementary school?
“It was hilarious and adorable,” said Dr. Rebecca Cloetta, one of a mouthful of local dentists working to support a new initiative at Teton County School District. “The program was so well done and I couldn’t believe there were costumes too.”
The nonprofit Fund for Public Education and Teton County School District No. 1 launched the new program “Love Your Teeth” in February to coincide with National Children’s Dental Health Awareness Month. The program moved ahead under the leadership of the public school system’s Lead Nurse Esther Ellis.
“School nurses look at the child as a whole when it comes to their health,” Ellis said. “If a student cannot eat properly because their mouth is in pain, they cannot learn.”
The program is supported through professional volunteers such as Cloetta, who is now retired from Cloetta Dental. Other providers include Holly Schumacher with Jackson Family Dentistry, Summer Owens and Carol Owens with Owens Family Dentistry, Catherine Tebay with Teton Dental Arts, Grant Kollenborn with Cloetta Dental and Mary Ellen Evolo, who is in private practice.
“When they reached out to me, I signed up right away,” said Dr. Grant Kollenborn, who recently took over Clo-
etta Dental. “I have kids of my own and know the importance of getting kids in early to avoid dental anxiety.”
Dr. Kollenborn said helping a student who has never been to the dentist feel relaxed and empowered with information before a dental exam is an immeasurable gift that will last a lifetime.
Lack of access to affordable dental care is one of the biggest wellness chal-
lenges that families face, particularly in Wyoming where the state does not fund dental screenings for public school students.
Jack Glasbrenner, the program and operations manager for Fund for Public Education, said the nonprofit jumped at Ellis’ idea to give parents an opt-in option for dental screenings. Additionally, the Love Your Teeth program offers a
comprehensive dental care curriculum for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, serving all the elementary schools in the district. The program has the potential to reach 3,000 students.
“We’re hopeful that this will be a sustainable program and that in the next five years we see a decrease in dental needs once we get some data
Town of Jackson is grateful to community members who serve on our Boards and Task Force. The Town thanks current members, listed below, and everyone who has given their time and energy through the years to continue to make our Town a wonderful place to live. Thank you!
Airport Board
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Design Review Committee
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Energy Conservation Works
dentists teach students that if you love your teeth, they’ll stay with you.
sets,” Glasbrenner said.
Enlisting a small army of dental professionals in the valley, the program not only aims to screen for dental troubles but hopes to give students who need dental care just that.
“When the parents receive the dental screening, we ask if they have insurance or Medicaid,” Glasbrenner said. “And if they are in financial need they may apply for a grant through the Love Your Teeth program. Our dental providers will help those students in need. It was amazing how many community members stepped up and offered their services.”
Dr. Cloetta was one of the first dentists to conduct the screening at Colter Elementary School in Jackson. The Fund for Public Education purchased not only the costumes but provided equipment such as small mirrors to view back molars, toothbrushes, paste, and brought in elevated chairs so the professionals didn’t have to bend down all day to peer into little mouths. Such details, said Dr. Cloetta, made the day a huge success.
Dr. Cloetta added that she noted tooth decay in some students, more
than she would have liked to have seen.
According to the Pew Charitable Trust, tooth decay remains the most prevalent chronic disease in children, even though it is largely preventable.
And according to the Centers for Disease Control, in Wyoming more than half of children aged 6 to 8 will have had a cavity in at least one of their primary teeth. Additionally, children 5 to 19 years from low-income families are 25% more likely to have cavities, compared with children from higherincome households.
“We know that good oral health is essential for the physical, emotional, and social wellbeing of kids, and yet too many families in our community either can’t afford or can’t access care,” said Jennifer Jellen, the executive director for the Fund for Public Education. “This program addresses that specific need by ensuring that kids receive the help they need for long-term wellness.”
Funding is provided through a grant awarded by the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole and local donors. To learn more about this program, or to support Teton County’s Public Schools, visit FundForPublicEducation.org.
Contact Jeannette Boner at 307-732-5901 or schools@jhnewsandguide.com.
Bettering the lives of Women and Children in Jackson and Beyond
Come see what our organization is all about!
OUR TWO BIGGEST FUNDRAISERS: Bras for a Cause, May 13th at the Million Dollar Cowboy Christmas Tree Festival, the first Sunday of December
We support local non-profits whose mission aligns with ours, high school scholarships and more!
For more info call 307-413-6772
Miriam tirelessly works to make Jackson a healthier and more inclusive space. She volunteers her time on the boards of the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole and Coombs Outdoors, is an active volunteer for Hole Food Rescue, and is a Voices JH Community Mobilizer. She also founded Camina Conmigo -- an effort to get Spanish speaking adults out hiking on public lands, and leads hikes all summer. Miriam selflessly gives her time to make Jackson a better community.
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Jordan brings years of grassroots organizing efforts in the Tetons to Voices JH. She has worked with immigrant community members through the Teton County Library, One22, the Teton County Housing Department, Rapid Response of WY, ACLU of WY, and Community Safety Network. Jordan is the cofounder of VoicesJH, she is very caring, giving, kind, positive and dedicated to help build a direct communication channel with local immigrant communities in the Jackson Hole and it’s surrounding communities.
For 24 years, Blanca has been a part of the Teton communities. Whether it’s Jackson or Victor or Driggs; she has devoted her educational, holistic and communication skills to these communities. Recognized from different organizations and non-profits, Blanca is who to go to when you need a present Spanish speaking community. Among her incredible ability to connect with people from Spanish speakers to English speakers, her abilities have been so essential to our ever-growing community of the Latino/Mexican cultures.
