Valley Volunteer 2014 by Teton Media Works, Inc.

Volunteers Valley

A supplement to the Jackson Hole News&Guide

April 9, 2014

Our helping heritage From running the ranch to organizing benefits, residents help each other.

Value of a

volunteer page 8

Caring for critters page 10

BRADLY J. BONER / NEWS&GUIDE

Sally Maher leads a herd of about 300 cattle along Highway 22 in September 2008. Wranglers move the livestock from summer grazing at Bar BC Ranch to back to their home on the Walton Ranch every fall. See page 4 for a story about the labor it takes for tasks like branding.

2 - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014

From the editor

We Donate We Participate We Care

ook around. You might not recognize it as such, but there are volunteers everywhere. That neighbor who always seems to be walking a different dog? She’s helping each dog get used to the routine of being in a household, and ensuring it won’t have to spend the night in a cage (see story page 10). The person in an orange vest picking up trash on the side of the road on the second Saturday of May is more likely to be a business owner than a felon. Hundreds of valley residents participate in the annual community Spring Clean-Up. And the cowgirl on her horse downtown during ElkFest giving directions to tourists didn’t get lost on her trail ride. She’s a member of the Citizens Mounted Unit, a group that patrols big events to help valley law enforcement. In this special section of the Jackson Hole News&Guide, you can read about the tradition of helping friends and neighbors that began more than a century ago in this isolated mountain valley (see page 3). People are keeping that tradition alive, from ranchers who hold down their neighbors’ calves for branding

Rocky Mountain Bank is committed to paying it forward: our employees volunteer their time locally, and our organization participates as an Old Bill’s Fun Run co-challenger.

C H E C K I N G & S AV I N G S • W E A LT H M A N A G E M E N T P E R S O N A L , R E S I D E N T I A L & C O M M E R C I A L L OA N S ROCKY MOUNTAIN B ANK IS LOC ALLY OWNED AND OPERATED IN JACKSON HOLE

(page 4) to the tutor who’s helping a 9-year-old Hispanic boy master reading and writing English (page 6). The ill are often buoyed as much by a party their friends throw as by the cash a benefit event raises for their medical bills (page 5). Those with children in middle school and high school activities help raise money for extras like guest coaches or travel expenses (page 7). Years before his son was born and long after the teen “flew the coop” for college, Boy Scout leader Tom Ninnemann has tightened his neckerchief and stepped up to announce the Pinewood Derby, sort elk antlers and mentor boys (page 14). Seeing tons of produce going to waste in Dumpsters around the valley, Ali Dunford founded Hole Food Rescue (page 13) and is attracting many 20-something helpers. If reading this section inspires you, but you haven’t found your place within the web of nonprofit groups in the valley, the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole can help you find it. Visit VolunteerJacksonHole.org. — Johanna Love

890 W. BROADWAY, JACKSON • 307-739-9000 • ROCKYMOUNTAINBANK.COM

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Special supplement written, produced and printed by the Jackson Hole News&Guide Publisher: Kevin Olson Editor: Angus M. Thuermer Jr. Volunteer Section Editor: Johanna Love Layout and Design: Kathryn Holloway Photo Editors: Bradly J. Boner, Price Chambers Copy Editors: Jennifer Dorsey, Mark Huffman Features: Mike Koshmrl, Michael Polhamus, Ben Graham, Emma Breysse, Brielle Schaeffer, Jennifer Dorsey, Richard Anderson, Clark Forster, Josh Cooper Director of Advertising: Adam Meyer Brand Manager: Amy Golightly Advertising Sales: Karen Brennan, Chad Repinski, Tom Hall, Matt Cardis Advertising Coordinator: Heather Best Advertising Design: Lydia Redzich, Andrew Edwards, Sarah Grengg, Jarad Magill Pre-press: Jeff Young Press Foreman: Greg Grutzmacher Pressmen: Dale Fjeldsted, Johnathan Leyva, Mike Taylor Office Manager: Kathleen Godines Customer Service Managers: Lucia Perez, Ben Medina Circulation: Kyra Griffin, Pat Brodnik, Hank Smith, Jeff Young

The Snow King Ski Patrol was founded in 1939.

The patrol is comprised of community volunteers that have dedicated themselves to providing a safe environment for Jackson Hole’s recreating community on and off the slopes.

MORAN VOLUNTEER

The members of the patrol have undergone rigorous medical training through the Outdoor Emergency Care Program. This program is very similar in curriculum and time commitment to a Wilderness EMT course. In addition to OEC training, they are trained in avalanche hazard reduction, emergency patient transportation, on and off the snow, and wilderness survival techniques. We hold OEC classes every fall. This year’s course starts on September 16th. Contact Kevin Johnson at Nordtroller@aol.com or (307)690-1891 for more information.

FIREFIGHTERS

Serving Northern Teton County since 1983. Captain Mack McFarland | Lieutenant Cam Preuss Phillip Lamoureux | Giovanni Tabacchi | Logan Steffens Jim Warren | Mike Hagen

We are a 501c3 non-profit organization. Our efforts are primarily funded by generous donations from our community through Old Bill’s Fun Run. This years donations will be directed towards continuing education and upgrading our avalanche rescue equipment so that we can continue to provide the highest quality service to our community. Please contact the Jackson Hole Community Foundation if you would like to make a donation to our cause The Snow King Volunteer Ski Patrol is looking forward to expanding their quality medical support to our community for another 75 years. 271781

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VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - 3

Neighbors helping neighbors Jackson Hole residents relied on each other many years ago. By Michael Polhamus

ormal volunteering has only a brief history in Jackson Hole. Granted, in the relatively short time nonprofit groups have existed and asked for help, the valley’s volunteers have grown numerous. But decades ago helping others was just how things were done. “It wasn’t seen as help, you just did it,” Jackson native Dotty Hodges said. “You didn’t feel like you had to, it was just something that was common, and that’s the way things were here.” Hodges grew up on a ranch on the land where the Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis club now sits. Cooperation was a way of life at the time, she said. In the fall, for example, when it came time to ship cattle, the process required more than one person. “At that time, to ship them, they had to drive them to Victor,” Hodges said. “So they’d put them together and you went over the hill.” Usually two or three ranchers would get together and help each other make the trip to Victor, which at the time took two days at a minimum, she said. Also in the fall, when the grain was ripe and ready to be threshed, neighbors would again pitch in. After grain is cut and dried in the field it must be threshed, which is when its seeds are separated from the stalk, Hodges said. Threshing was a big job. “Everybody worked together,” she said. “Your neighbors on each side [would help], but when they done theirs, you’d go over there. “The grain was usually all getting ready about the same time, so they’d arrange it so they’re over there today, and

JACKSON HOLE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Teton Pass was snowed shut on a regular basis in winters of yore. This April 12, 1936, photo shows 30 feet of snow on Teton Pass. One year residents “borrowed” WYDOT equipment and plowed the road themselves.

the day after tomorrow we’re over there,” Hodges said. It wasn’t just work in the

NEWS&GUIDE PHOTO / PRICE CHAMBERS

Valley residents always have looked out for their neighbors, Doris Platts says, whether it’s because they’re elderly, single or stuck in the snow.

fall that neighbors helped each other with. Over the winter, they would grow to depend on each other, Hodges said. “In the winter when you’re snowed in, you didn’t come to town to get anything,” she said. “You bought it in the fall, and your supplies lasted till spring, and the neighbors would visit back and forth. “That’s just the way things were — if somebody needed something, why the neighbors jumped in and did it,” she said. “I guess just because you’re neighbors, and that was your way of life back then. This continues even today, but it’s “in a different way,” Hodges said. “I think you find that any place,” she said. “I don’t know about out East — I’ve never been back there — but in communities you’ll see that, and it’s the same principle I grew up with: if somebody needs help you jump right in. I think it happens everywhere.” Others recollect a similar experience. “I graduated high school here in 1959, and at that time it was a small town,” Rudy Sanford said. “Everything was sort of simple — if somebody was doing something

you’d help them, and if you had something to do they’d help you.” Winters in particular were hard, he said. “A lot of people helped each other shovel snow,” he said. “If somebody was sick, man, the food would come rolling in. This was just a way of life, back then, but much the same holds true today, he said. “Even now, if you see somebody doing something and struggling, you help them,” Sanford said. Seven years ago Sanford was working on his house and a friend from high school saw him and asked if Sanford needed a hand. “Twenty days later, he was still helping me,” Sanford said. Even relative newcomers, such as Doris Platts — originally from New Jersey — remember similar experiences in the 1960s. “When I first came here, we always felt we had to be family to each other, because there were a lot of single people here far from their families,” Platts said. “It was the same in pioneer times.” Before the advent of Subarus and SUVs, neighbors and friends served the

purpose that four-wheel drive does now. “We often got stuck in the snow — that was commonplace,” Platts said. “It was always known that a person carried tow chains and a shovel in their vehicle, and if you saw somebody stuck, you never passed them by,” she said. “You would stop and help them, which was often.” When a rancher she knew was injured by a falling tree, his neighbors did what he could not. “The other ranchers all came and helped him do the chores,” she said. “It was just amazing how they would all come and help. They just appeared.” Platts recounted a story that Hodges and Sanford both recalled, when folks needed to cross Teton Pass in the winter. “There was a time when Teton Pass used to be closed a great deal,” she said. People wanted to open it one winter, and the Wyoming Department of Transportation wasn’t working at the speed they desired, “so they took a couple trucks and a bunch of tractors, and went up and opened it up themselves,” Platts said. Platts used to gather cattle for the Green River Cattle Association, a group of ranchers who set cattle loose in the mountains over the summer and recovered them in the fall. One family was known for giving visitors a warm meal. “There used to be a tradition that ... if you stopped at one of the ranch-houses, they would feed you even if they didn’t know you were coming,” she said. “If you got there around feeding timer, they’d build a fire and invite you in.” When someone needed help word got around and people would show up ready to pitch in, she said. “There was no fire department in Wilson ‘till fairly recent years,” Platts said. “So that meant, whenever there was a fire, you had to help your neighbor.” As with threshing, at branding time ranchers would stagger their schedules so that each could help the other, she said. “I don’t think they ever thought of the word ‘volunteer’ — that’s just what you did,” she said. “I don’t think they had to invite anybody, I think they knew.” Platts agreed much of that tendency persists in Jackson Hole to this day. “I’m old now, and no matter where I go someone helps me — getting into the truck, walking into the store,” she said. “I get home meals delivered, and these people who take senior meals over, these are volunteers, and they do this every day of the week.” Platts offered a theory to explain why cooperation figures so prominently in Jackson Hole’s history. “Jackson Hole attracts a certain type of person — they love animals, they love the outdoors, they love the people,” she said. “Part of it’s the geography, but mostly they care.”

4 - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014

PRICE CHAMBERS/NEWS&GUIDE FILE

Helping hand Dave Loy holds a calf’s legs while Walton Ranch cowboy Larry Webb uses a hot iron to brand it in 2012.

Helping hands are critical for Jackson’s remaining working ranches.

Runnin’ the ranch

By Mike Koshmrl

n Jackson Hole’s ranches, volunteers aren’t usually enlisted to help out through a nonprofit organization or to fulfill a school requirement. Rancher-style volunteering is neighbors helping neighbors, often in exchange for help of their own down the road. They flock every spring and summer to complete the hardest of jobs on Jackson Hole’s handful of remaining working ranches. Ten to 14 days a year the community comes out to pitch in at the Walton Ranch, says Bill Cawley, the ranch’s foreman. “You can’t find enough help,” Cawley said, “but when you do have the help, it makes a big difference.” Jobs on the Walton Ranch that often draw the assistance of neighbors and friends range from cattle drives and branding calves to putting up new fence. A branding operation, which marks almost 300 calves every spring at the Walton Ranch, is one of the most laborintensive jobs. “Usually there are 40 people,” Cawley said. “Everybody has a job, pretty much.”

Friends from other ranches help keep branding a lighthearted event, says Walton Ranch manager Bill Cawley. The help “makes a big difference,” he said.

Lunch, beer, wine and camaraderie are provided, but that’s it. Nobody is paid, Cawley said. The normal crew that shows up — family, friends and oldtimer neighbors — ranges from teenagers to 91-year-old Loal Jacobson, he said. “I’ve been on this ranch for 41 years, and Loal was helping 41 years ago,” Cawley said. For the Gros Ventre River Ranch’s Brian Taylor, lending a hand to neighbors is just part of being a rancher.

“It’s just a neighborly thing to do,” he said, “and that’s the way it has always been. Neighbors help their neighbors. That’s the way the West was settled.” Similar tasks — fencing, branding and other livestock work — gather friends and family at the Gros Ventre River Ranch every year, Taylor said. One event stuck out in Taylor’s mind as a grand feat of neighbors coming together for the benefit of one another. Last summer, he said, the Gros Ventre River Road was in disrepair. Some

Skating on the Town Square is brought to you by the Grand Teton Skating Association, and would not be possible without support from local businesses and citizens. Many thanks to our volunteers, for their countless hours of service.

A Special Thank You

TO OUR SPONSORS & SUPPORTERS

Significant Supporters

Alan’s Welding, American Gas The BicknerFamily The DyessFamily Frank, Melanie and Nathan Hess SK8JH, Inc 3rdFloor Productions, Inc

Weekend Special Event Sponsors

J H Winter Wonderland www.jhwinterwonderland.org

parts of the U.S. Forest Service road had huge potholes and crumbling asphalt, and other stretches were being overtaken by spring washes. The Bridger-Teton National Forest couldn’t afford to make the repairs. “The Gros Ventre landowners and some other people,” Taylor said, “we got together and patched that road from the park line to the Atherton Creek Campground, all on our own ticket. I think between the neighbors we moved over 40,000 pounds of asphalt by hand. “You talk about a community, volunteer effort,” he said. “It’s always impressed me how, when there’s somebody in real crisis, this community comes together.” The Walton Ranch’s Cawley said that as Jackson Hole evolves the days of neighbors flocking to help one another for annual ranching tasks are fading. “Years ago you’d have one branding every day for a week or better or so,” Cawley said, “but that hasn’t happened for 15 or 20 years. Usually we just brand at ours now. “That’s when there was 20 ranches in the valley, maybe more,” he said. “Now there’s just people.” Back in the day the big community volunteer events on the ranch were also a bit of a party. That too has changed, Cawley said. “We were drinking hard back then,” he said. “But you can’t do that anymore. It’s too risky to drive.”

Bank of the West Cowboy Bar Frank, Melanie and Nathan Hess Ripley’s Vacuum Horton & Julie Spitzer Thoenig’sFine Jewelry

Wonderland Cache

3 Spur Designs Custom Horse Trailers Hideout Leather

Supporters

Express Car Wash and Detail High Country Linen JH Community Bible Church JH Recreation and Event Center JH Feed and Pet Supply JH Roasters Shadow Mountain Lighting Stitch in Time

Volunteers

Pasha Salmin, Val Salmin, Chris Betsinger, Ned Povilaitis, Sandra Wilkerson, and Grigory Denisenko

Skating on the Town Square couldn’t happen without your support.

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VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - 5

Benefits help individuals and families Residents rally when medical bills pile up. By Brielle Schaeffer

fter Stacey Price was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2008 she was taking 81 pills a day just to get out of bed. The price of those pills and other treatments for the intrusive bacterial infection were adding up. “It’s been financially devastating,” she said. “There’s no cure for this illness, and that’s a big problem. That’s a big problem financially, because you keep trying the latest and greatest thing that’s out there.” Price’s friend Tina Seay saw that Price and her husband, Troy, needed help. In October 2012, Seay organized a benefit for the couple at Elks Lodge No. 1713 with music by the Miller Sisters, a documentary about the enigmatic disease, a spaghetti dinner and live and silent auctions. The event raised $26,000 for Price. “That was huge,” she said. “That money just helped us to get extras like physical therapy that I needed that I really couldn’t afford to do because I was paying these other doctor bills.” Price is one of many Jackson residents who have benefited from the generosity of the community. Over the years people have volunteered their time, held fundraisers and put out collection cans to help pay expenses for accident victims, sick residents and cancer fighters, as well as those who were suffering from other maladies and tragedies. “The Elks offer the use of their lodge to anyone or any organization in the community that needs to raise some funds, and we donate all the

PRICE CHAMBERS / NEWS&GUIDE

With the prize quilt ready for its new owner, Wendy Hultman draws the winning raffle ticket at a fundraiser for her husband, Deputy County Attorney Brian Hultman, who suffered a stroke in September. Cynthia Riedel, right, a Jackson Police Department employee, organized the event.

spaghetti dinners to help,” Elks Exalted Ruler Jill Callaway said. The Virginian Lodge also is a frequent home for benefit. Fundraisers and benefits don’t always involve live music and a silent auction. Cynthia Riedel, information coordinator for the Jackson Police Department, organized a quilt raffle to aid Brian Hultman’s family after the deputy attorney in the Teton County Attorney’s Office suffered a stroke last year during the 206-mile LOTOJA bike race. The quilt, which Riedel stitched with her friends, raised $5,000 for Hultman. “This is a generous community to a fault,” Riedel said. “We like to support the dogs in the county ... and

fundraise for all kinds of things, but for the individual person who is having any stress or trauma in their lives there’s no avenue for fundraising. It falls back on their family and friends.” Riedel wanted to help Hultman as part of Jackson’s law enforcement family, she said. “To have that kind of catastrophic thing happen, it impacts us,” she said. Assisting people in need is important and the humane thing to do, Riedel said. “If you can’t help out your fellow man, I don’t think at the end of the day you can think of yourself as a good person,” she said. Wendy Hultman told the News&Guide in December that her family was grateful for the support.

PRICE CHAMBERS/NEWS&GUIDE FILE

Stacey Price has Lyme disease. A benefit friends put together at Elks Lodge No. 1713 raised $26,000 for her treatments, including “extras” like physical therapy.

“This community has time and time again reached out and supported our family and other families in their time of need,” she said. “It’s like an extended family. We’re grateful. It’s incredible to live here.” That was also what Price felt after her fundraiser. “I became an Elk as result of having my benefit there because I was so impressed by how willing they were to serve,” she said. The kindness from Seay, people who came out or donated to her cause and the Elks really lifted her spirits. “They just really came out of their way for me and that mentally just lifted me up,” Price said.

Howdy Pardners 2013-14

Winter Airport Greeting Program was the most successful on record. Special Thank You to our amazing Airport Greeting Program Volunteers: 4 Winter 1 0 2 Shinin g Stars:

* * * *

* *

* * * * * * *

Tim McClaurin Mike Mague Mike Klecha Lana Crabtree Pamela Konstant Gary & Mary Jo Weissman Jo Gathercole Oly Olson Ariel Lawver

To Mike Gireau and the staff at We could not do this Program without you.

2014 Team Mimosa John McDaniel Pam Plores Jesse O’connor Erin O’connor Liam O’connor Edye Smith Herb Brooks Lynn Jamison Khris Shean Maureen Murphy Renee Leone Harley Wilcox

Andy Heffron Jeff Golightly John Betts Ed Liebzeit Jerry DeFrance Deb & Mark Hassler Tom Miller Jennifer Mattingley Ben Begelman Diana Joy Jon Kindzerski Greg Wallace

Ike Faust Brenda & Steve Roberts Jia Knopp Yvonne Dorsey Mimi Saenger David Vandenberg Randy Frazier Tom Miller Charles Atwater Kathleen Mague Rose Caiazzo 271812

6 - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Teton Literacy Center nurtures readers Volunteer tutors give children one-on-one attention after school. By Brielle Schaeffer

t the Teton Literacy Center earlier this month, 10-year-old Leo Luna-Valencia practiced using trouble words from his current chapter book in sentences with tutor Nancy Carson. The two of them meet for an hour after school every Tuesday to work through the center’s volunteer tutoring program. Carson pointed out the words for Leo, a Colter Elementary School third-grader, to use in his sentences from the novella about a girl who tries to adopt a dog but ends up getting a dragon. “Not” was the first word for Leo to practice with. “I ate a cookie, but my mom said not to,” he said. “Toward” was next. “I was going toward the police station,” he said. Towel. Numeral. Surface. “What’s surface mean again?” Leo asked. “This is the surface of the table,” Carson said. “You can walk on the surface of the snow. In the early morning there will be a surface of ice on the puddles.” She and Leo worked through the words before moving on to other activities. He loves it when they get to play learning games. Carson and Leo are one of the Teton Literacy Center’s 100 one-on-one tutor pairs. In the two years they’ve been working together Leo’s English language and reading have been getting better, as have the skills of most students in the program. “He’s doing marvelously well, but I can’t take credit for that,” Carson said. “It’s astonishing how good of a reader he’s become.” Eighty percent are able to read at grade level after one year of instruction, Teton Literacy Center’s website says. Volunteers ranging in age from 15 to 90 serve students in kindergarten through 12th grade, said Kristin Livingston, the center’s education literacy coordinator. In the classroom, Livingstson said, teachers are often too busy to focus one-to-one with each student.

BRADLY J. BONER / NEWS&GUIDE

Teton Literacy Center tutor Nancy Carson works with 10-year-old Leo Luna-Valencia on problem words. Carson has volunteered with the center for eight years and has been working with Leo for two. He’s doing “marvelously well,” she said.

The literacy center’s tutoring program supports students and “gives them that extra oomph to get up to grade level on school,” she said. The program is especially powerful because it caters to the interest of students. “Students are choosing books, and we’re helping them find their interest, whether it’s animals or volcanoes or dinosaurs,” she said. “And then they’re reading about that, so the intrinsic value of reading and writing is there. We’re helping to build that.” While the center has many dedicated people like Carson, who has been volunteering there for rough-

A StAnding OvAtiOn fOr

our Volunteers

AnD BoArD oF DIreCtors!

BE A

ly eight years, it is always looking for more. The waiting list for the after-school one-on-one program is growing, Livingston said. Six kids are already on it, she said. “I have multiple kids coming in soon who are going to be on that wait list,” she said. Interested people can call the Teton Literacy Center’s office at 733-9242 to fill out an application. All volunteers need to be fingerprinted, and they must complete one hour of training. “It’s nice to give back, and it’s a nice way to do it working with people who are here who need help in reading,” Carson said. “It’s fun.”

Mentor

Making Connections. Empowering Youth.

Who and What is TMP?

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Don Opatrny - President Peg Gilday - Vice President Pamela Gibson - Secretary Stephen Adamson -Treasurer Agnes Bourne Babs Case

Jenny Felsinger Carrie Geraci JJ Healy Patricia Lummis Jim Moses Larry Perlman

Gary Silberberg Keith Stoltz Brenda Wylie Nona Yehia

2013-2014 VOLUNTEERS Mason Ames Reid Bauer Lizzie Blake Susie Blasko Emily Boesplfug Erica Bowditch Jeanine Brown John Buhler Kathy Byron Jill Callaway Jane Chapman Robin Christensen Lori Clark-Erickson Ceci Clover Tanna Clover Carol Colglazier Jake Collier Dennis Conley Leslie Cook Charley Daveler Laura Davenport Chris Dickey Lauren Dickey Anne DiTommaso Trina DiTommaso Fran Dotson

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Betty Duncombe Brook Erenstone Shane Ewert Lesa Faupel Jean Ferguson Dick Ferguson Forest Fransen Laurie Fukawa Claudia Gillette Kathleen Godines Phyllis Green Sharon Gunburg Sue Hall Marianne Hammersley Emily Hannah John Hill Peyton Jennings Jean Johnson Susan Jones Dianah Joy Roy Kinsey MaryLou Kleene Dick Kleene Megan Landau Marlene Lang Peter Lang

Lindsay Lewicki Christy Liaw Georgia Ligori Juniper Lopez Deborah Lucas Jessi Lundeen Robyn Lunsford Liz Machalek Karen Marinaro Farley Marlowe Jenny Mawyer Georgia Mayer Patty McDonald Kathleen McGue Michael McGue Ben Medina Therese Metherell Liza Millet Annie Mostkoff Dorothy Neckles Galen Parke Joe Petrick Kelli Petrick Karen/Ron Priebe Thelma Quasdorff Larry Reiser

Lisa Ridgway Cynthia Riedel Lisa Rung-Kolenich Judith Schmitt Michael Schrotz Claudia Schrotz Lesa Schumacher-Fifles Carol Schwender Craig Schwender Ronna Simon Dana Smith Robin Steinmann Deborah Supowitz Laurie Thal Beth Thebaud Dan Thomas Shirley Thomas Molly Thorn Jackie Van Zanten Carolyn Warziniak Ashley Watson Tina Welling Nancy Wilbrecht Jeff Wilcox Katie Wilson Jeanne Yurgalewicz

www.jhcenterforthearts.org

The Teton Mentor Project is a program of Teton County School Distict #1. We conn ect adult volunteers (mentors) with local students (mentees) and support the relationship for the duration of the match.

students brag “dailyaboutI hear their mentors on a basis and tell stories of

the things they do togetherstudents who ordinarily struggle to make friends or get lost in the crowd - Scott Eastman TCSD Assistant Principle

”

Thank you

to all of our mentors over the past year Dale Hoyt Mark Baudendistel Juniper Lopez Mike Bressler Steve Tatigian Andy Irvine Jon Bradford Ali Wheeler Amy Ringholz Julie Deardorff Ben Brettell

Erin Holmes Kris Smith Juniper Lopez Stephanie Kiser Steve Whisenand Whitney Goodrum Jim Clouse Pauline Chu Nancy Vaughn Kaitlin Colligan Loren Hall

What is the obligation?

To meet with a yout h community once a we from our ek for a year.

I am interested, what now? Pl

ease contact carlos@ tetonmentorp and also visit our webroject.org tetonmentorprojectsite at .org Mary Kamstra Molly Dearing Kate Kool Emily Sustick Charlotte Davis Julieta Lyall Mike Shaefer Patricia Read Pistono Elyss Clasen Rob Edmondson

Jeremy Leeper John Rentschler Adam Vansickle Maureen Molinari Nick Grenoble Lindsay Luther Grace Robertson Jim Wilson Joe Burke Ali Shier Tracy Welch

Sara Stephan Genevieve Martens Hannah Hall Doug Cook Gerson Giron Karen Colclough Wade Moore Laurie Huff Arianna Alibabaie Kate Barker 271084

VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - 7

Bronc Backers bolster sports, activities Parents and students raise money for middle school and high school. By Clark Forster

very few years Jackson Hole High School sports and activity teams get new uniforms and new equipment. Jackson coaches receive instruction at clinics hosted at the high school. Each state championship team gets a banner in the gym and T-shirts recognizing the accomplishment. Who pays for all that? Students and parents who volunteer their time and money. The group is known as the Bronc Backers. Jackson Hole High School and Jackson Hole Middle School have only so much money for after-school activities. The Backers augment that sum to ensure the quality of the programs reflects that of the curriculum. “Activities always have to be very limited in their funds,” said Jeff Parrott, dean of students and athletic director at Jackson Hole Middle School. “Academics always come first.” Parrott, one of the original members of the Bronc Backers, said the group helps close the gap between school budgets and activity needs. The volunteers do that by manning the concession stands at Broncs sporting events. They host a golf tournament in the spring. They sell Broncs ap-

PRICE CHAMBERS / NEWS&GUIDE

Bronc Backers volunteers Kirby Castagno, center, and Michael Thorkildson, right, sell school apparel at a home basketball game. Money raised by such efforts pays for uniforms, gear, team travel, coach training and more.

parel. They have even held turtle races. All to help fund more than 30 sports and activities. A few parents have been part of the club since its beginning in 2003. Parrott is one. “We were just looking for other revenue sources to improve our program,” he said. Today the Bronc Backers are going strong. In the past six years the organization has raised more than $219,000 for the two schools’ programs. Backers have given more

than $60,000 for equipment and supplies. They have bought almost $50,000 worth of uniforms and spent more than $40,000 recognizing their state championship teams with parades, banners and apparel. They have raised more than $60,000 for coach training and team travel. Current president of the organization Jeanne Carruth said the Backers want to keep as many students as possible involved in orga-

nized activities. “The school budget gets smaller and smaller,” Carruth said. “When kids are on the road they are buying their own meals. Sometimes that deters kids and parents from participating.” The Backers are set up so the teams and activities can be funded as much as possible and so all students can participate. They are supported by many of the activities’ participants and their parents.

During each sporting event a Backer mans the concession stand with a fellow parent and two or three students. Members of the wrestling team might be assigned to work during a basketball game, and vice versa. Coaches do not participate. “Coaches have enough to do as it is,” Carruth said. “Our job is to raise the funds for the coaches, and we’d rather have parents and kids helping us.” The students don’t mind pitching in, she said, because they know the money they are raising will go toward their own activities. “The kids like doing it, and they do a great job,” Carruth said. “It’s all part of raising money to support your program. Money is not readily available, so when kids and parents create time to help it means a lot.” Carruth started with the Backers two years ago after moving to the valley. She volunteered at her daughter’s school in Minnesota and felt she should do the same in Jackson. “You know, you gotta give back,” she said. “Somebody did it for us, and now it’s time for us to volunteer and raise money for our kids.” She needs help, though. A core group of parents volunteers here and there, but only “five or six” Backers attend board meetings. “The volunteers fluctuate,” she said. “We can always use money, but most of all we need volunteers and their time.”

Thank You to Our 2014 Volunteers! We would like to thank the dedicated volunteers who have donated their valuable time to serving the Museum throughout the past year. We host a diverse group of volunteers who work in a variety of positions. This year’s group donated over 4,500 hours of combined service to the Museum and the Jackson Hole Community. D = Docent Maryann Abrahams W Ann Alsted Don Alsted D, W Vickie Atwater Joan Baldwin W Jan Benz W Sally Berman D, W Darlene Blazek W Donna Blessley Greg Brondos D, W Susan Brooks D, W Andrew Bushnell Jim Byrne W Sally Byrne D, W Lisa Carlin D, W – 2013 Volunteer of the Year MaryLou Cass Susan Chambers W Cossette Burnham Patricia Dempsey

Jamie Dunphy Libby Erker Jenny Felsinger Colleen Fitzgerald Lisa Fleischman Walt Gerald Natalie Goss W Marilyn Gschwind D, W Sharon Gunberg Gigi Halloran D, W Faith Hamlin Madora Hance Diane Hanson Payton Harvey Jan Herbst W Bill Holmes M.A. Holmes Barb Huhn Malayna Jacobson Des Jennings

W= Wyoming Sage Society (>500 Hours Volunteered) Sally Johnson Ann Keller D Allana Kennedy Diane Key W Charlotte Kidd Jules Kirby Louise Koegler D, W Carla Kussner Harry Lawroski W Mary Ann Lawroski W Joanne Leusch D, W Georgia Ligori D Kip MacMillan Gail Magid Roseanne Magid Jane Malashock D Steve Malashock Bob Martin D, W Pat Martin W Frank Masuelli

Dan Matzke Julie Matzke D, W Marilyn May Nancy McCarthy Marie Louise McComack Casey McLellan Reggie McNamara W Teddie Lou McNamara W Glenda McNichols Bill McPeak Erika Muschaweck W Ann Nelson Claudia Perry Judy Pilgrim W Cynthia Quast W Kym Rambo Ashley Robin Ben Roth Pam Sanders Ellen Sanford

Carol Schneebeck W Regina Schultz Ron Stevens Laura Sullivan Sarah Tams Caroline Taylor Cathy Teig Bobbi Thomasma D, W Shelia Tintera Kathryn Turner Martha Van Genderen W Marsha Wackerly Mary Waid W Donna Watkins

Matthew Wegher Mary Willis John Wilson W Keith Zorn

If you are interested in joining our vibrant group of volunteers, contact Carrie Schwartz at cschwartz@WildlifeArt.org or visit our website.

WildlifeArt.org | 2.5 Miles North of Jackson | 307-733-5771 271486

8 - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014

PCJH

Michael, Dave, Sheri, Buffy, Amy, Chris, Charles, Jan, Kim, Julie, Ken, Amy, Karen, Kay, Nancy, Brian, Sue, Jim, Sally, Barbara, Ed, Shirley, Donna, Dave, Eunice, Lana, Cindy, Louise, Gary, John, Kristie, Pam, Deanne, Karen, Steve, Brad, Kristie, Sandy, Sandra, Diane, Caryn, Linda, Don, Terri, Yvonne, Dennis, Jo, Jack, Barb, Larry, Kristen, Connie, Kathy, Kraig, Robyn, Tom, Suzanne, Becky, Bob, Debbie, Gail, Jane, Macye, Julie, Patty, Marian, Brie, Dorothy, Mike, Diane, Rodger, June, Susan, Peter, Carol, Stan, Maddy, Merrill, Kathy, Ponteir, George, Debbie, Kim, Claudia, Melinda, Ron, Paul, Joanie, John, Jordan, Ellen, Ron, Nancy, Pamela, Bobbi, Rebecca, Clayton, Faith, Maggie, Martha, Linda, Mary, Ingrid, Joe, Julie, Lance, Meg, Ray, Suzanne, Randy, Robyn, Kelsey, Andrea, Cindy, Tena, Allison, Emma, George, Jeff, Katie, Sarah, Mike, Maggie, Scott, Dave, Cory, Ken, Teresa, Jill, Kristie, Barbara, Jeff, Lee, Connie, Kathy, Becky, Addie, Polly, Emma, Eunice, Dave, Cindy, Rick, Colter, Casey, Jared, Andrew, Katie, Jennifer, Zeth, Jade, Sue, Dana, Terri, Julia, Mary Lou, Joan, Jodeen, Fabiola, Annalise, David, Vivian, Jason, Robin, Sarah, Ben, Grace, Will, Melissa, Celia, Don, Laura, Marilyn, Vicki, Deborah, Alison, Charlie, Debra, Therese, Janice, Diane, Dan, Kelly, Keith, Grace, Hillary, Judy, Kerry, Briget, Savannah, Sheri, Kenny, Adam, Alex, Kathleen, Melissa, Jack, Jon, Andrea, Chris, Ben, Jodi, Brett, Gaylyn, Alli, Effie, Celia, Irene, Kerry, Lana, Nancy, Cleo, Deanna, Maura, Jan, Carole, Sheila, Jan, Carol, Angela, Kenlyn, Therese, Laura, Janice, Duane, Judy, Juli, Nance, Karlene, Ricky, Erin, Trent, Jordan, Darla, Martha Michael, Dave, Sheri, Buffy, Amy, Chris, Charles, Jan, Kim, Julie, Ken, Amy, Karen, Kay, Nancy, Brian, Sue, Jim, Sally, Barbara, Ed, Shirley, Donna, Dave, Eunice, Lana, Cindy, Louise, Gary, John, Kristie, Pam, Deanne, Karen, Steve, Brad, Kristie, Sandy, Sandra, Diane, Caryn, Linda, Don, Terri, Yvonne, Dennis, Jo, Jack, Barb, Larry, Kristen, Connie, Kathy, Kraig, Robyn, Tom, Suzanne, Becky, Bob, Debbie, Gail, Jane, Macye, Julie, Patty, Marian, Brie, Dorothy, Mike, Diane, Rodger, June, Susan, Peter, Carol, Stan, Maddy, Merrill, Kathy, Ponteir, George, Debbie, Kim, Claudia, Melinda, Ron, Paul, Joanie, John, Jordan, Ellen, Ron, Nancy, Pamela, Bobbi, Rebecca, Clayton, Faith, Maggie, Martha, Linda, Mary, Ingrid, Joe, Julie, Lance, Meg, Ray, Suzanne, Randy, Robyn, Kelsey, Andrea, Cindy, Tena, Allison, Emma, George, Jeff, Katie, Sarah, Mike, Maggie, Scott, Dave, Cory, Ken, Teresa, Jill, Kristie, Barbara, Jeff, Lee, Connie, Kathy, Becky, Addie, Polly, Emma, Eunice, Dave, Cindy, Rick, Colter, Casey, Jared, Andrew, Katie, Jennifer, Zeth, Jade, Sue, Dana, Terri, Julia, Mary Lou, Joan, Jodeen, Fabiola, Annalise, David, Vivian, Jason, Robin, Sarah, Ben, Grace, Will,

THANKS OUR

VOLUNTEERS

Presbyterian Church of Jackson Hole 1251 South Park Loop Road Jackson, 734-0388

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Donated time adds up to big bucks Teton County’s volunteer hours translate to $4.8M worth of labor a year. By Richard Anderson

he U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 25.4 percent of the population, or 62.6 million Americans, performed volunteer work in 2013. The nonprofit Independent Sector — which describes itself at a “leadership network for nonprofits, foundations and corporate giving programs

Honoring JH Volunteers com·mu·ni·ty A social group [who] share government,

and often have a common cultural and historical heritage. [from dictionary.com]

We honor the helping hands that keep our JH heritage strong:

• staying true to our small town Western values • living with nature rather than dominating it

Preserving our way of life 733-4392

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committed to advancing the common good in America and around the world” — estimated these volunteers logged 7.9 billion hours. At $22.14 an hour, a wage Independent Sector calculates each year to represent the value of volunteer work, that adds up to a mind-boggling $175 billion worth of volunteer service. That hourly value may seem high, but consider that it includes everything from stocking shelves at the local food bank to providing professional services such as tutoring, giving medical assistance and organizational management. Even if you halve that hourly wage you end up with $87.5 billion. Apply the federal minimum wage of $7.25 and it’s $57.3 billion. The Corporation for Community and National Service breaks this data down by state. It reports 29.9 percent of Wyomingites, or more than 120,000 people, volunteered in 2012 (ranking the state 18th in the country). Equality State residents contributed 14.8 million hours that the group values at $327.1 million. Unfortunately there’s no single clearinghouse for this kind of information in Teton County, but if we take some of the numbers above and apply them to the county’s population we might get close. The U.S. Census Bureau put the country’s population at 21,675 in 2012. Using the Wyoming figure of 29.9 percent gives us about 6,480 resident volunteers. At 33.5 hours per volunteer and $22.14 per volunteer hour, that adds up to $4,806,763. But as we all know, Jackson Hole is a singular community where volunteerism is as much a part of the lifestyle as being outdoors and where more than 200 nonprofits touch the lives of pretty much every resident. They help educate our children. They come to the rescue when folks are in crisis. They protect the environment and animals that make Teton County such a remarkable place to live and visit. They help us remember and celebrate our history and heritage. They even entertain us with music, theater and art — and help us find our seats or enjoy a glass of wine when partaking of such cultural fare. “We use 10 to 12 ushers almost every night,” said Steve Friedlander, managing director of artistic operations at the Grand Teton Music Festival. At three to four hours per event, five events a week for seven weeks, See Big Bucks on page 9

VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - 9

WHERE PEOPLE VOLUNTEER

Sectors where Wyoming people volunteered in 2012, in percents.

5.5

3.7

All activities where Wyoming people volunteered in 2012, in percents. 11.0 7.6

6.4

A Chapter of Disabled Sports/USA

21.5

31.5 21.4

18.0

26.4

10.9 9.3 21.3 26.1

27.8

13.6

6.3

9.9

Social Service Sport / Arts Other

Sports Teams Tutor/Teach Mentor Youth Religious Collect/Distribute food Collect/Distribute clothes Fundraise

Source: CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE

BIG BUCKS Continued from 8

that’s at least 1,000 hours a summer. “We also have an auxiliary that helps behind the scenes,” he said. Helping out around the office is example. “And we do have some volunteer support in the wine auction.” Multiply that by Independent Sector’s $22.14 an hour and you’re well on your way to $30,000 worth of volunteer labor. Programming year-round, the Center for the Arts has an even larger volunteer corps. Pamela Kearns, the center’s volunteer coordinator, has 105 names on her list who in 2013 logged 1,766 hours working in the box office, ushering and helping at fundraisers. Just since December they’ve notched another 691. And the National Museum of Wildlife Art, which keeps meticulous records on its volunteers, relies on up to 70 people during its peak months. “Docents, people guiding formal tours, people who … are available to visitors if they have questions, people working with educational groups,” Carter Cox, assistant curator of education and exhibits, said, listing a few of the roles volunteers serve there. “And then we have volunteers working on special projects” as well as at the front desk and in the bookstore. In the past 10 months, the museum’s data shows, volunteers have accumulated 4,288 hours, with 821 coming in September, Fall Arts Festival month. The museum uses a figure of $13 an hour for its valuation — “which is kind of low,” Cox said — for a total value of $55,744 for those 10 months. Using Independent Sector’s figure puts the total close to $95,000. St. John’s Medical Center also keeps careful track of volunteer hours.

those who commit their time, energy, and support in the effort to provide year round outdoor sports and recreation opportunities for people of all abilities.

14.6 29.2

Civic Educational Health Religious

Teton Adaptive Sports would like to thank

Emergency response Office Services Prof/Management Music/Art General Labor Other

KATHRYN HOLLOWAY / NEWS&GUIDE

Karen Connelly, director of marketing and community relations, said the hospital’s 115 volunteers provide spiritual comfort for patients, help Living Center residents go on outings, sit with oncology patients as they undergo the dull process of chemotherapy and help with special events such as the health fair. While she didn’t have handy a figure for hours served, she did have a dollar amount: $74,000, as calculated by the American Hospital Association. “A lot of organizations keep track [of volunteer hours] because it helps with applying for grants and those types of things,” Connelly said. “And it helps us recognize them appropriately and appreciate them appropriately for their contributions.” Habitat for Humanity of the Greater Tetons racked up 10,391 volunteer hours in 2013, according to Brendan Schulte, the housing group’s executive director. “If you think about the population of [the town of] Jackson, that’s one hour per person,” he said. Or, if the average work year totals 2,000 hours (50 40-hour weeks), that’s a bit more than five full-time positions. An office worker at Teton Heritage Builders guessed that an entry-level nail-pounder might start at $17 an hour — more, of course, for additional experience — so the value of the labor of Habitat volunteers easily adds up to $200,000 or more. That’s just five of Jackson Hole’s somewhat larger nonprofit organizations, and the grand total of the value of the work of their volunteers comes to $439,000. Some of the valley’s nonprofits no doubt rely on fewer volunteers, and some certainly rely on more, but as should be clear by now the work of Jackson Hole volunteers is worth many millions. And that’s priceless.

Volunteers Rock! tetonadaptive@aol.com • 307-699-3554 270955

N A N CY d E i d R E f R A N K C i N dY b E N J U L i A b O N N i E C i N dY C A RT E R fAY C A N d A C E g E N E V i E V E S A N d Y J E S S i C A m A R K A m Y LY N N E T T E JULiANNE mARgARET JENNifER S H E R i m O N i q U E C H A R L O T T E p i p pA A p R i L m O L LY C Y N T H i A L O R i m A R TA g R E g g L U E T T E S H E L L i E SARAH JACKiE JOAN fiO JOHANNA LANi ZAN mARiA SUSAN KAREN A N p E Y T U SY LV i A V E R O N i C A

THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS fOR HELpiNg bUiLd A COmmUNiTY Of SUppORT, SAfETY, ANd HOpE!

Community Safety Network supports lasting change in the lives of those affected by domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking by offering shelter, advocacy and support any time of the day or night. All services are free and confidential.

CHRiSTiE TRiCiA bRENdA KRiS R O m O S TA R R C H E L S E A A L E x i S H E AT H E R L i N O R E K R i S T Y A L i C i A N A C O L E d AV i d b R E N d A L A U R E L g LY N i S S H i L A R Y m A R Y m AT i A J A N S T E p H A N i E L i Z Z Y d i A N A b AY L E S S L i N dA E d A N N R U T H J i m C H E RY L JA N bA R bA R A J i m S H i R L EY J U dY d i A N N J i m K AVA R b i L L g L O R i A To join us, or for more information: 307-733-3711 24 HR HELP-LINE 733-SAFE (7233) www.communitysafetynetwork.org

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Teton Literacy Center thanks and applauds our volunteers for their excellent service and dedication.

THANK YOU!

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Abigail Shockley Adrienne Benson Alex White *Amy Bryan Andrea Evans *Andria Clancy Andy Carson Andy Wilson Ann Carruth Anna Rehm Anne Schuler Annie Friday Austin Gauthier Aviva Thal *Bill Maloney Blakeny Spong

Esther Grossman Bob Moeler Frances Clark Bob Zelnio George Hein Brian Bultema Giles Sydnor Cameron Sanchez Ginna Kyle Carol Maloney Grace Robertson Caroline Berner Gracie Miller *Ceci Clover Graham Trainor Chatherine Carstens Harli Jo Wood Chris Frank Heather Hamilton-Brown Christian Jorgenson Heidi Kohler Cindy Winslow Irene Poodts Cluadia VanRemoortere *Jade Walsh Dabney West *James Mathieu Dawn Kimbrel Jane Gallie Debbie Schlinger Jane Kusek Diane Brown Jeff Dickerson

Jim Hand Jim Radda *Jim Thorburn JJ Gill Joannie Epstein Joe Burke John Good John Kennedy *John Lummis Jordan Shive Joyce Steece Julia Kirby Julie Mclaurin Karen Mertaugh Karli Swenson Kate Wiley Kathy Cottam

Katie Bertsch Katie Mannen Kim Morse Kris Gridley Kristina Smith Lee Bauknight Lee Bauknight Lisa Chong Liz Luna Mackenzie Moore Maddie Ewing Madeline Carlman Madeline Zolik Margie Ryan Marisol Hernandez Mark Hannon Marsh Wackerly

Matt Keel *Matt Rodosky McKinley Shindell Megan O’Brien Mike Lutz Mike Sillman Mike Wierda Nancy Carson Natosha Hoduski Nicole Nicklos Niki Gill Noah Barnhart Paul Hansen Petria Fossel Polly Warner Randy Reedy Rebecca Woener

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

Rhonda Watson Richard Will *Robert Biolchini Jr. Robyn Reedy Rose Novak Sandy Strout Sara Cavellero Sarah Kerr Shawn Means Sidney Myers Stephanie Franco

Sue Hebberger Tammy Christel Tana Hoffman Thomas Hinkel Tyler Harlow Valerie Conger Walter Gibson Thulin * Board members

10 - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Spencer and Katie Long adopt Houser for an evening from the Animal Adoption Center. Because of foster volunteers all dogs at the center “get to be a part of a family situation every single night,” sa

Caring for critters

From domestic dogs to wild grizzlies, people pitch in to protect animals.‌ By Ben Graham

f there’s one thing the residents of Teton County know how to rally around, it’s animals. Seemingly every creature in the valley — from house cats to waterfowl to cougars — has its own nonprofit or group of advocates, Those in charge of the organizations say it’s not difficult to mobilize community members to lend a helping hand. Volunteers give back because they want to protect the natural resources and wildlife that make the valley special. “Most of the people that live here in the valley feel like our quality of life is heightened by the wildlife and the beautiful open spaces around us,” said Megan Warren, program associate at Teton Raptor Center. “I think there’s a strong desire to protect that and take care of it.” And that passion transfers to all kinds of animals, not just the wild ones. “Our community really lends itself to the animal industry, whether it’s wildlife or cats and dogs,” said Kara Pollard, executive director of the Animal Adoption Center.

“We’re fortunate in our small community that so many people care so much about animals,” she said.

Teton Raptor Center Eighty-four birds of prey were cared for at the Teton Raptor Center in 2013, due in large part the efforts of 75 volunteers. Located in downtown Wilson, the raptor center has four staff members. But it’s the legion of residents who chip in during their free time that makes the operation successful. “It really wouldn’t be possible without the help of our volunteers,” Warren said. In the beginning most aren’t able to work directly with the birds. That requires time and training. But prospective volunteers shouldn’t be disheartened: Everyone is there for the birds. “People are attracted to volunteer at the raptor center to be around the birds,” Warren said. Those who don’t directly care for the raptors help out in other ways. Each spring crews help spruce up the grounds of the historic ranch where the center is located. Volunteers also lend a hand at farmers markets and special events like the Jackson Hole Eco Fair. All told, volunteers worked for 2,207 hours in 2013. At the same time the number of birds that passed through center increased by 95 percent over 2012’s total.

“That’s why the volunteers are so vit here, because we‘re growing at a rap rate,” said Amy McCarthy, executive dire tor of the raptor center. About 70 community members also len a hand with the center’s marquee annu event, RaptorFest. Held during the sum mer, the festival helps raise awarenes about eagles, hawks, owls and falcon while also raising money for the nonprofi Anyone interested in getting involve can call the center at 203-2551 or visit th website at TetonRaptorCenter.org.

Animal Adoption Center

Canines clad in the bright orange ves of the Animal Adoption Center have b come a familiar sight around downtow Jackson. The vests are part of a program that in vites volunteers to stop by the downtow shelter and take a dog for a walk. “Adop Me” vests make no bones about the fa that the strolling furry creature is seekin a permanent home. The program serves two purposes: Th pup gets exercise but also some exposure “They come back with a slew of peop interested in the dog,” said Kara Pollar executive director of the Animal Adoptio Center. It’s also a good way for the dogs to sta active. After all, exercise is key for pup

See critters o n page 1

VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - 11

BRADLY J. BONER / NEWS&GUIDE file PRICE CHAMBERS / NEWS&GUIDE

aid Kara Pollard, executive director.

In the Willow Flats area of Grand Teton National Park, Wildlife Brigade volunteer Phil Shoner directs traffic through a massive “bear jam” of motorists hoping to catch a glimpse of grizzly bear 610 and her cubs.

tal id ec-

nd ual mss ns fit. ed he

sts bewn

nwn pt act ng

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ay ps

PRICE CHAMBERS / NEWS&GUIDE

Teton Raptor Center volunteer Kathy Cottam weighs Owly as Sue Ernisse logs data into a computer. Owly, a great horned owl, is one of the center’s resident birds. She was hit by a vehicle in 2004, and her wrist joint no longer functions properly. “I love her little feathered feet,” Cottam said. “It’s a lot of fun to be out here.”

12 - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Sexy and supportive

Artists craft one-of-a-kind brassieres to help women with cancer. By Jennifer Dorsey

s an interior designer, Nanette Mattei knows more than a thing or two about using materials to make a statement. Next month she’ll be making a statement with metal and feathers. Not for a room, though. She’s using metal and feathers in the “Warrior Bra” she is designing as Rocky Mountain Bank’s entry in Bras for a Cause. The popular event is a fundraiser organized every year by the all-female service organization Soroptimist International of Jackson Hole. The money goes to help Tetons-area women who have breast cancer. “It’s very much in our Soroptimist mission of ‘best for women,’” said AJ Holding, co-chairwoman with Krista Novak of this year’s Bras for a Cause. The centerpiece of the event is the auctioning of bras that like Mattei’s are decorated in all sorts of themes. Breast cancer touches so many lives that many of the participants have someone particular in mind as they work. “It’s in honor of a childhood friend who died Jan. 1 of metastasized breast cancer,” Mattei said of her Warrior Bra. “She was 42, with two kids.” “Team Warrior” was the moniker Mattei and crew used when they marched with their cancer-stricken friend in the Revlon Walk/Run breast cancer fundraiser in New York. “We consider her a warrior,” Mattei said. Supporters of women’s health will get to see the War-

BRADLY J. BONER / NEWS&GUIDE

Nanette Mattei, center, uses friend Dawn Pruett as a model for the “Warrior Bra” she’s crafting for the upcoming Bras for a Cause fundraiser as Karla Tessler of Rocky Mountain Bank looks on. The bank is sponsoring the bra.

rior Bra — along with fanciful upper undergarments sponsored by 29 other businesses — on May 10 at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. Local women will model the undie art, and people in the audience will bid. Big bucks are involved: The highest price for a bra in nine years of the Soroptimist event is $4,000. The evening’s proceeds, which include sales of a calendar and money raised through a silent auction of donated items, go to the Women’s Health Fund at St. John’s Medical Center. In 2013 the event raised $60,000, the most so far. “We always want to do better than the previous year,” Holding said. That shouldn’t be a problem. If history repeats itself, Bras for a Cause will bring 400-plus

Who: Soroptimist of Jackson Hole, a chapter of an international organization with a mission of improving the lives of women and girls. Jackson chapter was founded 45 years ago and has 40-plus members. What: Ninth annual Bras for a Cause fundraiser Amount raised annually: $60,000 in 2013, a total of $200,000 since 2006 Benefits: Women’s Health Fund at St. John’s Medical Center Bras for a Cause 2014: May 10; doors open at 5:30 p.m., live auction starts at 7 Where: Million Dollar Cowboy Bar How much: $50 general admission. Tickets go on sale April 8 at Whiskey Barber and Body and Soul Salon. Event sold out in advance in 2012 and 2013

ticket-buyers to the Cowboy Bar this spring. “We sell out every year,” Holding said. “We fill the bar to capacity.” The audience is a mix of men and women, all in tune with the for-a-cause aspect of the night. “It’s tastefully done,” Holding said. “We have just as many women as men. This is not a gentleman’s club.” It’s also a safe bet the 2014 batch of bras will be as wildly original as anyone in the audience has seen. “Every year the designers and businesses try to up the ante to find pieces the public will like and draw the bids up higher,” Holding said. Some supporters of the event — such as St. John’s nurses Karin Davis, Mary Jo McNamee and Monica McNamee — come back year after year. For May 10 the nurses will unveil a “Fight Like a Girl” item festooned with boxing gloves and “blinged out,” Davis said. As they have in the past, the nurses will also donate a free mammogram with their entry. “This is our sixth consecutive year participating in Bras for a Cause, sponsored by the ICU nursing staff,” Davis said. “We as nurses are passionate about putting an end to breast

Community Entry Services is dedicated to empower people with disabilities to maximize independence and lead satisfying productive lives in the community. Thank you to Community Entry Services volunteers: Pauline Zeren • Ashley Colgate • Steve Whisenand Chad Brown • Natasha Krochina • Crazy Tom Teton Adaptive Volunteers • Amanda Martin

We are looking for volunteers to help start Community Entry Services Fundraising Committee.

Community Entry Services

Contact Linday Long at 733-7637

cancer. We are women supporting women in a creative unique way.” Beyond that, she said, Bras for a Cause is “one of our favorite girls nights out for our ICU nursing team.” Rocky Mountain Bank is a repeat sponsor, too. Its entry last year was the Money Bra, which came with a basket of goodies from Victoria’s Secret. Bank executive Karla Tessler had asked the celebrated lingerie manufacturer for a bra to work with. The company not only came through with one but also donated a batch of lingerie and workout wear as well as gift cards to go with every other entry in the Soroptimist event. With so many women on its executive team, Tessler said, Rocky Mountain Bank is a natural to participate in Bras for a Cause. She is happy to tap Mattei’s creative talents because, she joked, “I have zero artistic ability.” Among the other bra sponsors this year, Holding said, are Mike’s Body Shop, E.Leaven, 3 Creek Ranch, Dr. Phil Blum, Pinky G’s, Snake River Brewing, Chester’s Harley Davidson, Jackson Hole Real Estate, and Farm Bureau and Financial Services. Nacole Wilson, a Soroptimist for more than 10 years and an agent at Farm Bureau,

said Bras for a Cause strikes a chord with her employer and with her personally. “Out company donates knowing we are supporting a good cause to help those women that need help and support,” she said. “I have several family and friends that have or have had breast cancer, and I want to do everything I can to help with cancer research and awareness.” Holding also is making a bra sponsored by her employer, Altamira Fine Art. It will incorporate University of Wyoming license plates and lace “to make it girly,” she said. It will be offered on the auction block with four UW football tickets. She had great success in 2013 with a license-plate creation — one that used Wyoming 22 plates on a Victoria’s Secret bra. That entry also came with UW football tickets. Crafting something with soft cups and metal plates is not without its challenges, namely “taking something flat and molding it around something that isn’t,” Holding said. She enlisted the help of one friend who is a metalsmith and another who is the “MacGyver type.” The effort was worth it: Someone in the audience liked the license-plate bra enough to offer $3,700, the high bid of the evening. And there was more. A woman came up to Holding in tears after losing her bid for the license-plate bra. “Her mother was a twotime breast cancer survivor,” Holding said, but “she was too scared to bid that high.” The woman ended up paying $3,800 for a duplicate of the license-plate bra, she said. It was that much more money for the Women’s Health Fund. Holding said she is “so grateful and lucky” that though her mother, grandmother and aunt have had multiple breast-tissue biopsies, none has been diagnosed with cancer. “I just know there are people out there who are not as lucky as I am,” she said. That’s why there’s satisfaction in producing an event that offers a bit of sexy with a lot of soul. “It’s a celebration of survivors and people we’ve lost,” Holding said. “It’s nice to host an event that can bring smiles to the faces and yet still bring awareness.”

presents

OUR

VOLUNTEERS Thank You!

307-733-7637 www.makeadifferencejh.org

Without you there would be no show. 271191

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VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - 13

Younger hands are also helping hands Convictions drive the under-40s to volunteer. By Emma Breysse

Habitat for Humanity DIGS build looks much like any other build day. It isn’t until you add up the average age of the participants that you realize there is something atypical about the volunteers doing the hammering and sawing. DIGS is Habitat of the Greater Teton Area’s group for the valley’s volunteers in their 20s and 30s, designed to bring Generations Y and X and their Millenial counterparts into the business of helping others. It stands for Dedicated Individuals Giving and Sharing. “Young people like to volunteer,” said DIGS committee member Joshua Mickelson. “But it can be a lot easier to feel comfortable doing it with other people closer to your age.” Mickelson got into Habitat work by going on one of the housing nonprofit’s Global Village trips to assist on a project in Latin America, he said. When he went to assist on a local project after that he inadvertently attended one of the DIGS builds and kept it up from there.

Creating opportunities Before that he volunteered for the Shriners and assisted with community events his employer organized, he said. From his experiences finding his own volunteer opportunities and now trying to attract people his age to service, he said the valley’s young people are a great resource for nonprofits. The difficulty is finding volunteers is competition with their desire to squeeze in a few turns between shifts or go backpacking. “Honestly, it’s about creating opportunities and pushing them hard,” he said. “There’s interest out there, but it’s key to find ways to tap into it.” DIGS puts on builds specifically for younger people, along with events like the Halloween-themed wine tasting Hallowine and fundraisers for programs like Global Village. Bringing together younger volunteers to help out and also socialize is something of an unofficial mission statement. “I think the social aspect of groups like DIGS and something like Bravo

JONATHAN CROSBY / NEWS&GUIDE

Ali Dunford and Justin Nevis of Whole Food Rescue use bicycles with trailers to transport donations of fresh produce collected last summer from the Farmers Market on Town Square to the Jackson Cupboard, where it will find people eager to use it.

[the young professionals’ support group for the Grand Teton Music Festival] are key,” Mickelson said. “When it’s something all your friends are doing, you feel accountable to your friends for showing up and doing your part. Around here where your friends are pretty much the people you count on, that can be a powerful motivator.” Mickelson’s experiences are mirrored by the Hole Food Rescue, the organization that brings down the average age of a Jackson Cupboard volunteer by decades. The food rescue transports useable food that grocery stores ordinarily would throw out to organizations that can give it to the needy. The people taking shifts to pick up food are almost all younger 40, said Ali Dunford, founder and executive director. That includes Dunford.

“I don’t know if it’s just because I’m young and a lot of our first volunteers knew me or if it’s that changing the food system is something that really resonates with younger people,” she said. “I think it’s probably some of both.”

Finding a place for her passion When she moved to Jackson Hole, Dunford tried to get involved on her own but felt a little bit like an outsider wherever she went. Most of all, none of the organizations she found were really addressing the problems she was passionate about solving, she said. “So many organizations do so much good in this area, but they have a definite process and a definite focus and they aren’t always interested in deviating from that,” Dunford said. “I honestly think that for people our age, the key to getting the commitment from us is tap-

ping into our passion. Because I think it’s important to younger people to be passionate about making a difference if we’re going to give our time to something.” Cindy Reed, an older volunteer who works with Habitat, said she can see the difference in the energy level at a build site when younger volunteers are there together. One young volunteer will be more quiet and withdrawn, and may not be back much, but young volunteers together usually are more animated and more committed, she said. “I actually think I can understand that,” she said. “It’s not comfortable to be anywhere as the only one like you. That’s why I think groups for young people are a great idea. Getting young people engaged in causes is the key to keeping up the work they do now.”

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14 - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Empty-nester still

JULY 18 - JULY 27, 2014

mentors Scouts Ninnemann, father of an Eagle Scout who’s now grown up, says program ‘gets into your blood.’

Thank you to the many volunteers that continue to contribute their time and effort to the Teton County Fair. Your hard work is truly appreciated. If you are interested in volunteering at Fair this year, please contact the Fair Office at 733-5289.

By Josh Cooper

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d cat purrsers n a s e s is k te Dog loving volun

e and love m ti r u o y g n for shari e Shelter! th t a ls a THANK YOoU im meless an Noland, with the h K ROW: Alli nimal

to ALL our a

BAC an, Amanda Morgan Lym ter “Petey ” (Shel th wi r ffe Scha x, de ad M CSO), Bonnie ri Jamison, Jill Walsh, Ke e”, ey with “Sag Amber Ram ter CSO) el (Sh en ld Janelle Ho l : Dawn Rehil FRONT ROW e qu ini m Do ”, with “Freddie ck” Lohn with “Ja

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Join Us! Call 733-2139

“ It’s one of those programs that is well-respected across the board and really emphasizes life skills that stick with you for the rest of your life.”

Thank You, VOLUNTEERS! •

With your investments of time and energy, the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce is able to stretch our membership dollars. Our community is strong because we work together. •

Looking for a

rental?

VOLUNTEERS makE ViTaL CONTRibUTiONS to Special Events, Board and Committee Leadership, Visitor Services, Internships, the Howdy Pardners Ambassador Club, and more.

READ THE

Would you like to get involved? Call 307.733.3316 or email info@jacksonholechamber.com to learn how you can join the team.

om Ninnemann has been volunteering as a leader in the Boy Scout program for 35 years. Though he no longer has any boys of his own in Scouting, he continues to be actively involved. “It’s just something that gets into your blood,” he said. It started for Ninnemann in 1979 in Castle Rock, Colo. A troop there was about to fold because it couldn’t find a scoutmaster. With no experience in Scouting, he volunteered to look after COURTESY PHOTO the troop until a permanent leader Tom Ninnemann’s career in the Boy Scouts of was on board. America began in 1979 in Castle Rock, Colo., Ninnemann ended up becoming the long before he had a son. Today, his son is troop’s permanent leader. He rebuilt grown, but Ninnemann still mentors Scouts. the troop from three boys to about 50. Then he and the assistant leader went boy,” Ninnemann said. across town and started a second troop, There are four Cub Scout packs which grew to more than 30 boys. and four Boy Scout troops in Jackson Ninnemann was recruited to be a Hole. Scouting has a long history in Scout leader in Jackson in 1984. With- the valley. Although the exact date in a week of his arrival local Scout of the formation of the Boy Scouts in leaders nominated him to serve as Jackson isn’t known, a Feb. 27, 1930, commissioner on the Jackson District issue of the Jackson’s Hole Courier Boy Scout Committee, having taken mentions that the first Boy Scout notice of his success in Colorado. awards ceremony was held on Feb. Ninnemann’s role as district com- 14 of that year. missioner was to One Scouting oversee all the activity unique local troops and to Jackson Hole packs, to give adis gathering elk vice on how they antlers on the could improve National Elk operations and to Refuge, a spring ensure the groups tradition that were on track began in 1957. with the national Since 1968 the program. antlers gathered Ninnemann by the boys have still serves on been sold at an the district comauction at Town Square to benefit mittee and also is chapter advi– Tom Ninnemann the refuge and the local Scoutsor for the Order Scouting volunteer for 35 years ing program. of the Arrow, a The Boy national honScouts of America ors society for Scouts who have distinguished them- program, founded in 1910, emphasizes selves as exemplifying the ideals of civic responsibility and life skills. The Scout Oath states, “On my the Scouting program. Ninnemann’s own kids have “flown honor I will do my best to do my duty the coop,” although his son is an Eagle to God and my country and to obey Scout and a member of the Order of the Scout Law; to help other people the Arrow. He maintains his volunteer at all times; to keep myself physically efforts with the program because he’s strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.” passionate about it, he said. According to the Scout Law, “A Scout “It’s like if you ask a teacher, ‘Why do you teach?’” Ninnemann said. “It’s is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, certainly not for the money. It’s about courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, the effect you can have on a young per- thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.” Ninnemann said that Scouting is son’s life — building those values and skills that will follow them all the rest a worthwhile endeavor for any young man and that Jackson Hole offers of their lives.” He gets to see the fruit of his labors unique outdoor opportunities that in the program often and sometimes make Scouting even more enriching. “It’s one of those programs that in surprising ways, he said. One Boy Scout he mentored in Colorado now is well-respected across the board, lives in Jackson and has a son in the and really emphasizes life skills that stick with you the rest of your life,” Cub Scouts. “It’s great to run into someone you Ninnemann said “And this is an exknew as a youth in the scouting pro- cellent place to do it. With the outgram who is now an adult with his own door activities, it’s great.”

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CLASSIFIEDS

VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - 15

critters Continued from 11

that are confined to a shelter, she said. Feline-inclined residents also help out with the cats. That means spending time with them in a room called “Kitty City.” The interactions help socialize the cats and prepare them for new owners. Another lesser-known fact about the adoption center is that the dogs never spend the night there. Each night staffers find a home for them. That means calling through lists of volunteers if people haven’t already signed up to take a dog for the night. “They get to be a part of a family situation every single night because of our foster volunteers,” Pollard said. “It’s the greatest opportunity for our dogs to become socialized and more adoptable.” Volunteers are key to making all of it work, she said. She estimates 5,000 people are involved with the adoption center each year in one way or another.

The Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation 21 Years, 167+ Miles of Fence Removed or Modified

All Thanks to Volunteers

Thanks for you continued support. Please donate today!

“It’s the greatest opportunity for our dogs to become socialized and more adoptable.”

www.jhwildlife.org • 307.739.0968 PO Box 8042 • Jackson, WY 83002 271753

– Kara Pollard Animal adoption center

“They play an indispensable role here, we absolutely could not run our programs without our volunteers,” Pollard said. People interested in getting involved in any capacity can call the center at 739-1881. They can also stop by the center from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday to take a dog for a walk. “Our pool always needs to get bigger and bigger for our foster program,” Pollard said.

Thank you

Wildlife Brigade Attempting to manage moose and bear jams in Grand Teton National Park can be a thankless job, but someone’s got to do it. The task is a difficult balancing act. You have to give people a chance to view wildlife, but you also have to make space for motorists to pass by. Enter park bear manager Kate Wilmot and her loyal band of volunteers, many of whom are seasonal residents of the valley. The volunteer Wildlife Brigade — which is also helped by several other park staffers and a paid intern courtesy of the Great Yellowstone Coalition — helps oversee these situations. “It’s mostly bears, but it’s also moose and bison, owls — you name it,” Wilmot said. “What so exciting about it is you just don’t know what your day’s going to be,” Wilmot said. “Mother Nature dictates where the bears are going to show up.” But the volunteers do more than just manage traffic jams. They are supposed to be there to generally help with what Wilmot calls the “human-bear interface.” That means patrolling developed areas of the park, such as campgrounds, to survey how well food is being stored. “We go through and we’ll put away unattended food items,” Wilmot said. They also do educational presentations at popular trailheads, informing people about the best ways to deal with wildlife. Those interested in the program can call Wilmot at 739-3673.

to all our community volunteers

ank of Jackson Hole would like to thank every volunteer who contributes to our community. The countless generous acts of kindness performed by members of our society make Jackson unique. Over the past 6 years our message has focused on bringing attention to the people who make living in this Valley truly wonderful, and we’re proud to be sponsors of many of these honorable causes. We are lucky to consider this terrific community our home and serving as your locally owned, operated, and managed bank. Wherever your philanthropic goals take you we are here to support one person: YOU.

www.bojh.com

Invest in Your Community WeBank answer Local to

no one but you. k Ban Of

cks

on Ho

307-732-BOJH

Headquartered in Jackson Locally Owned and Managed 10 Branches 16 ATMs Commercial Loans Real Estate Loans Mortgage Loans Main Branch 990 West Broadway 733-8064

Town Square Branch 10 East Pearl St. 733-8067

Wilson Branch 5590 West Highway 22 733-8066

Smith’s Food & Drug Branch 1425 South Highway 89 732-7676

Hillside Facility 975 West Broadway 734-8111

Teton Village Branch 3300 West Village Dr. 734-9037

Aspens Branch 4010 W. Lake Creek Dr. 733-8065

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16 - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Thank you!

Thank you to all our volunteers, adopters, and supporters who help us everyday to achieve our goals and help find our animals their forever homes!

Adopt

Foster

Volunteer

Spay/Neuter

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Donate

175 N. Glenwood Ave. | Jackson, WY 83002 307-739-1881 | adopt@animaladoptioncenter.org www.animaladoptioncenter.org

for latest news, events and available adoptions

THANK YOU, VOLUNTEERS! Build a community

Build a future

Build a home

BRADLY J. BONER / NEWS&GUIDE FILE

Members of Cornerstone Church load firewood into the beds of pickup trucks during a giveaway south of Jackson. Congregants cut firewood every fall and give it to folks who can’t afford to chop or buy their own so they can heat their homes.

Church-sponsored volunteer groups abound in the valley

Congregants help feed, clothe and comfort the poor and marginalized. By Josh Cooper

www.tetonhabitat.org - 307.734.0828

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head heart hands health “We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.” -John F. Kennedy

Teton County 4-H Volunteers are inspiring the next generation! Thank you for all you do for our community!

For many churches in Jackson Hole volunteering is an essential way to fulfill the calling they believe is given to them to serve, in the Bible’s words, “the least of these.” Church-sponsored volunteer groups give food to the hungry, clothes and shelter to the needy and comfort to the sick. The Rev. J. Kenneth Asel, rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church, said he is proud of the many community service programs his church runs. The church allocates about $80,000 from its budget each year for charitable work. Congregants have built an orphanage in Mexico, and some of that money supports it. Through an outreach program

church member also teach Shoshone women on the Wind River Indian Reservation business skills that can help them earn a better living from selling their handmade products. One of the largest of the church’s volunteer programs helps feed schoolchildren. Church leaders noticed that a large number of kids were spending summer days at the library while their parents were at work. Many of the children were going without lunch because they couldn’t afford it. The church organized volunteers to hand out snacks. The program was well received, Asel said, and the library asked church members to keep it going during the school year, which they have. Asel believes his faith offers a motive and reason to serve others. Christianity “is about redeeming a world that seems to have lost its way,” Asel said. “Our involvement in spending time trying to make sure the See church on page 17

We would like to thank our outstanding volunteer leaders: Carolyn Auge Anjanette Beard Amanda Beckett Margaret Bokum Kayla Bonilla David Brackett Diana Brown Jay Buchner Joseph Budge Nicole Budge Joseph Burke Ryan Castagno Steve Castagno Kelly Clark Rob Clark Carmen Clarke Amy Collett

Chris Collett Corey Cook Jeffrey Daugherty Reed Dayton Liz Devine Josh Dieckmann Stacey Dieckmann Trudy Funk Kerry Grande Tiffany Grant Wade Grant Jr. Gwen Hansen Patricia Hardeman Barb Huhn Deanne Hunter Cindi Jacobsen-Brinton Jared Kuhns Saralee Lanier Justine Logan Kathy Lucas

Cathy Mayer Deirdre Morris LaRee Moyer Allison Neely Krista Nethercott Lisa Potzernitz Tamara Rammell Paul Raube Sandra Rodeck Pamela Romsa Gayle Roosevelt Diane Temple Ilene Wagner James Wagner Amy Wilson Buskin Wilson Dana Wilson Janice Wilson Meredith Wilson Alesha Wise

Ian Conner, 12 Life-threatening Pulmonary Disease I wish to be a zookeeper

Thank You to our Jackson Volunteers! Amy Golightly Michelle Kren Lani Matthews Kristen Pope Kevin Pusey Audrey Sorensen & Randall Woodford

If you know of a child with a life-threatening medical condition, call 1.888.WYO.WISH wyoming.wish.org

Interested in becoming a volunteer? Contact the Teton County 4-H Office at 733-3087

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church

Continued from 16

marginalized are included, the poor are fed, the homeless are housed, is a direct extension of what we believe God wants us to do. “The church has always asked ourselves, ‘What can we do to make sure the environment of the town and the quality of living in the town is as good as it could be?’” He said the social and economic structure in this region is one of stratification. That makes volunteer work all the more necessary, he said.

“Virtually everyone who comes to this church comes recognizing that the least of their sisters and brothers are their responsibility, too.” – Ken Asel Rector, St. John’s Episcopal church

“We have fabulously wealthy people, we have a small, struggling middle class, we have a great many Latinos who live in the shadows because many are undocumented,” Asel said. “The reality is there’s not the educational opportunities, and there’s not the industrial or commercial opportunities for good wages to be paid.” Community service “is the ethos of the church,” Asel said. “Virtually everyone who comes to this church comes recognizing that the least of their sisters and brothers are their responsibility, too,” Asel said. Shepherd of the Mountains Lutheran Church operates a volunteer

program called “Circle of Care” to help meet the basic needs of the elderly and disabled. Carolyn Daily, a retired nurse and congregant, heads the program. She said the volunteers accomplish a lot of good. “It’s a ministry that provides comfort, support and hands-on care for those in need,” Daily said. “The goal of Circle of Care is to identify folks in the community who may benefit from a friendly visit, transportation, meal preparation, chore service, child care, shopping, errands, companionship, home repairs or maybe just a friendly daily phone call.” Volunteers receive formal training in communication skills, crisis intervention, community resources and confidentiality. Daily said the program is a good fit for her and is keeping her busy in her retirement. “I’m a nurse, and I’ve been doing home care, so it was kind of up my alley,” Daily said. “I was retiring from the workforce, so I have time to do this. I just like helping people, so this is what I do now.” Volunteers at Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church serve a hot meal to the needy at noon Monday through Friday. The church began the program about five years ago; and leaders say the church serves between 20 and 65 people a day. The Cornerstone Church, a small group that meets in the Old Wilson Schoolhouse Community Center, has been cutting and distributing dozens of cords of firewood each October for five years. After spending the summer felling trees, congregants donate the wood to anyone who can’t afford to buy their own. Jonathan King, pastor of Mountain View Independent Baptist Church, said service is a vital part of the Christian faith. “That is our Christian vocation,” King said. “That is our job as Christians to serve those in our community.”

what does

commitment look like?

PROUD TO SUPPORT NATIONAL VOLUNTEER WEEK

Last year, we gave over $2,300,000 to community causes and organizations visit your local branch or firstinterstate.com

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DSN2980 - Jackson Volunteer Week Ad 5 x 7.833” -- Full Color Jackson Hole News & Guide

St. John’s Medical Center thanks our dedicated volunteers Education Barb Huhn Jayne Kusek Front Desk Franz Camenzind Nancy Carey Anika Holmquist Tony Wall

Oncology Donna Clark Becky Frisbie Marge Glick JoAnn Grant Patty Hartnett Dianna Larsen Dave Mills Eliott Morgan Juniper Troxel Mary Lynn Young Pet Partners Ani and Cecil and Brantley Sam and Carolyn Daily Clover, Myla, and Erin Downey Lisbeth and Godiva Zeta and Suzie Kirvinski Tika, Finn and Amy Rojo Otis and Amanda Soliday Tracy and Ellen Wilson Special Events and Projects Vickie Giles Spiritual Care Dan Butcher Kate Ceronsky Missy Crosby Verena Cushman Carolyn Daily David Dominick Bill Hill Larry Jorgenson Suzie Kirvinski Maralyn Larson Liz Masek

Trent Moore Nancy Norton Stuart Palmer Rev. Ben Pascal, Clergy Rep. Jim Radda Louisa Sandvig Ed Schmitt Judith Schmitt De Schoonover Ann Seibert Mary Carol Staiger Chris Staron Jim Wallace Chuck Webber Wheelin for Healing Cart Gabby Castro Becky Frisbie Mallory Harrower Patty Hartnett John Huff Olen Lucho Julie Matzke Danicia Quezada Brooke Terkovick Izzy Trott Mary Lynn Young We apologize for omitting any names. To learn more about volunteering at St. John’s, call 739 7541

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Spiritual care volunteer Kate Ceronsky visits with a patient.

Hospice Dori Cote Christine Goodman Karen Jerger Jean Jorgensen Linda Judge Dedre Mills Patty Pappas Staley Debbie Phillips Karin Ralph James Riley Ellen Sanford Becky Schell Carol Schneebeck Becky Studer Diana Taylor Sue Wolff

Living Center Janet Anderson Tisch Brown Bette Caesar Carol Connors Missy Crosby Carolyn Daily Shannon Dale Elizabeth Drapela Jo Ann Grant Elizabeth Gerhard Sue Hall Grace Hammond Diane Hansen Yvonne Henze Pam Hill Bill Hill Claire Johnson Lisa Jennings Rosemary Jones Marlene Lang Maralyn Larson Susan McCracken Robin MacLeod Mycah Miller Rosanna Mitchell Karen Norby Sylvia Raumaker Ellen Rein Sean Russer Craig and Carol Schwender Chris Schweitzer Beth Shockley Theresa Stromberg Nikki Thomspon Richard VanderWeyden Jeff VanZanten

625 E. Broadway

307 739 7541

tetonhospital.org/volunteers

18 - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Volunteers welcome! Here’s how you can help this summer: Museum docents Walking tour guides Retail Store staff Program presenters Hosts for the Wyoming State Historical Society’s Trek Weekend June 20-23 Thank you to our past and present volunteers who keep the Museum rolling. Join our team today!

www.jacksonholehistory.org

PRICE CHAMBERS / NEWS&GUIDE

307-733-2414

“Connecting people to place”

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The Doug Coombs Foundation works with High Country Outfitters to set up a group of underprivileged youngsters with skis, boots and outerwear on Wednesday. Doug Coombs’ window Emily and son David were on hand to help get the right gear to the right child.

Groups provide

Thank you

access to outdoors

Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers of the Senior Center. Everything you do, large or small, all have meaning to our seniors, their families & to us. You make all the difference!

Disability or lack of cash shouldn’t be a barrier to enjoying the outdoors.

Volunteers Needed By Emma Breysse

SENIOR CENTER OF JACKSON HOLE

Celebrating 30 years seniorcenterjh.org of serving seniors

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IN 2013... Total Hours Trained:

or an outdoor enthusiast chemotherapy is rough not only on the body but on recreational opportunities. It’s not usually an option for breast cancer patients to climb a mountain or barrel down a singletrack trail, but one thing they can do is cast a fly into the river, Margo

Clark said. Clark works for Casting For Recovery, a nonprofit that gets breast cancer patients and survivors into the outdoors through fly-fishing. It’s one of many organizations operating in and around Jackson Hole that provides outdoor experiences for people who, through injury or economics, might otherwise be kept indoors. When it comes to fly-fishing, it’s a chance to get away from the pain and confinement of cancer. “It’s something that women in See outdoors on page 19

Fire Calls:

EMS Calls:

10,845 1,322 360 Please remember us when making your

Cpt Brad Watsabaugh Lt Bobbi Heikkila Tara Baker Michael Bentley Greg Choolijan Teresa deGroh Jim Fifles Harry Fish Matt Goewert Daniel Haber Loren Hall Elizabeth Koutrelakos Frank Lane Nate Levinson Daniel Long Jenn McGrath Chris Plymale Kevin Salys Chris Schweitzer Leo Sanchez-Serrano Amanda Soliday Maggie Stewart Ben Thurston Jeromie Traphagan Meaghan Wheeler Andy Zimmerman

Cpt Robert Moomey Lt Shayne Hansen Tim Harland Dean Jarvie Russchelle Jones Mary Kamstra Heath Kuszak Mike LaRosa Chris Mommsen Brian Moore Steve Poole Bill VanGelder

Hoback Junction Station 3 Cpt Mike Trumbower Cpt Todd Fitzgerald Frank Becker Chris Betsinger Riclyn Betsinger Dave Cernicek Mary Cernicek Janet Palermo Lisa Potzernitz Forrest Sandberg Eric Schneider Melissa Thomasma

Moran Station 4 Cpt Mack McFarland Lt Cam Preuss Michael Hagen Phillip Lamoureux Peter Mason Logan Steffens Giovanni Tabacchi Jim Warren

Teton Pines/ Wilson Station 6 Cpt Steve Moomey Mitch Borocz Kate Ceronsky Louise Gignoux Taylor Harris Luke Helm Cody Lara Jinmo Kim Connor Quinn Austin Sessions Brenda Sherwin Kelly Stirn David Wheeler

2014 New Recruits

Personal Sacrifice for the Good of the Whole

Adams Canyon Station 7 Chief Jim Tucker Cpt Rob Dearing Cpt Matt Redwine Cpt Mike Mayer Ray Brence Lori Ann Donellan Clay Geittmann Dave Groot Jacob Henrie John LaBrec Kirsten Larsen Brad Larson Jim Little, Jr Ben Mateosky Veronica Schreibeis Matt Somers Mike Sullivan Seth Turner

These names represent the men and women who give up time with family and friends to volunteer for their community.

THANK YOU! 271804

Old Bill’s donations Town of Jackson Town of Wilson Station 1 Station 2

VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - 19

outdoors

You are dedicated, compassionate, and generous.

Continued from 18

any stage of breast cancer can do without injuring themselves,” Clark said. “We’ve had women who needed to be helped to the side of the river, but once they’re there they can cast.” The organization’s Wyoming chapter operates a yearly retreat at a Dubois ranch for women in any stage of breast cancer. Participants often return as volunteers. During summer 2013 that included St. John’s Medical Center oncology nurse Carol Poole. She was a participant in 2012 — one year after she discovered she had breast cancer herself. In 2013 she volunteered as a medical facilitator, helping to lead the medical discussions that are also a part of the fly-fishing retreat. “It’s really life-changing,” Clark said. “I really believe that, and that’s why we’re all a part of it.” On the other side of the spectrum, the Doug Coombs Foundation supplies low-income children with the tools to begin Jackson Hole’s iconic — and most expensive — outdoor activity. The two-year-old organization, founded in memory of ski mountaineer Doug Coombs, connects kids with skis, boots, jackets and other supplies for downhill skiing, along with free lessons and lift tickets. Coombs died in 2006 in a skiing accident in France, and his wife Emily Coombs formed the foundation to honor him by connecting kids with her husband’s favorite sport. All of the foundation’s partners and volunteers do the job with the idea that if a Jackson Hole child does not ski, it should not be for financial reasons. “This is a way where we can get

You are the heart and soul of JHTRA! Thank you for making everything possible for our riders.

BRADLY J. BONER / NEWS&GUIDE

J.R. Raschilla talks with Steven Millward before branding cattle at the Double T in Spring Gulch. Raschilla was part of a group of Wounded Warriors, military veterans with combat injuries, who came to Jackson Hole for a therapeutic vacation.

kids from low-income families integrated into town,” Coombs said at the start of winter. “This is a great way to mix races and economic levels ... to put children from trailers with children from mansions and have them ski together and not know the difference.” The foundation also connects valley kids with opportunities in other local sports. All kids in the 2012-2013 group were invited to participate in Jackson Hole Youth Soccer, with all expenses paid by the foundation. Other events, like Wounded Warriors ascents of the Grand Teton, have the same basic goal — refusing to allow a person’s enjoyment of the outdoors to be limited by circumstance. “Organizations like this are so crucial, I think,” Clark said. “Being outdoors and being active is such a wonderful and healthy experience that I just can’t say enough good things about any organization that helps to break down those access barriers.”

For volunteer information, contact Maura at 307-733-1374 or visit us at www.jhtra.org 271611

Join Jackson’s #1 Women’s Service Organization Soroptimist International “The Best for Women” Thank you to our members for all you do! JOIN US SATURDAY, MAY 10TH FOR

BRAS FOR A CAUSE! TICKETS ON SALE NOW! AT BODY & SOUL SALON AND WHISKEY BARBER

Contact Karen Brennan for more info 307-413-6772 271460

JACKSON CUPBOARD The Board Members of the Jackson Cupboard would like to thank the following volunteers and businesses who have made it possible to provide food and daily necessities to our neighbors in need: Andrea Evans Ann Carruth Ashley Moore Boy Scouts of America Jackson District Bridger Teton National Forest Employees Bruce Burkland Cathy Teig Cathy Poindexter Cheris Henderson Danny Draper David Nichols David Wilkinson Deb Vanderveld Deirdre Herbert Dorthy Neckels Ed Yeager Georgie Still Herb Brooks Jane Sullivan Jason Kern Jennifer Jacobsen Jill Callaway Joe Kinsella John Schubert Judy & Dick Greig Julie McLaurin

Kathy Harrington Kay Benson Keith Mader Lana Crabtree LDS Missionaries LDS Young Adults Les Jones Leslye Hardie Linda Merigliano Liz Gilmour Liz Lockhart Loretta, Cliff & Craig Kirkpatrick Luette Keegan Mandy Bellarado Margaret Creel Marge Ryan Martha Gilmore Matt Hall Meridith Medlock Michael Schrotz Miki Holding Mike Cloherty Mike Conlin Nancy Dunlap Nina Luxmoore Patty Staley Paul and Ali Archual

Polly Warner Richard Rice Robin Miller Ronna Simon Sara Lee Murphy Sarah Kerr Shane Walker Sharon Kyhl Steve Gieck Suellen Carmin Susan Hall St. John’s Episcopal Church Thompson Palmer & Associates Tom Windle Tracy Frankovich Albertsons Jackson Whole Grocer Smith’s Food & Drug

HOLE FOOD RESCUE VOLUNTEERS: Adam Zok Ben & Kyle Lehning Bill Field Brandi Dean

Chris Endlund Christian Causby Christine Schnier Dan Burke Dan Tolson Daniel Quirk Dave Hutchinson Doug Cook Eric Lovely Jeff Wilson Jeske Grave Keith Robinson Kevin Burke Madison Gilmore Maggie Coats Marion Modi Megan Rumsey Melissa Mattson Miguel Krulin Monika Flanigan Nico Verges Oliver Tripp Paul Nash Russell Scott Sami Stasi Savannah Cummins Scott Horn Terese Rose

We would also like to thank

St. John’s Episcopal Church for housing the Jackson Cupboard, Jesse Ryan and Ryan Christopher of New Thought Media, Barb Sanchez, Owens Family Dental, the various businesses, churches, clubs, schools, and individuals who conducted food drives on our behalf, too many to mention but know that your help is greatly appreciated!

Volunteer Board Members:

Mike Randall, Amy Wierda, Jett Thompson, Shirley Craighead, Kathy Cummings, Ali Dunford, Therese Metherall, Evan Molyneaux, Sonia Capece, Paul Vogelheim, Jim Ryan, Amy Brooks Please forgive us if your name was mistakenly omitted but know that your help is also greatly appreciated!

We are always looking for new volunteers. If you are interested please email: jacksoncupboard@gmail.com

Jackson Cupboard P.O. Box 1622 • 170 N. Glenwood www.jacksoncupboard.org jacksoncupboard@gmail.com Like us on FACEBOOK!

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20 - VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 9, 2014

INSPIRE I NVE ST

VOLUNTEER When we invest our time as volunteers and enrich our community, we are all philanthropists. Whether you want to answer a hotline, inspire a young reader or plan an event, you will find the perfect match at Volunteer Jackson Hole. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve enhanced the site to make it even easier to connect with the organizations you care about. Visit www.volunteerjacksonhole.org, the Community Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s free online service.

IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH PHILANTHROPIC LEADERSHIP %AST 3IMPSON 3TREET s 0/ "OX *ACKSON 79 s WWW CFJACKSONHOLE ORG s WWW VOLUNTEERJACKSONHOLE ORG s WWW OLDBILLS ORG 271748