Valley Volunteers 2020

Volunteers Valley

A supplement to the

April 22, 2020

Lisa Roarke, left, and Meagan Murtagh, right, hold a sign thanking the healthcare workers at St. John’s Health after dropping off donated cupcakes and coffee April 15.

Hole Quarantine aims to spread the help

Realtor launched the site to benefit emergency workers and businesses.

Page 13.

KATHRYN ZIESIG / NEWS&GUIDE

2E - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 22, 2020

When the going gets tough, the tough volunteer A

TCSAR VOLUNTEERS PREPARED, PRACTICED, PRESENT 24/7/365 www.TetonCountySAR.org

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thousand hand-sewn masks.

Four hundred donations totaling $25,000. Gallons of hand sanitizer.

What a spring.

It’s hard to believe that just five weeks ago the first case of coronavirus was confirmed in Teton County.

Back then sewing machines were just firing up, businesses were just beginning to shutter, distilleries and breweries were just turning their attention to a different kind of alcohol.

It feels like a lifetime ago. In January I popped by the grocery store a few times a week. Now I carefully plan out my list, take maybe one trip a week and wear a mask (thank you, Janet Monahan and Jackson Hole Quilt Guild). So much has changed.

But working on this section — from my breakfast table in my apartment and occasionally on the couch in my pajamas — reminded me that in times of distress there is no better place to be than Teton County. When times get tough, the tough get to work.

This year we celebrate some of the hardworking volunteers who have jumped in with their time, skills and dollars during one of the toughest times our community has faced. We celebrate the Jackson Hole Quilt Guild for banding together with a goal of sewing 1,000 masks for St. John’s Health, a goal

the group flew past a few weeks ago. We celebrate those who have come together on Teton County CAREmongering, a grassroots Facebook movement to organize idle hands with things that need to get done. We celebrate the organizers, the entrepreneurs, the nonprofits who have built new collaborations and strengthened old ones.

Thank you, volunteers. You have helped keep our frontline workers stay safe, our children fed, our neighbors healthy and our pets sheltered. When times got tough, you got to work.

We know we didn’t cover all of the amazing volunteerism happening in this one section, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to. Got a story to share? Please do. You can reach me at melissa@ jhnewsandguide.com.

— Melissa Cassutt, deputy editor

Special supplement written, produced and printed by the Jackson Hole News&Guide Publisher: Kevin Olson Associate Publisher: Adam Meyer Editor in Chief: Johanna Love Managing Editor: Rebecca Huntington Deputy Editor: Melissa Cassutt Layout and Design: Andy Edwards, Samantha Nock Photographers: Bradly J. Boner, Ryan Dorgan, Kathryn Ziesig Copy Editors: Jennifer Dorsey, Mark Huffman, Addie Henderson Features: Gabe Allen, Melissa Cassutt, Chance Q. Cook, Cody Cottier, Jennifer Dorsey, Tom Hallberg, Mike Koshmrl Advertising Sales: Karen Brennan, Tom Hall, Megan LaTorre, Oliver O’Connor, David Szugyi Advertising Coordinator: Tatum Biciolis Creative Director: Sarah Wilson Advertising Design: Lydia Redzich, Luis Ortiz, Heather Haseltine, Chelsea Robinson Pressroom Manager: Chuck Pate Pre-press Supervisor: Jeff Young Press Supervisor: Dale Fjeldsted Pressmen: Steve Livingston, Lewis Haddock Office Manager: Kathleen Godines Customer Service Managers: Lucia Perez, Rudy Perez Circulation Supervisor: Jeff Young Circulation: Jayann Carlisle, Brandi Terry

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©2020 Teton Media Works Jackson Hole News&Guide P.O. Box 7445, 1225 Maple Way Jackson, WY 83002 Phone: 307-733-2047 Fax: 307-733-2138 Web: JHNewsAndGuide.com

VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 3E

Post retirement, Joe Burke keeps busy ‘I don’t have a favorite,’ he said. ‘I am happy to do all the things I do.’

Singing the social isolation blues

By Jennifer Dorsey

O

RYAN DORGAN / NEWS&GUIDE

Joe Burke

borhood,” he said.

Working with children in particular strikes an emotional chord in him. When he was 15 his dad died suddenly of a blood clot in his lungs, leaving Burke and his younger brother without a man in the house.

Others stepped in to fill the void.

Burke recalls the guy across the street taking him fishing and teaching him how to hunt. Friends’ fathers would include him on outings with their kids.

“Men in the neighborhood did stuff with us, kept an eye on us,” Burke said. “I never forgot that. It was an act of kindness.”

When Burke burst into volunteering, his own enthusiasm for fly-fishing made him a natural to become one of the leaders of the 4-H

Sport Fishing Club. Their activities include taking kids ice fishing, visiting the fish hatchery, discussing sporting ethics and teaching them how to tie flies.

At the Teton Literacy Center he is partnered with his ninth child. As they work on literacy skills he enjoys using his own experiences and each kid’s interests to enhance the learning process.

With one boy “I found out he had a great interest in sharks, monkeys and great apes,” Burke said. “I went and found a book to show where they lived in the world and the climate.”

Laura Soltau, executive director of the Literacy Center, calls Burke a “super star.” She remembers him teaching another Teton Literacy See Joe Burke on 4E

Thank you volunteers for opening the door to a brighter future.

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n Halloween 2012 a volunteer spirit was released into the Jackson Hole scene.

Oct. 31 that year was Joe Burke’s last day in the paid workforce. But not his last day being busy. On Nov. 1 he kicked off his retirement years by getting started on a background check so he could work with kids in a volunteer mentoring program.

Though that program ended, Burke’s volunteer efforts expanded.

Eight years later he’s racked up countless hours with, among others, the Teton Literacy Project, American Legion Post 43, 4-H, the Teton District Board of Health, and, more recently, the Meg and Bert Raynes Wildlife Fund.

“I don’t have a favorite,” the 73-year-old said of his various gigs.

“I am happy to do all the things I do.”

Burke, a valley resident since 1979, is the News&Guide’s Super Volunteer of 2020. This wasn’t the first year his name was put forth for the title.

“It’s the sheer variety and number, as well as his enthusiasm for each program, that I felt deserved recognition from the community,” said Dennis Butcher, who nominated Burke.

“Joe has been a close friend for decades,” Butcher emailed from out of the country. “As he neared retirement from his job as a respiratory therapist and sleep lab technician, I and many of his friends feared Joe would not have enough to do in all the upcoming free time. After all, one can only fish so many days a year.

“Joe surprised us all. He dove right into volunteer work in the community.”

The volunteer pool was a welcome place for Burke after a long career that included serving as a hospital corpsman in the U.S. Coast Guard, working as a registered respiratory therapist and starting and running a sleep disorder lab at St. John’s Health.

“I worked so hard and so long. …

I realized that there were a lot of things I wanted to do or used to do that I didn’t have time for,” Burke said.

He traces his interest in volunteerism to the sense of community he felt in his hometown of Rockville, Illinois.

“As a true baby boomer I was always around people who were doing stuff for other people in the neigh-

With all of Joe Burke’s volunteer activities, his calendar used to look like a used bingo card at the end of each month.

These days he’s looking at a lot of blank squares.

“There’s essentially nothing on there,” Burke said.

What a difference several weeks can make.

Joe Burke talked to the News&Guide about his volunteer activities in early March, before the pandemic necessitated stayat-home rules.

The social distancing mandate has canceled out a lot of his volunteer work, and he pronounced himself “bored stiff” as a result.

“It’s been a reality check for me as to what a social outlet it is for me,” Burke said April 1. “I really miss it a lot.”

He has been on the phone a lot, though. There was a conference call related to his health board work.

And with his fellow American Legion Post 43 members, for example, he’s been talking about Memorial Day Weekend plans.

There’s the unveiling of the new veterans monument on Town Square to think about as well as the traditional visit to area cemeteries to place flags on service men and women’s graves. Burke said they are considering streaming the ceremony and maybe having a bigger celebration later.

With the graveside visits they’re wondering how to do it without having people too close together.

“We are already looking at how is this going to work,” he said at the start of April.

One bright spot has been reviewing high school students’ applications for American Legion Post 43 scholarships, something he said fellow Post member Ed Liebzeit was doing as well.

“It was such a highlight to go through these things,” Burke said. “These are good kids. …

There’s hope for the future — generational hope.”

Having to isolate himself during the pandemic has given Burke a new appreciation for volunteer work.

“I did all of these things because I thought it made a difference,” he said. “Now I’m saying, ‘This is you that’s socially interacting.’”

www.tetonhabitat.org @tetonhabitat

4E - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Joe Burke

Community Hero and Next Generation Award nominees

Continued from 3E

child who was interested in fly-fishing and how to tie flies.

“He understands that the engagement piece is crucial,” Soltau said. And he builds a mentoring relationship, she said.

“It’s such a key piece of what these volunteers do.”

Burke was the 2018 Volunteer of the Year at the Teton Literacy Program, and that’s saying something for an organization with a great crop of volunteers, Soltau said.

“For Joe to rise to the top of that group is pretty impressive,” she said.

The American Legion folks are also glad to have him around.

“He rolls up his sleeves for all kinds of tasks, whether that’s helping out in the kitchen, bussing tables or, as the current commander, spearheading the final push to complete the new veterans monument on Town Square,” Ed Liebzeit said.

“He’s the guy that is there when you need him. He’ll do any job and do it as well as he possibly can and do it with a smile on this face. I think all of us at the Legion have seen that, and that’s the reason he was elected vice commander last year and became commander when that role opened up.”

Burke’s medical career began with his time as a hospital corpsman in the U.S. Coast Guard. He’s enthusiastic about the new veterans monument coming to Town Square — “This is a labor of love for all concerned,” he said — but also about all the other less-high-profile things the post does. Post members raise money for scholarships, for example, and offer camaraderie and support to fellow veterans. And they provide graveside services, with a recording of taps, a rifle salute, and a flag for the branch of service of the deceased.

“We all served our country under the same flag,” Burke said of the post members. “Under the American Legion we continue to serve our community.”

Being part of the Meg and Bert Raynes Wildlife Fund is a newer role for Burke.

“I just couldn’t say no to Bert,” Burke said.

The nonprofit, created by the News&Guide’s Far Afield columnist and his wife, has a mission to promote sustainable wildlife populations by supporting research education, habitat protection and habitat restoration. Burke will help decide which projects to fund.

If you’re a fan of Far Afield you’ll have seen Burke’s bird sightings in Field Notes. He likes nature and anything with feathers — ask him about the lazuli buntings at his house last summer. So the Raynes Foundation gives him another opportunity to volunteer in a way that’s meaningful to him.

“I’m just getting my feet wet,” Burke said.

This year the News&Guide again recognized a Super Volunteer, picked from all nominees and profiled by the editorial staff. But we also wanted to honor two other outstanding volunteers, who would be given the Community Hero Award or Next Generation Award, to be picked by the community.

Each of the three winners received $250, care of the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, to donate to their chosen nonprofit.

As in years past, we had a lot of great nominees who we wanted to honor for their tireless work.

Community Hero Award nominees Carolyn Burke, nominated by Bobby Casey Janelle and Mike Conlin, nominated by Nancy Vest and Bill Funk Linda Eggers, nominated by BC Dailey Sue Ernisse, nominated by Jessie Walters Wren Fialka, nominated by Sarah Tollison Augusta Friendsmith, nominated by Corrin Berg Jane Frisch, nominated by Cathie Batavia and Jess Farr Abi Garaman, nominated by Judy Nalley and Frederick Tessier Matt Hare, nominated by Augusta Friendsmith, Mara Kingscott and Nick Staron Mark Houser, nominated by Anne Marie Wells and Calia Chowan Nikki (Nicole) Kaufman, nominated by Shannon Sollitt Craig Knecht and his horse, Thunder, nominated by Adam Casady, Gloria Courser, Sylvia DiPrisco, Della Drews, Steve Elam, Heidi Hansen, Bret King, Jean Kitchen, Priscilla Marden, Judy Nalley, Tim Oakley, Melissa Pangraze, Lisa Ruschill, Karen Saner, Lynette Shanaghy, Mary Schmitt, Catherine Tallichet and Cynthia Trott Gary Kofinas, nominated by Peggie dePasquale and Brooke Sausser Cody Lockhart, nominated by Leslie Mattson Bruce Mason, nominated by Julia Haines June McCollister, nominated by Martha Birkett Annie Mostkoff, nominated by Kim Harrington Mike Moyer, nominated by KC Bess, Dennis Butcher and Stephanie Thomas WINNER Lisa Robertson, nominated by Susan Eriksen-Meier and Kristi Lloyd Alexis Sarthou, nominated by Nancy Van Buskirk Michael and Claudia Schrotz, nominated by Nancy Hoffman and Lynette Shanaghy Craig and Carol Schwender, nominated by Jill Callahan Jim Stanford, nominated by Brooke Sausser Tyler Valentine, nominated by Hannah Sell Lily Wade, nominated by Jenna Martin Rozan Welch, nominated by Diane Gieck Bob Wemple, nominated by Laurie Brown Michael Yin, nominated by Calia Chowan and Anne Marie Wells Al Zuckerman, nominated by Jess Erwin

Contact Jennifer Dorsey at jennifer@jhnewsandguide.com or 732-5908.

CONGRATULATIONS

Next Generation Award nominees Karsten Bessonette, nominated by Jessie Walters WINNER Alyssa Moyer, nominated by Mara Kingscott Brett Simic, nominated by Nannette Beckley Lily Wade, nominated by Jenna Martin and Brooke Sausser

VOLUNTEER AWARD WINNERS!

Community Hero Award

Mike Moyer

Mike is a long-time volunteer with Teton County Search and Rescue who has also been a mentor to many volunteers in the valley. He quietly serves the community by giving his time and emotional energy to others around him and those in need. He never pounds his chest or seeks attention but he deserves recognition from the community for all his efforts over the past 25 years. Even more impressive is the fact that he is able to accomplish all this after a hard day’s work (at a mentally and emotionally demanding job) with Jackson Hole Fire/EMS.

- KC Bess, Stephanie Thomas and Dennis Butcher, TCSAR Foundation

Next Generation Award

Karsten Bessonette

CONGRATULATIONS

to Super Volunteer Joe Burke!

Karsten began volunteering with the Teton Raptor Center at the age of 9 with his parents. He would show up after school with his mom or dad to assist with care of the small animals, making sure they had fresh water, food and clean cages. Karsten then began to assist during our education programs and would greet the public while giving details about our avian ambassadors. When programming concluded for the summer, Karsten jumped on board with our research team to help monitor raptor nests.

In 2018, Karsten was recognized as TRC’s Junior Ambassador-of-the-Year for his enthusiasm and dedication to Teton Raptor Center. Special thanks to Karsten’s parents, Joanna and Chris, for fostering his enthusiasm and facilitating his travel and time.

- Jessie Walters, Teton Raptor Center

VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 5E

Organizers wrangle herd of volunteers Established nonprofits see a surge in interest; independent volunteers come to aid of neighbors.

Lend a Hand Interested in offering some of your time or skills?

The Community Foundation of Jackson Hole has taken a lead on connecting volunteers with organizations that need help. Sign up to receive help or to lend it at CFJacksonHole.org/volunteer-jh.

To connect with Teton County CAREmongering visit TinyURL.com/ tetoncountycaremongering.

By Cody Cottier

A

s soon as disaster strikes, volunteers flock to the scene to combat the coming hardship.

Thousands rebuilt New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The California wildfire season of 2018 brought out the same caring instinct for ravaged communities. On a smaller scale, hundreds of Teton County residents have offered their time and energy to neighbors during the coronavirus pandemic.

The question, in each situation, is how best to help — how to orchestrate the legions of altruistic souls in the safest and most effective way. As with all forms of disaster response, Emergency Management Coordinator Rich Ochs said, consolidation is key.

During a crisis, various government agencies cooperate under a unified command structure. Teton County does that — as do most local, state and federal agencies — to keep law enforcement officers, first responders, health officials and other government authorities on the same page, with regular meetings and constant communication.

Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, or VOAD, is a corollary to that system for the nonprofit sector. It exists, in part, to ensure various organizations aren’t doing the same work simultaneously. It’s no use having six groups separately organizing clothing drives if no one is distributing food.

“You would think that never happens in a disaster,” Ochs said. “It happens all the time.”

The local VOAD chapter has doz-

BRADLY J. BONER / NEWS&GUIDE

Jonathan Wessel of New West Knifeworks organizes plastic bottles while producing hand sanitizer in March at Grand Teton Distillery in Driggs, Idaho. The two companies teamed up to make and fill thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer for the Teton Valley and Jackson Hole communities in response to COVID-19 pandemic.

ens of nonprofit members, from the American Red Cross and the Jackson Cupboard to One22 and PAWS of Jackson Hole. Many attend monthly meetings, during which they “throw out what-if scenarios,” Ochs said.

He said those groups are largely prepared to tackle disasters. They already deal with emergencies on a daily basis; the only difference here is the order of magnitude.

But even people who don’t volunteer regularly feel compelled to do so when a phenomenon like coronavirus demands it.

The Community Foundation of Jackson Hole stepped in to process the influx of newcomers, setting itself up as a go-between for individual volunteers and the nonprofit world.

“We were hearing from some of our nonprofit partners that they were being inundated with calls,” said Shelby Read, the foundation’s director of programs and outreach. “So much so that they struggled to keep up with just having someone on the phone to field those.”

Now the group is asking that anyone interested in volunteering register through the foundation at CFJacksonHole.org/volunteer-jh.

That way the foundation can relay requests for help from nonprofits to volunteers. So far, Read said, over 200 people have signed up.

The foundation also hosted a webinar on safe food handling to those on the list so they could learn how to disinfect their cars and use gloves and face masks.

She doesn’t want to dissuade anyone

from their neighborly duty, she said, but to encourage them to serve safely.

“We’re not looking to police anyone,” she said. “We’re just trying to pass along information from the health department.”

In a news release from the foundation she quotes the department’s recommendation: “We would like to stress that volunteers should be using established community organizations in order to be properly trained, vetted and assessed for appropriateness, for their own safety and for the safety of our community. Limiting volunteering efforts to established channels is essential to limiting community spread of COVID-19.”

The same advice comes from the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that deploys volunteers through AmeriCorps and other national initiatives.

In a manual on disaster volunteering it states, “Ideally, all volunteers should be affiliated with established organizations and trained for specific disaster response activities. However, spontaneous volunteers are inevitable.”

See Organizing on 6E

THANK YOU TO OUR 2019-2020 VOLUNTEERS! Jane Malashock

Milessa Ortiz

Martha Van Genderen

Ann Keller

Steve Malashock

Judy Pilgrim

Raymond Force

Diane Key

Suzanne Martindale

Marsha Wackerly

Tammy Christel

Joyce Frye

Charlotte Kidd

Dan Matzke

Cynthia Quast

Lynne Whalen

Jan Benz

Robin Christensen

Ashlie Gilbert

Patty Krause

Julie Matzke

Sally Berman

Daniela Contreras

Joan Goldfarb

Carla Kussner

Nancy McCarthy

Heather Black

Maggie Davis

Natalie Goss

Lisa Laurie

Linda Melton

Eileen Blackwell

Patricia Dempsey

Gigi Halloran

Harry Lawroski

Lori Moffett

Judy Bowser

Susan Erickson

Norma Hansen

Mary Ann Lawroski

Katherine Moore

Susan Brooks

Bill Finerty

Diane Hanson

Anne Lippold

Laurie Brown

Lucretia Finlay

Barb Huhn

Kip Macmillan

Judith Buttala

Lisa Claudy Fleischman Alison Jones

Vickie Atwater

Sally Byrne

Pam Flores

Laurie Bay - 2019

Lisa Carlin

Volunteer of the Year

Karen Rockey Ellen Sanford Carol Schneebeck Jennifer Scott

Richard Whalen Laurel Wicks John Wilson

Dorie Smith

Kerry Winterer

Maggie Moore

Caroline Taylor

Doreen Wise

Keith Nelson

Bobbi Thomasma

Elizabeth Wright

TEMPORARILY CLOSED, BUT AVAILABLE ONLINE AT WWW.WILDLIFEART.ORG

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Cathy Adkins

6E - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Organizing Continued from 5E

Neighbors helping neighbors Naturally, then, new groups have sprung up outside the traditional systems of volunteerism — no surprise in a disaster that has left many people with an otherwise maddening amount of free time.

One prominent independent response to the pandemic is Teton County CAREMongering, a Facebook group “for people who need help and for people who are willing to help,” said Augusta Friendsmith, a volunteer with the veterans service organization Team Rubicon who created the page.

“Mostly it’s a forum that is really accessible to everybody and free,” she said. “It’s just one common place where everybody can come together and throw out ideas.”

She took inspiration for the group from a growing trend in Canada, where the social media-centered move-

ment of helping vulnerable people has become known as “caremongering.”

“Scaremongering is a big problem,” Valentina Harper, one of the Toronto residents who coined the term, told the BBC. “We wanted to switch that around and get people to connect on a positive level, to connect with each other.

“It’s spread the opposite of panic in people, brought out community and camaraderie, and allowed us to tackle the needs of those who are at risk all the time — now more than ever.”

With nearly 1,100 members and hundreds of posts, the Teton County page has become a de facto newsletter for unaffiliated volunteers eager to put themselves to work. One of the most common subjects of discussion is mask-making.

“All of a sudden,” Friendsmith said, “everybody with a sewing machine showed up and started busting out masks like crazy.”

But in the past few weeks the page has served as a platform for people extending all kinds of goods and services,

from free yoga sessions to virtual postpartum happy hours for new moms to ski goggle donations for health care workers who need eye protection while treating COVID-19 patients.

Some post open-ended offers, with one man saying he is “happy to get the necessities for ppl that are in quarantine and/or sick. Please message me.”

That decentralized approach seems to have empowered many aspiring volunteers and allowed them to start immediately. The Community Foundation’s registry, on the other hand, is more of a waiting list for now.

Help, but be safe about it Read said most nonprofits have so far been able to fulfill their humanitarian duties with regular volunteers.

But she noted one of the hallmarks of disaster relief is that it’s a long-term endeavor. Physical and mental exhaustion force most people to eventually hand off the baton.

As current volunteers burn out in coming weeks, or perhaps months, a new wave may need to take their place at nonprofits like the Jackson Cupboard, Meals on Wheels and the Good Samaritan Mission, Read said.

“They all know that we can deploy this list of volunteers should they need it,” she said. “But I think this is going to be a marathon and there will be a time for more volunteering later.”

In the meantime many are going it alone, finding niches where they can lend a hand today. Read doesn’t discount that, saying, “It has been an awesome, hopeful thing to see people wanting so much to jump in.”

But she and others add a word of caution: This is an unusual disaster in that volunteers, if they don’t follow the right protocols, can easily do more harm than good.

Ochs, the emergency management coordinator, is wary of good intentions with unfortunate consequences.

See Organizing on 9E

THE JACKSON CUPBOARD IS YOUR COMMUNITY FOOD PANTRY, providing essential, nutritious food for our community members in need.

Jackson Cupboard ofrece alimentos esenciales y nutritivos para nuestros miembros de la comunidad que lo necesitan. Servicios de habla hispana.

We're dedicated to remaining open and have expanded our hours to Mondays & Thursdays 4p-6p and Wednesdays & Saturdays 10a-12p

Programs Include TC Library Snack program, food hubs at Pioneer Homestead, Period Poverty Project and assisting with Meals on Wheels.

The Jackson Cupboard serves over 10,000 people and rescues 1000’s of pounds of food from entering into the landfill each year.

THANKS TO OUR VOLUNTEERS

WHO ARE HELPING TO END HUNGER IN TETON COUNTY! THE JACKSON CUPBOARD WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING VOLUNTEERS: Al Zuckerman Albertsons Alicia Guzman Allison Bergh Amber Martinez Anda Ralph Andrea Evans Andrea Pyne Andrew Todd Andy Cornish Ann Carruth Ann Mattson Anna Kerr Anna Senecal Anne Bell Barbara McPeak Ben Read Beth Whitworth Blair Crumpler Boy Scouts of America Jackson District Brian Siegfried Bridger Teton National Forest Cathy French Cathy Schreiber Cathy Teig Charity Russell Cliff Kirkpatrick Debbie Hechinger David Carpenter David Hardie Dawn Webster Denise Tsuruda-Dobell Dick Greig Ellery Leeds Emilee Helton Emy diGrappa Frankie Day

Gaby Gutierrez Geneva Chong Herb Brooks Hole Food Rescue Ian Johnson Jackie Harmon Jackson Police Dept CSOs Jackson Hole Community School Jackson Hole Marketplace Jackson Whole Grocer Jane Sturlin Jane Sullivan Janelle Conlin Jasmine King Javier Lopez Jayne Ottman Jeanee Hammet Jen Baxter Jennifer Bradof John Wright Journey’s School of TSS JP Schubert Judy Greig Julie McLaurin Kate Rogers Kathy Vaughn Katrina Gioshes Laura Solatu Les Jones Lesley Beckworth Lions Club Lisa Carpenter Lisa Lowenfels Lisa Ryan Liz Lockhart Liz Sunshine Loretta Kirkpatrick Louie Armstrong Lucky’s Market Madeleine Francis Mark Giger

Mark Kelleher Martha Gilmore Martin Moria-Garcia Matt Hall Meredith Medlock Michael Lamere Mike Cloherty Mike Conlin Mike Keegan Mike Mason Mindy Kim-Miller Molly Breslin Nancy Riddle Nancy Watkins Olivia Rigsby Patty Staley Persephone Bakery Premier Green Cleaning Richard Rice Rose Spaulding Silas Wotkyns Smith’s Food & Drug Snake River Roasting Co. Stephanie Brennan Stephanie Thomas St. John’s Episcopal Church Employees Steve Duerr Stuart Schif Susan Burkitt Susan DeMuro Susan Hall Tamara Harmon Teton Pines Tracy Blue Tracy Poduska Tracy Nelson Trissta Lyman Victoria Munoz Wilma Greczyn

We would also like to thank St. John’s Episcopal Church for housing the Jackson Cupboard, the various businesses, churches, clubs, schools & individuals who conducted food drives and financial donations on our behalf, too many to mention but know that your help is greatly appreciated!

Volunteer Board Members: Shelley Rae Balls, Amy Brooks, Shirley Craighead, Leslye Hardie, Evan Molyneaux, Cathy Poindexter, Mike Randall, Jim Ryan, Paul Vogelheim, Operations Director: Rachel Daluge

Please forgive us if your name was mistakenly omitted but know that your help is also greatly appreciated!

CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL OR TEXT US AT (307) 699-2163 OR EMAIL US AT JACKSONCUPBOARD.ORG

Located in the basement of St. John’s Episcopal Church 170 N. Glenwood St. | PO Box 1622 Jackson, WY 83001

jacksoncupboard@gmail.org | FIND US ON

AND

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VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 7E

WE MISS OUR

VOLUNTEERS! Eve Barnett

Dorothy Neckels

Reid Bauer

Michelle Ohmart

Pam Bode

Galen Parke

Emily Boespflug

Caroline Paulsen

Jeannine Brown

Patricia Poletti

Jill Callaway

Holly Pratt

Jane Chapman

Karen Priebe

Robin Christensen

Thelma Quasdorf

Dennis Conley

Frederick Reimers

Leslie Cook

Rebecca Reimers

Julie Corotis

Cynthia Riedel

Laura W. Davenport

Amy Russian

Lori Dawn

Jill Schmidt

Mariel DeLacy

Claudia Schrotz

Chris Dickey

Michael Schrotz

Lauren Dickey

Jessica Chambers

Ellae Elinwood

Ronna Simon

Lucretia Finlay

Dana Smith

Caryn Flanagan

Megan Smith

Maddie Francis

Wendi Smith

Forest Fransen

Lisa Sprague

Laurie Fukawa

Deborah Supowit

Gwenn Gilday

Laurie Thal

David Gomez

Beth Thebaud

Margi Griffth

Dan Thomas

Sharon Gunberg

Shirley Thomas

Jackie Hart

Angela Tipton

Mary Lou Klene

Juniper Troxel

Patty Krause

Linore Wallace

Marlene Lang

Jim Walter

Robyn Lunsford

Ashley Watson

Judith Lyons

Rob Weed

Kathleen Mague Georgia Mayer Michelle McCormick Patty McDonald Mark Memmer Vickie Memmer Therese Metherell Lori Moffett Bart Monson Sue Morgan Richard Muzzy

Nancy Wilbrecht Jeff Wilcox Kristie Wilcox Lesley Williams Jeannie Yurgalewicz Susie Blasko Cathie Evans Katy Fox Michele Pickerill John Wilson

THANK YOU! 240 S. GLENWOOD ST., JACKSON, WY 83001

JHCENTERFORTHEARTS.ORG

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8E - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Seamsters pitch in to stitch face masks Jackson Hole Quilt Guild rummages through fabric stashes, comes up with hundreds of cloth masks.

By Melissa Cassutt

W

hen babies are about to arrive it’s tiny quilts. When homeowners move into new homes it’s pillowcases. And when a virus invades the community, they make masks.

As Janet Monahan, president of the Jackson Hole Quilt Guild puts it: “I’m a maker. Makers gotta make.”

Though they’d never made face masks before it was an easy decision for the guild, a group of approximately 60 seamsters, to change out their thread and run their pedals for another project, Monahan said. All it took was an email with an idea; before they knew it, dozens of masks were piling up.

“I think most of the quilters had a fabric stash,” said Laura Harrison, keeper of mask-making supplies and the master spreadsheet that tracks the guild’s work.

Once the idea cemented the guild connected with the St. John’s Health Foundation and settled on two approved patterns, one with elastic and one with ties. The project then ballooned into the Jackson Hole Community Mask Project, the umbrella under which the communitywide mask effort was organized. In addition to supplying patterns and collecting and distributing cloth masks, the project also collects other personal protective equipment for hospital employees.

The guild set an initial goal of sewing 1,000 masks, and as of an April 5 interview its members had made 999.

Harrison admits she was tempted to sew one more before jumping on the phone call, but there was no need. The masks have continued to pour in.

By last week the guild surpassed 1,500.

There are so many hands at work on the project that Harrison has become the point person for supplies, stacking bags of cotton fabric and elastic on her porch for those running low on supplies but not sewing skill. And in her home she keeps a list of how many masks have been made, by whom, and where they were delivered.

“We’ll keep sewing as long as there is a need,” she said.

Though most of the masks have been dropped off at St. John’s Health, hundreds have also been delivered to Albertsons, Smith’s Food and Drug, Jackson Whole Grocer, Hungry Jack’s, the post offices, UPS and other businesses still operating.

“It just keeps growing,” Monahan said. “Every day Laura and I both get texts and emails and Facebook messages from companies needing masks.”

And they are being worn. Monahan is sure she’s spotted a few familiar fabrics around town.

“I was at the Pearl Street post office a couple days ago mailing out some [masks] to family, and there was a woman in a batik mask that I could have swore I made,” she said.

The batik prints are popular with many quilters and as such have become a popular pattern in many of the guild masks. Monahan made her own prototype mask (with a paperclip nosepiece — not a feature on most cloth masks in the community) out of blue floral batik fabric.

Harrison made her mother a burgundy floral batik mask, one her mom was so proud of that she wore it during one of their FaceTime sessions.

“The batiks are a really high-thread count, and they don’t shrink much at all,” Monahan said.

“They are one of the best choices, and they’re so colorful and fun.

“They’re becoming a fashion statement a little bit, I think.”

And if you spot Seattle Seahawks patterns — like one that ER nurse Keegan Pfeil has been wearing as his “go-to mask” around town — it’s also likely to be Monahan’s work.

Pfeil heads the Jackson Hole Community Mask Project, something he wanted to contribute to (in addition to his role in the emergency room, which he’s held for six years) after seeing a need for PPE at the hospital and a desire in the community to contribute.

“I had a lot of people reaching out to me prior who were asking how they could help the community,” Pfeil said. “I thought this might be a good way to get community involvement.”

The guild also launched a Facebook Group — Jackson Hole Quilt Guild Masks for Many — where guild members, or any seamsters, can connect to share photos of their work, get tips and tricks or find supplies.

“The wonderful thing about this project is that it has brought out sewing machines in the community that have been dust-covered for years,” Harrison said. “And people that never really sewed before have taken this on and made it a project of their heart.”

Monahan, one of the more prolific seamsters of the mask project, said the masks are easy to make. It takes about 10 minutes to finish the elastic design, a few more minutes to sew one with ties.

COURTESY PHOTO

Jackson Hole Quilt Guild President Janet Monahan stitches masks for St. John’s Health.

It’s also an easy family project, Harrison said.

Her kids, 7-year-old Julia and 9-year-old Henry, helped their mom make a few dozen masks in “a little assembly line.”

Harrison, one of the newer members of the guild, said the group’s giving spirit is largely what prompted her to join. While the guild has recently gained recognition for the cloth masks, it’s no stranger to charitable endeavors. The group sews quilts for the first babies of the year and patients in hospice care, and pillowcases for new Habitat for Humanity homeowners, among other projects.

The pillowcase project is organized by Tatyana Ramella, a 15-year member of the guild, who said her role is simple: “Ask for pillowcases, collect and deliver.” Once the call is out she often receives more pillowcases than they have pillows.

“Ladies love making them,” she said. “They all contribute so much.”

They’re also always ready to contribute. Quilters never seem to run out of fabric. Ramella said: “Every quilter on the planet is well prepared.”

Monahan’s response: “Oh, dear God, no.”

And Harrison has so much on hand she’s giving it away to anyone willing to sew.

“And just like that overnight I went from a fabric hoarder to being prepared,” she said with a laugh.

Contact Melissa Cassutt at 732-7076 or valley@jhnewsandguide.com.​

RYAN DORGAN / NEWS&GUIDE

A bin of homemade masks provided by the Jackson Hole Quilt Guild sits at the downtown post office.

Lend a Hand Have basic sewing skills and want to lend a hand? Or have supplies you’d like to donate?

Connect with the Jackson Hole Community Mask Project at StJohnsFoundation.health/ program/jhcommunitymask.

Connect with other mask makers on the Jackson Hole Quilt Guild’s project page, TinyURL.com/jhmasksformany.

VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 9E

Generosity is doing something for someone else, expecting nothing in return. Simon Sinek RYAN DORGAN / NEWS&GUIDE

Emergency Management Coordinator Rich Ochs speaks with elected officials and department managers March 10 at the Emergency Operations Center during a meeting to discuss preparedness for the arrival of coronavirus. Coordination between government entities, nonprofits and volunteers has been crucial during the coronavirus outbreak.

Organizing Continued from 6E

“We know people want to help,” he said. “We have an opportunity where a lot of people have a lot of time. But because of the social distancing and the need to get a handle on the spread of infection, we can’t utilize people the way we normally would.”

Many spheres of life can be adapted to entirely avoid transmission of the virus. In most cases, volunteering isn’t one of them.

“You can’t log into Zoom and distribute food to people,” Ochs said.

Part of the Community Foundation’s rationale for funneling volunteers into existing channels is to ensure they have access to proper training materials.

Though people volunteering through CAREMongering receive no formal training, at the top of the Facebook page Friendsmith has pinned the Teton County Health Department’s guidelines

for volunteers handling food. She has also posted guidelines for wearing masks and social distancing, and she keeps an eye out for inaccurate posts.

“It’s mostly just putting up the right information,” she said, “and dispelling misinformation.”

Read acknowledged that unaffiliated volunteers play a vital role, and praised them for being “willing to roll up their sleeves and just do.” Still, she urged them to pause and consider the risks before acting.

“I do think that the nonprofits can’t do it all, and having private citizens who are able to support their loved ones and neighbors and friends is important,” she said.

“But we ask that people take really seriously knowing how to be safe about it.”

We salute and thank the incredible VOLUNTEERS in our community for their endless giving of time, in-kind donations and funding.

Contact Cody Cottier via 732-7076 or valley@jhnewsandguide.com.​

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St. John’s Health thanks our dedicated volunteers!

119

3353

volunteers

hours served

January–December 2019

AUXILIARY Nancy Adams Amrita Banerjee Laurie Bay Donna Beaupré Kelly Biscombe Lonnie Brown Doris Budge Barbara Butterfield Sue Bybee Donna Clark Jan Clark Donna Coles Karen Connelly Linda Criswell Sue Critzer Lisa Delaney Susan Dong Susan Freeze Beth Furlong Valerie Goettler Connie Hansen Diane Hanson Stephanie Harper Margaret Hochheiser Shay James Diana Joy Becky Kimmel

Kathy Kjellgren Patty Krause Mary Ann Lawroski Mary Lohuis Patti Ludwig Julie Matzke Lee Naylon Gillian Ponce Mary Ponce Becky Rice Holly Richert Susan Riesch Linda Rode Kate Rogers Vicki Rosenberg Regina Schultz Amy Wilson Scott Linda Scott Laurie Squillaci Janine Teske Joni Upsher Jean Webber Robin Whitesides Nancy Wilbrecht Mary Willis Cindy Winslow Janet Wood Betty Zernik

LIVING CENTER Janet Anderson Lynn Apel Mari Auman Tisch Brown Doris Bystrom Bette Caesar Carol Connors Molly Cook Elizabeth Drapela Sue Hall Diane Hanson Yvonne Henze Earleen Horn Florin Ion Jackie Larson Maralyn Larson Elaine Laviage Robin MacLeod Kathy Kjellgren Sierra Fulton Sylvia Raumaker Sally Ruosch Carol Schwender Craig Schwender Hamish Tear ONCOLOGY Donna Clark Becky Frisbie Marge Glick Patty Hartnett Denise Joy Jane Kusek Ben Zacks

MEALS WITH A MISSION Liz Lockhhart Dee Luton Sue Riesch Becky Schell Christy Sing Heather Smith Pam Swift Meggan Stordahl Joni Upsher Janet Wood Nancy Woodward Chelcie Yonke HOSPICE Matthew Bart Bette Caesar Robin Gallivan Elizabeth Gerhard Margaret Harris Denise Joy Linda Judge Patty Pappas-Staley Sue Perkins Debbie Phillips Ellen Rein Ellen Sanford Becky Schell Carol Schneebeck Rebecca Studer Jane Sullivan Hamish Tear Rick Walls Barbara Zelazo

18,704

SPIRITUAL CARE Nate Bennett Adrian Bernal Deborah Buckingham Dan Butcher Will Davenport Amy DiSanto Kristin Dyke Debbie Geckeler Margi Griffith Inger Hanson Robert Kass Sarah Kerr Jackie Larson Maralyn Larson Kate Lucas Elizabeth Masek Maia McCabe Ben Nardi Matt Ostdiek Stuart Palmer Pastor Ben Pascal Jim Radda Katie Robertson Amy Russian Joseph Sabastian Louisa Sandvig Ed Schmitt De Schoonover Beverly Shore Mary Carol Staiger Christi Yannelli

contacts

PET PARTNERS Mari Auman & Ruby Jake Biamonte Lisbeth Beise & Godiva Sonia Daiz & Chili Teresa Godcheck & Penny Becky Hawkins Padgett Hoke & Tucker Nina Lenz & George Martha Maddoz & Hazel Jayne Ottman Amy Rojo & Finn Amanda Soliday & Otis Bayless Sword & Hoback WHEELIN’ AND HEALIN’ & VOLUNTEENS Marlise Combe John Huff Donald Jackson Elaine Laviage Julie Matzke Linda Melcer

OTHER SERVICES (Joint Replacement, Dinner with a Doc, Health Fair, Front Desk, Music, Newspaper Delivery, Administrative) Travis Brant Devin Corey Jackie Crawford Vickie Giles Anika Holmquist John Huff Olga Johnson Dave Mills Hadyn Peery Jamie Pruess Dillon Smith We are also grateful to all those who generously give their time by serving on the St. John’s Health Board of Trustees and the St. John’s Health Foundation Board of Directors. Many thanks to the individuals and businesses who have been supporting St. John’s during the COVID-19 crisis.

Please let us know about any errors or omissions. To learn more about volunteer opportunities, call 739 7541.

625 E. Broadway, Jackson, WY

307 739 7541

www.stjohns.health/volunteers 999999-999

10E - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 22, 2020

COLLEEN AND KENYON WALKER, OUR WONDERFUL VOLUNTEERS who pack up 40 bags of groceries each week for needy children and their families. We couldn't do it without them!

Keeping volunteers emotionally healthy Taking care of mental health is as important for individuals as it is for organizations.

By Tom Hallberg

T

285 W PEARL AVE, DOWNTOWN JACKSON, WYOMING 377169

Thank you, ambassadors, for giving a

Hoot!

Owly, TRC's resident Great Horned Owl

TRC Ambassadors invested 10,832 hours of service to support Teton Raptor Center’s operations and programs in 2019.

TRC's Education Team with Avian Ambassadors

2019 Ambassador Appreciation Night Award Winners and Talon Society Members

Interested in joining our Ambassador team?

Email our volunteer coordinator Jessie by reaching out to volunteers@tetonraptorcenter.org All photos by TRC Staff

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he coronavirus pandemic changed everything about normal life in a matter of weeks. Its effects even hit Rachel Daluge’s crew of volunteers.

Daluge is operations director at the Jackson Cupboard, one of the few nonprofits that continued its work through the outbreak. With a flagging economy and high unemployment the Cupboard and other food nonprofits like Hole Food Rescue are busier than normal.

That increase in work happened concurrently with shelter-in-place recommendations and orders, which created a tricky situation Daluge for Daluge.

“Some of our older volunteers are having to back down because of some of the new restrictions or suggestions because of the age demographics,” she said at the beginning of April.

The supply of volunteers wasn’t really a problem, as new people stepped up to fill the roles, but taking on untrained volunteers in the midst of a crisis created some stress. Experienced workers had their systems dialed, so new people either did things differently or took time to be trained when hundreds, if not thousands, of families were needed immediate help.

“A few times people have gotten upset because we’re all trying to figure this out,” Daluge said.

Daluge’s volunteer corps wasn’t beset by stress and her team found ways to work out disagreements, but the coronavirus pandemic does offer a view into how organizations manage volunteers’ stress and mental health.

Learning from humanitarians Myriad studies have been done of the mental health benefits of volunteering. One found that oxytocin levels spike in people who volunteer regularly. The neurotransmitter regulates stress and social interaction, so volunteering can help people handle stressful situations, whether related to the coronavirus outbreak or not.

Volunteering has also been shown to activate pleasure centers in the brain more commonly associated with food and sex. Other studies have shown physical health benefits from volunteering, perhaps because many jobs require some form of movement.

For instance, Daluge’s volunteers who are picking up boxes or restocking shelves engage in low-level physical activity over the course of their shifts.

Less has been done to document the mental health struggles volunteers face, and what research has been done is anecdotal and focused on international humanitarian endeavors. The Anatares Foundation, a Netherlands-based nonprofit that helps humanitarian workers manage stress, found in a survey of five major humanitarian organizations that 30% of volunteers reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder upon finishing their stint.

Most volunteering roles in Jackson don’t equate with working on the ground in poverty-stricken places in Africa or with global refugees. Community Safety Network, however, has a team of volunteers who help with client events and staff the nonprofit’s

Need a Hand Volunteers — or anyone — experiencing stress at this time can find support in the following resources: • Jackson Hole Community Counseling Center Mental health resources The Jackson Hole Community Counseling Center is open 9 a.m.5 p.m. Monday through Friday, scheduling intakes for existing and new clients via telehealth. The line also serves as a crisis line 24 hours a day, seven days a week: 733-2046.

Those looking for a remote self-help resource may want to logon to MyStrength.com, which offers free and confidential resources for general mental health and resources for COVID-19-specific anxiety and stress. Sign up using access code JHCommunity.

• National Alliance for Mental Illness Text “NAMI” to 741741, a line specific for COVID-19 tips for those with mental illness. The website also has tips for preparation as well as dealing with the anxiety. Or call 800-950-NAMI (6264) to reach the NAMI Help Line.

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Disaster Distress Helpline: 800985-5990 or text “TalkWithUs” to 66746 • Curran-Seeley Foundation Curran-Seeley is taking new clients during the health crisis. Zoom programming links can be sent out by email.

Email info@curranseeley.com or trudy@curranseeley.com or visit CurranSeeley.com for more information.

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1.800.273.TALK • Community Safety Network Provides services for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence or stalking Office: 733-3711; help line: 733-7233 help line, roles that require them to work with clients who may be in crisis.

Knowing the high intensity level of the jobs, the nonprofit offers a 40-hour course to give its volunteers skills to deal with those difficulties.

“We have that intensive training to prepare them,” said Jordan Rich, who trains volunteers at the nonprofit. “We also have pretty strong relationships with them. We check in after every help line call or shelter shift and debrief.”

The Antares Foundation gives guidance that looks a lot like what the Community Safety Network is doing.

The nonprofit suggests organizations screen volunteers Rich to ensure they are emotionally capable of handling their tasks, especially if the work is high stress. It encourages monitoring of volunteers’ emotional states during their work and offering therapeutic help, like access to counseling services.

Rich said the Community Safety Network has about 60 volunteers, and roughly 10 take help-line shifts. No See Volunteers on 15E

VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 11E

Finding new homes for homeless pets Animal Adoption Center receives over 100 foster applications in a week.

By Chance Q. Cook

! u o Y k Than

I

t’s difficult to find much positive in the coronavirus-induced self-quarantining and social-distancing measures being taken around the country, but from Animal Adoption Center’s perspective there’s a silver lining.

Twenty-three dogs have already been adopted this month through the nonprofit, compared to eight in all of April a year ago. The shelter has shifted its fostering program for dogs to long-term fostering only, and it’s even doing virtual FaceTiming meet-andgreets with cats for potential adopters.

“We weren’t sure how this was going to play out when we sent the email out in mid-March,” said the center’s executive director, Carrie Boynton.

“Within 24 hours we had 40 applications to adopt, and over the course of a week 100 people stepped forward to foster. Everyone wants to be a part of something good.”

With a large number of people working from home, this period of quarantining has eased some of the anxieties that potential “forever homes” face.

Chiefly, the fear of not having enough time to acclimate the pup to a new environment has gone out the window.

That’s the point Aska Langman made. Langman is a longtime foster caretaker of special needs dogs, and currently has a roughly 2-year-old reservation mix dog who is terrified of humans.

“During coronavirus everybody is home, you’ve got a bit of time to spend letting the new dog get to know you, work on training, that kind of stuff,” she said. “It’s a good opportunity to have a dog, as long as they think post-coronavirus, when life goes back to normal, they can maintain that commitment if they decide to adopt.”

The outpouring of community support for the center, everything from

Lend a Hand Those interested in fostering for the Animal Adoption Center may fill out an application at AnimalAdoptionCenter.org/getinvolved/foster.

Financial contributions may be made at AnimalAdoptionCenter.org/get-involved/donate.

Call 739-1881 to discuss making a donation of pet supplies or food.

www.jacksonhole.younglife.org 377162 ASKA LANGMAN / COURTESY PHOTO

Heartfelt

Aska Langman, a longtime foster caretaker of special needs dogs, is looking after 2-yearold reservation mix dog who is terrified of humans. Here the pup hopped on her dining room table during a bout of anxiety.

“Remember, the dog is coming to you in a time of transition, you’re going to have to be a little bit flexible,” she said.

adoption applications to pet food donations, has allowed it to take in even more dogs that need a home. For instance, an Idaho Falls chihuahua named Nemo recently came in with a broken leg. Not only has surgery been taken care of, but Nemo has his home already lined up, too.

“Because of our donors we’ve been able to pull these special medical cases, where maybe municipal shelters don’t have the funding to fix that broken leg,” Boynton said. “Because of the donor base here, we’ve been able to help with the volume.”

From Langman’s perspective, which is rife with as much experience fostering dogs as anyone, she suggests potential adopters or foster homes go into it during this time with an open mind.

“Remember the dog is coming to you in a time of transition, you’re going to have to be a little bit flexible,” she said. “They might not be fully potty trained, and you can’t get frustrated with that.

“It’s a little bit of mental flexibility, and the ability to forgive easily if it doesn’t go your way in the beginning.”

In the meantime the center welcomes all contributions, from donations of kennels and food to help with medical expenses, as well as fostering and adoptions.

“People in Jackson go above and beyond for our animals,” Langman said.

“People are stuck in quarantine and they’re donating hundreds of pounds of food. Even from home people are stepping up to help pets, which is inspiring.”

THANKS TO OUR VOLUNTEERS! Teton County 4-H Volunteers are inspiring the next generation!

Thank you for all you do for our community!

We would like to thank our outstanding volunteer leaders: Erin Abel Anjie Beard Kayla Bonilla Dave Brackett Sara Bridge Diana Brown Michelle Brown Jay Buchner Cola Budge Jane Budge Joey Budge Joe Burke Heather Finkel MJ Forman Melissa Fox Sharon Fralin Junie Fuchs

Trudy Funk Rebecca Genzer Keith Gingery Becca Griber Gwen Hansen Blake Hare Shannon Hasenack LaRee Hibbert Megan Hibbert Barb Huhn Jared Kuhns Carlton Lower SaraLee Lanier Rebecca Mitchell Diedre Morris Molly Moyer Shannon Owens

Glenn Owings Theresa Paradis Patricia Pistono Pam Romsa Susan Rowe Nancy Seaton Travis Shanafelt Thomas Smits Adria Stines Alyssa Watkins Amy Wilson Andrew Wilson Brandi Wilson Buskin Wilson Dana Wilson Meredith Wilson Melanie Wunsch

Interested in becoming a volunteer?

Contact the Teton County 4-H Office at 733-3087

Contact Chance Q. Cook at 732-7065, sports@jhnewsandguide.com.

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Volunteers are the key to literacy at TLC. We are grateful for your time and dedication.

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Natalie Acheatel Bill Allen Phoebe Alva Rosa Alisson Alvarado Garrett Austen Noah Barnhart Carmen Bedolla Martha Best William Best Erica Bowditch Nick Boyer Eliza Bradford Tom Brewer Will Broeder Anna Brown Maureen Brown Heather Budge Joe Burke Carter Callaway

Andy Carson Nancy Carson Erika Castro-Rojas Sarai Chapeton Audrey Chapman Lori Clark-Erickson Laura Coe Nancy Collister Brendan Conboy Fernanda Costilla Mary Beth Coyne Alex Dawson Gricus Justin Dufault Megan Dufault Lilly Duquette Joannie Epstien Hilary Flint Reisha Foertsch Scott Fossel

Peter French Charlie Frese Aleimi Garcia Nancy Gardiner River Gayton Cindee George Kendyl Gersten Virginia Girling Jake Glass Ramiro Gonzalez Thea Goss Kevin Grange Juliet Greene Kris Gridley Hannah Haag Rachael Harrower Sue Hebberger Cynthia Hefti Jeff Heilbrun Race Heinbockel Marena Herr Vivian Herr Grace Higley

Cynthia Hogan Holly Hunter Maddie Johnson Jeffry Johnston Ragan Jolly Dean Jones Tracy Jones Jessica Jaubert Ginny Kanengeiter Kathy Buchner Robin Keeler Keirsten Davis Carly Kelly Sarah Kerr Jack Krouskup Gina Kyle Lauren Lacour Warren Levy Martha Lewis Ruby Lindall Katherine Lucas Britney Maldanado Carol Maloney

Eric Markow Robert Markstein America Martinez Perla Martinez Sara Martinez Mark McKew William McPeak Sara McWhirter Matthew Meiring Linda Melton Finley Miller Burt Mills Becca Moll Abby Moore Molly Nash Tashi Nava Joanna Newman Nick Olmstead Martha Olson Shelley Olson

THANK YOU! Emerson Peek Cassandra Penning Cindy Perry Ben Phocas Sophie Porter Natasha Poutiatine Kerri Ratcliffe Sophia Reimer Elizabeth Ridway Addie Robertson Peter Rosenberg David Rothman Isaac Rubinstein Miles Schafer Debbie Schlinger Sarah Shea Rose Spaulding Nick Spencer Alyson Spery

Kim Springer Amy Staehr Anne Stalker Rachael Stewart Lynn Straker Sarah Brantley Sydnor Cassie Taylor Sienna Taylor Jim Thorburn Mary Tisi Georjeana Troyan Patrick Trucco Juliet Unfried Claudia VanRemoortere Erin Visconti Rick Walls Cristine Watson Rhonda Watson Madeline Webb

For volunteer opportunities, please contact carisa@tetonliteracy.org or call 307-733-9242

Lynn Wegner Cristine Wehner Robert Wemple Dabney West Whiteley Wheeler Sara White Skylar White Mike Wierda Ben Williamson Diane Winder Jill Wright Erin Wyer

12E - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Thank you Jackson Hole Fire/EMS

VOLUNTEERS who do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.

These names represent the men and women who give up time with family and friends to volunteer for our community: STATION 1

STATION 3 HOBACK

MOOSE WILSON ROAD

James Tucker Greg Chooljian Nate Levinson Daniel Long Jason Bruni Alton George Matt Goewert Nathaniel Hagood Caleb Hunger Carl Pelletier Nicolas Prevot Leo Sanchez Kevin Spence Zachary Wilson Sam Zuckerman

Todd Fitzgerald Mike Trumbower Chris Betsinger Bernhard Sieber Andrew Byron David Cernicek Jacob Glissmeyer Randy Luskey Janet Palermo Lisa Potzernitz Eric Schneider

Remy Levy Cody McInnes Ryan Peyton Miller Resor Brenda Sherwin Kelly Stirn David Waldman

TOWN OF JACKSON

STATION 2 WILSON

Katie Davis Connor Field Tim Harland Dean Jarvie Heath Kuszak Chris Mommsen

STATION 4 MORAN

Mack McFarland Phillip Lamoureux Camden Preuss Joshua Bennett Matthew Graden Brian McDaniel Jon Moul Giovanni Tabacchi

Personal Sacrifice for the Good of the Whole

STATION 6

STATION 7

ADAMS CANYON Rob Dearing James Little Ray Brence Tim Knippel Brad Larson Chris McCullough Niel McCune Brenner Perryman Kevin Rauch-Lynch Matthew Sommers Maggie Stewart Mike Sullivan Krystan Swan

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VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 13E

Hole Quarantine aims to spread the help Realtor launched the site to benefit emergency workers and businesses.

By Gabe Allen

H

ealthy Being Juicery took a big order a few weeks ago: 150 immunity-boosting juices for St. John’s Health. The order, placed by The Hole Quarantine, was one of a couple of dozen that have come in to local businesses since COVID-19 shuttered most of the town.

Pearl Street Bagels got an order. As did Cowboy Coffee.

Pinky G’s Pizzeria, Hatch, Persephone, Teton Tiger — they also had a similar call.

The orders were big and the caller didn’t want a discount, thank you.

“Every business owner has wanted to give us a discount,” Meagan Murtagh said. “That is just so Jackson Hole.”

But the purpose of The Hole Quarantine is to pump money into the community, not skim off any from the top.

Murtagh, who launched the donation-based organization in March, is at the forefront of a crowd-sourcing movement that aims to keep local dollars in local businesses.

The idea is simple: Donations are made to The Hole Quarantine, and in turn the organization (which is really just Murtagh) purchases meals, treats and gifts for frontline workers.

“We are beyond grateful for this opportunity to create more value in our community and support our brave caring medical professionals,” Healthy Being Juicery owner Jessica Marlo said.

The idea for the donations came in early March as news of the spreading coronavirus was picking up, Murtagh said. She had ample cause for concern.

“My mom’s a nurse and my dad’s a doctor. They both work in Florida, and they’re still seeing patients,” she said.

“That’s terrifying for me.”

Not one for inaction, Murtagh, a real estate agent by day, started penciling ideas. With a substantial Instagram presence — over 21,000 people follow @ MeagTheEgg, many of them in the valley — she knew so-

Lend a Hand Donations and cards for frontline workers may be made at TheHoleQuarantine.com.

KATHRYN ZIESIG / NEWS&GUIDE

St. John’s Health employees line up to grab burritos donated by The Hole Quarantine for lunch Thursday afternoon.

The 250 burritos were purchased from Hatch Taqueria and Tequilas by The Hole Quarantine with donated funds.

The effort benefits both sides, the front line workers and Jackson businesses.

KATHRYN ZIESIG / NEWS&GUIDE

Lisa Roarke, left, Meagan Murtagh, Rachel Merrell, director of development at St. John’s, and Claire O’Connell, marketing and special events manager at St. John’s, right, upload boxes of handmade cupcakes Wednesday afternoon for St. John’s Health employees. The cupcakes, donated by Yuka Quantrille at Wilson Custom Cakes, and coffee, from Humble Brew Coffee, were donated through The Hole Quarantine organization.

cial media messaging would be important.

But the idea to funnel dollars to local businesses while funneling food and gifts of appreciation to frontline workers came after a county order shut down restaurant dining rooms and “nonessential businesses.”

The goal, she explained, is twofold: first, to “raise enough

money to keep it pumping back into the local economy,” and second to “show support to the people who are on the front lines of all of this.”

Having owned and operated Scout Guide Jackson Hole for many years, Murtagh has experience running a small business in a competitive mountain town, where margins are often thin. It’s part

of why she insists on paying full price when businesses offer her a discount when she’s placing a big order for The Hole Quarantine.

And also why the project has been working well — over $40,000 from 475 donations as of press time.

With donated funds she has patronized two dozen restaurants, cafes and busi-

! g what you love in rt o p p u s r fo nteers Thank you volu

Contact Gabe Allen at 7327062 or entertainment@jhnewsandguide.com.

376582

In 2019, library volunteers donated nearly 9,000 hours!

To get involved, contact Maria: 307-733-2164 x3255 mhayashida@tclib.org

nesses, and delivered meals and gifts from Pizza Caldera, Pica’s, The Phoenix and the Dragon, Mursell’s Sweet Shop, Penny Lane and Made, to name a few.

Business owners “feel good about helping out the hospital, and the hospital feels the same way about the businesses,” she said.

Along with making food, juice and coffee deliveries, Murtagh coordinated with Roam Mercantile to hand out thank-you notes to health care workers.

“Employees hand wrote cards all day,” Murtagh said.

The program has also expanded to deliver goody bags to St. John’s Living Center and patients undergoing chemotherapy at St. John’s Health. Gifts and treats have also been delivered to the Teton County Sheriff ’s Office, fire stations and veterinary clinics. Murtagh’s latest collaboration was with Lisa Roarke and Hole Food Rescue to deliver restaurant meals to families in need.

But while someone does have to do the physical delivery, the goal has been to keep down the number of people who are out and about.

“Health-care providers are staying at work for us,” reads The Hole Quarantine website. “Let’s support them by staying at home to help #FlattenTheCurve.”

As it is, even Murtagh is rarely involved in deliveries.

“Everything has to be individually wrapped and prepared according to [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] regulations,” she said. “It’s changing literally by the hour.”

FRIENDS & FOUNDATION

14E - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 22, 2020

JH food community adapts to COVID-19

ONE OF THE

GREATEST GIFTS

Assistance programs, businesses and grassroots volunteers come together to keep hunger pangs at bay.

YOU CAN GIVE IS YOUR TIME.

THANK YOU TO ALL THE SENIOR CENTER VOLUNTEERS The Senior Center relies on volunteers to assist with administrative and maintenance tasks, special events, Meals on Wheels delivery and other programs.

By Mike Koshmrl

H

If you are interested in volunteering, please check the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole’s Volunteer JH listing https://www.cfjacksonhole.org/volunteer-jh/

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RAIN OR SHINE THE SNAKE RIVER FUND AND PARTNERS WORK TO PROMOTE AND PROTECT YOUR PUBLIC ACCESS. Thank you to the volunteers, local businesses and partner organizations that make our programs possible. Pictured here are our volunteers and partners protecting, restoring and promoting public access to the Snake River at Sheep Gulch Boat Ramp.

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RYAN DORGAN / NEWS&GUIDE FILE

Volunteer Jim Ryan sorts food donated by valley restaurants in March at Hole Food Rescue. The rescue received 1,700 pounds of donated food in a single day after a number of restaurants were forced to close due to measures taken to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

edented retractions in economic activity.

Folks most directly affected and at risk of life-threatening bouts of COVID-19 are seeing help from new places.

Restaurateur Gavin Fine and Cynthia Hogan, who chairs St. John’s Health and Hole Food Rescue, spearheaded a “quarantine cuisine” program, which delivers hot meals and groceries to folks who are under mandatory or self-imposed quarantine. Jackson Whole Grocer also partook, contributing groceries at wholesale cost. They launched the effort on April 15, just a couple weeks after conceiving it, to ensure the most isolated residents aren’t slipping through the cracks.

“It’s a great partnership between the nonprofit and for-profit world,” Hogan said. “We’re using Fine Dining and the JHFoodHelp.com site, where we put together an intake page that’s bilingual.

We try to make it as clear as possible that this is regardless of people’s ability to pay.”

Participants also have the option of paying what they’re able. Via JHFoodHelp.com, those who have the extra funds can donate to support the effort.

A newfound initiative is also underway to feed healthcare workers, while also supporting local restaurants that are staying open and offering take-out meals.

Meagan Murtaugh conceived the idea, got permission from St. John’s Health and kicked off The Hole Quarantine.

“We can’t be in the trenches with our healthcare providers,” Murtaugh wrote on the website. “But we can prop them up with locally sourced meals and gifts to show our support. And at the same time, we can provide a much-needed boost to our struggling small business community.”

Teton County School District No. 1 is staying the course and cooking breakfast and lunch for any Jackson Hole residents See Food on 15E

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ole Food Rescue’s go-to source of nourishment for the neediest members of the community — grocery stores’ discarded goods — all but dried up during the earliest days that COVID-19 started altering everyone’s lives.

Residents of all walks of life responded to the worst pandemic in a century rippling across America by panic buying, which made for ugly scenes and empty aisles. Grocers didn’t have the time or staff to set aside the food that did remain.

Five hundred or so pounds of daily rescued food vaporized almost immediately.

“There just wasn’t food to be rescued,” Hole Food Rescue Founder Ali Milburn said.

Milburn and her crew pivoted, capitalizing instead on food purchased by restaurants in Teton Village and Jackson that had to abruptly shutter with weeks worth of food stocked in their refrigerators and freezers. Hole Food Rescue made out with almost 9,000 pounds of this restaurant grub, about 250% more than normal. It all came at once.

“We luckily have a network of nonprofit partners to distribute food to, but it was so much, so fast,” Milburn said.

“Our facility is pretty small and our walk-in was packed to the brim.”

In the days and weeks that followed, Milburn discovered that some of her nonprofit food-distribution partners were no longer viable outlets. The Senior Center of Jackson Hole was a no-go because of its highly vulnerable residents, and after-school programs that were normally reliable recipients had been cancelled. So she branched out.

“We want to keep partnering with the existing food-assistance channels like the Jackson Cupboard,” Milburn said, “but we also want to create new access points in the community.”

Milburn and Hole Food Rescue changed course by establishing a nocost grocery pickup program at the Timbers Apartments. They worked to funnel food toward the Wind River Indian Reservation, made plans to help ramp up a summer lunch program and started spearheading phone calls that brought together the people and organizations most involved in Jackson Hole’s food security network.

Flexibility and adaptability have been key attributes for groups like Hole Food Rescue, which found that they were more needed than ever in the aftermath of a life-changing outbreak of a novel coronavirus, which has put 22 million Americans out of work and is causing unprec-

VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 15E

Food

Continued from 14E

under the age of 19, regardless of whether they’re enrolled students. A month after students last sat in their classrooms, Food Services Director Wes Clarke says he’s still preparing between 600 and 700 meals a day — about 40% of the normal output. Meals are being distributed around the valley, from Hoback Junction to Moran, for youngsters who don’t have a way to get to the high school.

“We’re using five different school buses that stop at 38 different locations,” Clarke said. “We do want to encourage people to continue to come to the high school.”

Unused bussed meals are often discarded, he said, whereas those served at Jackson Hole High School are cooked up in batches that better match demand.

Reducing that waste stream is certainly a noble goal to a group like Hole Food Rescue, which has partnered with the school district to stock an open-door pantry known as the “Munger Market” to address food insecurities.

Hole Food Rescue, which got its start

by Milburn dumpster diving, is also having to adapt to the COVID-19 era by altering its day-day-day operations. The endeavor is very labor intensive and reliant on volunteers, since the centerpiece of their work is fetching, sorting and distributing 500-plus pounds of groceries a day. Those volumes have almost returned and there’s some semblance of normalcy after shoppers stripped shelves and overwhelmed grocers’ supply chains in early and late March.

“For one person to move 600 pounds of food, it takes all day,” Milburn said.

Volunteers Continued from 10E

matter what role they take on, volunteers have access to the nonprofit’s mental health support, including therapists.

“We make it clear to our advocates that in addition to me operating as volunteer coordinator, they have access to CSN staff if they need to process,” she said.

Healthy volunteers essential Keeping volunteers’ stress levels down, for Rich, is paramount. It is simply the right thing to do, but the Antares Foundation points out that it is in the interest of any organization as well.

“Under conditions of chronic stress, staff may be poor decision-makers and may behave in ways that place themselves or others at risk or disrupt the effective functioning of the team,” reads the foundation’s guidelines for managing volunteer stress.

Sometimes that can mean changing the role of volunteers to minimize stress in times of crisis. Teton County health orders that limited the movements of high-risk populations during the outbreak forced Daluge’s older volunteers to step away from their roles, but Rich and the Community Safety Network took it upon themselves to shield their team from the heightened stress.

The nonprofit works with women who are experiencing domestic violence. Rates of abuse rose during the extended social distancing that followed the outbreak, and that isolation also exacerbated mental health challenges like depression.

Because of those factors and the general level of stress people felt as a result of economic and societal uncertainty, Rich took her volunteers off the phones.

“The intensity of the calls, and changing procedures, made us feel that staff needed to be on the line,” she said.

Training, counseling and discussion are all ways organizations keep volunteers emotionally healthy. During a time of global crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health can be the difference between nonprofits accomplishing their work done or not.

Lend a Hand or Get One While hands are helpful, donations and food supplies are most needed at this time.

Donate to Hole Food Rescue at HoleFoodRescue.org/donate.

Donate to the Jackson Cupboard at JacksonCupboard.org.

Send money for meals and treats for frontline workers through TheHoleQuarantine.com or Venmo.com/theholequarantine.

“That’s why we use teams of volunteers, to try to make the process speedy and manageable.”

But COVID-19 and health orders mandating social distancing mean that now just one volunteer, or perhaps a couple who share a household, are working in the rescue’s small facility at a time.

It’s slowing the whole process down.

“But on the flip side, we’ve had a tremendous amount of inquiries from people who want to volunteer,” Milburn said. “I know that this is also true for the Jackson Cupboard and the Community Foundation.

“It’s this interesting paradigm where more people want to help and the help is needed,” she said, “but we have to be really cautious about who [we accept] and how we invite them into our space.”

Volunteers Needed!

Love Horses? Love Helping Others?

Jackson Hole Therapeutic Riding is looking for volunteers to join us in our mission to empower, inspire, and enrich lives! Volunteering at JHTR is both rewarding and flexible. Grab life by the reins and become a volunteer today! *Due to COVID-19, the 2020 season will begin in June.

No Horse Experience Necessary!

Training Provided.

For more information: 307.733.1374 | volunteer@jhtr.org 376480

Contact Mike Koshmrl at 732-7067 or env@jhnewsandguide.com.

For the volunteers at the Jackson Cupboard the mission of the organization won out over any momentary disagreements over how to stock shelves or pack boxes of food for needy families. Decreasing food insecurity during an economic downturn may have a bridge for people to survive the crisis, something volunteers old and new recognized.

“There has been an elevated stress level, but everybody is trying to realize and understand that we are all in the same boat,” Daluge said. “We try not to take it personally.

“It’s just that we’re all in a crazy situation.”

u o Y k Than LKS LODGE 1713 SON E K C JA

Contact Tom Hallberg at 732-7079 or thallberg@jhnewsandguide.com.

s r e e t n u l o V s

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OTH N A R O

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ESNG OUR C C U S PPORTI OF SU

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THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS!

Thank you to over 550 Nature Mapping Jackson Hole citizen

scientists and volunteer project leaders! During the last 10 years volunteers have contributed over 55,000 observations to our wildlife sightings database.

In 2019, 300 volunteers contributed 1567 volunteer hours to our Wildlife Friendlier Fencing program while removing or improving 14 miles of fence.

THERE ARE MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO VOLUNTEER! LEARN MORE AT WWW.JHWILDLIFE.ORG.

www.jhwildlife.org • 307.739.0968 jacksonholewildlife

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16E - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Give Back.

Volunteer JH is an online platform where Teton County nonprofits can post their volunteer needs and community members can learn about volunteer opportunities.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there are still safe and healthy ways to give back to your community. Please visit the Community Foundation’s Volunteer JH for more details: volunteerjh.org

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