Things We Love: Green River loves generosity

One of the best things about living in a small town and a close-knit community is seeing how generosity is demonstrated time and time again.

When it comes to pulling together for a good cause, Green River always shows up. Donations and fundraisers are taking place all year long, consistently supporting organizations that give back to the community, as well as rallying together when there is a specific need.

Both in getting started strong this year and looking back over accomplishments from last year, Green River is already on track for people continually outdoing themselves when it comes to giving.

Continuing an annual tradition, the Green River High School Student Council spent two weeks this month working with students, staff, and the community as a whole to compete and work together with Rock Springs High School to raise money for Make-A-Wish Wyoming. From special events like "Green River's Got Talent" and the "Dollars for Dares" assembly at the high school, to activities like an escape room at the library and music bingo at the bowling alley, to fundraisers with local businesses donating a portion of their proceeds, the Wolves got creative in supporting the cause.

Together Green River and Rock Springs were able to raise and donate $63,413.42 to Make-A-Wish this year. This year's total was over $800 more than last year's total for both schools.

"We just want to to take a second to thank our students, staff and community for always showing up and coming together to support such an amazing cause," Green River High School Student Council Supervisor Marisa Kalinski said on Facebook. "Our council works so hard to bring this event together and are so thankful to everyone who participated! We also wanted to say thank you Sweetwater County for coming together to help us and Rock Springs Student Councils raise money for Make-A-Wish once again."

This year's donation was a special one as it was the last big donation for Make-A-Wish that the Sweetwater County high schools plan on making. According to Kalinski, they will still continue to donate to Make-A-Wish in the future through events like the annual basketball game, but in the future they want to focus more on raising money for local causes and "keeping some of these amazing donations in Sweetwater County."

Some of the local businesses that helped host fundraisers for Make-A-Wish this year are also businesses that support the community on a regular basis, including Badass Brews and Stellar Coffee.

Having just passed their one year anniversary since opening, Badass Brews is still a relatively new business, but is already finding ways to give back. Together with their partner Goats Restaurant, Badass Brews has been working to support local groups and organizations. In addition to Make-A-Wish, they also recently hosted a fundraiser for the Green River Speech and Debate team to help support the team members going to Nationals.

Stellar Coffee already has a well-established history of giving back, regularly hosting fundraiser days where they donate all tips and 10% of their sales at both locations to a specific cause. Over the past few months, Stellar Coffee has raised hundreds of dollars for organizations and clubs like the GRHS Hope Squad, the National Honor Society, FFA, Boy Scout Troop 312, and more. The next upcoming fundraiser will be on March 19 to help support the Rock Academy dance program. Stellar Coffee also puts together fundraisers for individuals and families with needs, like a January fundraiser that raised raised $1,295 for Taelyn Griffiths, a young girl with a tumor on her kidney who needed chemotherapy treatments.

Other organizations and groups in the community also have a track record for giving back when they see a need. One such groups is American Legion Tom Whitmore Post 28, which regularly finds ways to support veterans in need. The latest way the Legion gave back was by partnering with the local Wyoming Hawk Campaign, which has a goal of putting together care packages for homeless veterans. The Green River Legion Post not only collected donations but hosted the campaign for putting together the care packages.

"This was the first year we had more donations than we had bags," the campaign posted on the Facebook page Homeless Veterans Winter Care Campaign.

Another group that works to provide resources to those in need is United Way of Southwest Wyoming. One of their programs is the Community Diaper Banks, which distributed 97,261 diapers to families in diaper need in 2023.

"This is an 34.25% increase in their diaper distribution from the previous year," a press release explained. "United Way of Southwest Wyoming works to collect diapers throughout the year through various diaper drives."

Just this month another diaper drive was hosted by Trona Valley Federal Credit Union, working to meet the needs for this year.

Yet another local organization that supports the community is the YWCA of Sweetwater County. This month and next month they're hosting one of their main fundraisers for the year with Bowls of Caring painting parties. Community members can paint different sizes of bowls or cups to keep for themselves, while proceeds go to support the YWCA's programs for families, women and children in need.