(Lander, WY) – After six years of funding local community projects, the LOR Foundation‘s time in Lander will officially come to an end in June, an occasion that was recently celebrated at a going-away party in the Lander Community Center.
The LOR Foundation is a philanthropic organization “dedicated to improving the quality of life in rural communities across the American Mountain West,” and the “LOR” in its name stands for the core values of that mission: “Livability, Opportunity, and Responsibility.”
“We support projects that can have an immediate impact because we believe that many small actions can create lasting change,” the LOR website states. “Our work focuses on solutions that improve quality of life across a broad range of issues—the economy, education, engagement, the environment, health, housing, transportation, and water.”
When the LOR Foundation moves into one of these communities, it hires local community officers to “regularly engage with residents who have ideas for how to improve their towns,” then “helps turn those ideas into action with funding and other resources.” Lander’s current Community Officer is Ami Vincent, whom we at County 10 like to refer to as a “good news factory,” due to her work in that role over the last few years and the stories we have gotten to cover as a result. Vincent took over as Community Officer for Michelle Escudero, who was in the role for the first two years.
During its time in Lander, the LOR Foundation has assisted with around 500 community projects, with “roughly $3.5 million of investment.” Projects varied from helping fund adaptive mobility carts for differently-abled youth, to a heartfelt homeschool student graduation, to the installation of new water fountains in City Park. (You can hear about even more of the projects in the many KOVE Coffee Time interviews with Vincent over the years.)
All of that work culminated in the early-May going-away party, where folks got to enjoy live music from Head for the Hills, food from Ruby’s Traveling Pizzeria and The Smokin’ Dawg, drinks from Pushroot Brewery, party games like Plinko (complete with swag giveaways), a live photoshoot, and an overall celebration of what LOR has accomplished in Lander.
LOR Executive Director Gary Wilmot spoke to attendees at the party, and sang praises of both Escudero and Vincent.
“Michelle fills an important role for the Foundation. Michelle wasn’t just the first community officer here, she was the LOR Foundation’s first Community Officer, period,” Wilmot said of Escudero. “We started working this way, and Michelle was our pilot, and really was the pilot for how a community officer works with the town.” Wilmot added that Escudero “helped the community in that tricky time” during COVID to leverage funding for Main Street businesses.
Wilmot then went on to thank the “face of the LOR Foundation,” Vincent, who started as a Project Champion before taking on the Community Officer role from Escudero. Wilmot said that Vincent’s time as a local librarian made her a perfect fit.
“When we look for Community Officers, there might not be a perfect job that prepares you to be a Community Officer… but starting as a librarian is a pretty good model for what the Foundation is. You listen and you help. …In the time since she started, I think she’s led most of these community solutions that are on the board there.”
Wilmot was referring to the project board displayed on the Community Center wall next to the stage, where folks had a visual for those projects.
Vincent, a self-described “Pollyanna” who focuses on staying positive, then addressed the audience, fighting back tears as she spoke.
“As LOR is winding down its time in Lander, I have been reflective about what have we learned, what have I learned, how we grow, what’s stronger, what are the things that we have seen?” Vincent remarked. “What I come back to over and over is this deep love and commitment to this place, to Lander. I have had the opportunity to sit across from the table with people of all kinds of different values, systems, and religious backgrounds, and political beliefs… any side of the spectrum that you can imagine. …While yeah, those differences sometimes cause tension in our community, the overwhelming result of that is that when people reach out to the LOR Foundation and we sit down, they want the same thing. They want things for our kids to do after school. They want services and support and resources for our veterans, and for our seniors, and people who are in recovery, or are differently-abled in our community. …All of these different things that they all can kind of come together on.”
Vincent said it has all been “truly inspiring” and “such an honor” to help shepherd these projects. She closed by reiterating that LOR’s work was not a “one woman show,” thanking her LOR colleagues, as well all of the community partners who “made this work possible,” like “Mary Green with the Lander Community Foundation… the City of Lander… all of the teachers and the principals and leadership of Fremont County School District Number One… and the local churches.”
Before the night wrapped up, attendees got to enjoy a short film about LOR and some of the projects completed over the last six years, which you can watch in full here.
While the LOR Foundation will now be heading to Buffalo, WY, for its next stop, there is still time for folks to get help with local projects and be a part of the “good news factory.” The last day for grant-making/check-giving is June 30, with project pitches due by June 15. Click here for more info.