Challenge For Charities

Academy of the Winds recognizes that not all children learn the same way, so we offer a different pathway in education that is focused on individualized, hands-on experiences. AOW's curriculum is rigorous and is presented in a way that fosters problem solving, independence, and self motivation. We guide children to become the next generation of confident, capable leaders in our community.

Homelessness to Hope: Almost Home Wyoming is a completely voluntary nonprofit in Lander dedicated to finding safe and secure housing for those who are homeless in our community. “I always wondered why somebody didn’t do something about that. Then I realized, I am somebody.” (anonymous)

Our vision at Anam Cara is to bring relationship, meaning, and dignity to the forefront of progressive illness and end-of-life. We bridge gaps in the medical system—through custom in-home caregiving, education, and emotional support—so those in our community can experience a connected and meaningful life through all stages of the natural life-cycle.

The mission of Apple Valley School is to provide nature-based, experiential education opportunities for children in the Lander community. We offer full-day programing year round in support of working families. Our C4C funds will help us ensure that healthy and vibrant early education is accessible to local families.

Art Link Wyoming works to create educational experiences in the arts for the Fremont County Community; our focus is on students grade K-12 in and around Lander. All programming is free to students that participate. By using local artists and musicians we provide an example of careers in the arts, inspiring students to pick a career they love.

Bookmarked is a literary art show for writers and a story festival for readers. We host a three-day storytelling festival in the Fall and have partnered with the National Book Foundation to bring Science + Literature to Lander in the Spring. Bookmarked events are unique to Wyoming and stand out among similar events in the region (ie Montana Book Festival), and are free and open to the public. We are partnering with the Jackson Hole Writers Conference and WYOWriters to connect Wyoming readers with Wyoming writers and elevate Wyoming literay arts.

We believe that visibility breeds empathy and through public art, we can foster a more connected, visually beautiful town for the benefit of local residents and visitors alike. The Bossert Collective will use C4C funds to develop public art projects for the Lander community, in a similar vein as our 2022 mural, "Power, Life, Healing" on the side of the Lander Bake Shop building.

The Central Wyoming Climbers' Alliance is dedicated to making climbing a better experience for all. Each year we put on the International Climbers' Festival, offer free educational opportunities for Fremont county youth, maintain trails, improve infrastructure, and work with land managers to ensure the most sustainable practices are used.

With land access as a barrier to farm start-ups, the CWC Farm Incubator provides farm plots, irrigation, technical support and mentoring for new small-scale farmers. The CWC Foundation is raising funds for incubator farmers to assist with start-up and operating costs for their new farm businesses.

Child Development Services of Fremont County provides preschool, infant and toddler programming, and therapy for children of ALL abilities. The C4C donations assist CDS in offering educational and therapeutic services for families with children ages birth to 5 years old. Working with the Lander Community, CDS connects families with young children to local services, assistance, and resources with individualized attention and support.

Community Entry Services is a not profit organization established in 1975 to support people with disabilities to live and thrive within the community they choose. Funds obtained from the generous donors of C4C will be used to support people with intellectual/developmental disabilities or acquired brain injuries access activities of choice throughout the community of Lander. Support will offer access to activities otherwise unavailable for some our the program participants who lack the resources to engage.

First Stop Help Center is the first place in Lander to come for rental assistance, utility assistance, and guidance to those in need.

The Fremont County Pioneer Association asks your assistance in helping to preserve the history of Fremont County, Lander, and our surrounding area for our future generations. Your donation to the FCPA will help ensure that the legacy of our past is maintained through our beautiful local museums, significant historic artifacts, and educational adventures.

Fremont Symphony Orchestra develops and promotes classical music for the people in Lander. We not only provide a high level orchestra for our members to perform in, but also bring local and nationally renowned soloists to perform with FSO. Our concerts bring an audience from not only within the county but from the entire state of Wyoming.

The Good Samaritan Community Meal serves a hot meal, curbside, to about 250 Lander folks every Friday night. Our mission is to ease the burden of food insecurity by providing meals, but also to show compassion from our many amazing volunteers to those in our community with hunger needs.

Help for health is a non-profit hospice that serves all of Fremont County. We provide quality hospice care in your home, or a skilled nursing facility. We also have a beautiful 8-bed Hospice home that provides 24-hour care, located in Riverton.

Our mission at the Lander Art Center is to foster a strong arts community by offering accessible opportunities to create and exhibit art. Your donations will go towards providing class scholarships, expanding artistic outreach to underserved communities, waiving exhibition entry fees when possible, renovating and upgrading our facilities, and continuing to host a myriad of public events.

The Lander Boxing Club is a full service boxing gym offering top notch instruction from the best in the west. We are a Lander volunteer-ran club that provides family safe boxing fitness, weight training, and circuit training options for men, women, and children of all capabilities.

Poverty is not a distant problem faced by others, but a real danger in our own community. More than one in ten people in Fremont County are “food insecure". The mission of the Lander Care and Share Food Bank is to provide emergency food assistance to those in need regardless of income. Any funds raised from C4C will continue to aid us in our mission to relive food insecurity in Fremont County.

Lander Christmas Baskets is a small team of volunteers who assemble and distribute large baskets full of the traditional Christmas dinner ingredients, including a turkey and presents for the kids, to approximately 300 families every December on the Sunday before Christmas. The Lander Elks Club teams with our volunteers to buy the turkeys, purchase and wrap the gifts, and deliver the baskets to those who have requested them.

Lander Climate Action Network (LCAN) is a grassroots nonpartisan group of Lander Citizens working to create a sustainable future for our local community. MISSION: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Lander through a commitment to environmental sustainability, community engagement, and economic viability. VISION: to bring Lander together through shared goals of carbon neutrality, climate change awareness, and community resilience.

We create a stronger Lander community that looks after each other and builds on common ground. We do this by promoting philanthropy through Challenge for Charities (C4C), encourage effective giving, and facilitate volunteerism. We support Lander's nonprofits and fiscally-sponsored organizations so they may provide services and programs for our community.

Lander Creative Arts Club seeks to bring inclusion and accessibility to every creative mind in Lander through affordable programming, contests, events, and more. We believe that art enriches lives and should be available to everyone, regardless of socioeconomic status. Our goal is fostering community through art.

The Lander Cycling Club has been Sharing the Joy of Cycling with the Community since 2008. LCC works collectively to expand diverse cycling opportunities for riders of all ages and abilities. Beginner or advanced, backyard to backcountry, we want to make it easier for you to get out and ride your bike.

We provide life saving and life sustaining primary medical care and wellness services to the low income uninsured population of Lander. Our volunteer providers and nurses provide high quality evidence based healthcare to members of our community who cannot afford insurance and are not eligible for any other programs.

The Lander Inclusion Movement stemmed from a need in Lander to provide disability-friendly experiences throughout the community. With several services in Lander for differently abled individuals, from Northern, Inc., Community Entry Services, Wyoming Life Resource Center, and those living at home, we saw a need for community events to provide accessibility beyond the bare minimum ADA requirements.

We combine years of knowledge working with differently abled individuals and a passion for art, music, community, and more to help build a lasting and sustainable inclusion program for everyone in Lander.

The Lander Library Friends Association believes that the library of Lander, Wyoming, is fundamental to the well-being of our community. Our purpose is to advocate for the library and provide program and financial support to the library to strengthen its resources and services to the community.

Lander Masters Special Olympics provides the opportunity for adults with intellectual disabilities or acquired brain injuries in the Lander area to compete in olympic-type sports such as bowling, cycling, track and field, basketball, swimming, and snowshoeing. The athletes compete in local, area ,and state competitions. Funds raised through C4C will assist our organization in providing these opportunities to our athletes with little to no cost to the individual athlete.

Lander Nordic Ski Association makes winter FUN! Thanks to the LNSA groomed trails on the golf course and at Beaver Creek, you can get outside, enjoy fresh air and sunshine, get exercise, and enjoy being active through the long winter months. Funds raised through will help LNSA pay for fuel for machines; repair and replacement of equipment; and other operational expenses.

The Lander Old Timers Rodeo Association (LOTRA) puts on the iconic July 3 & 4 Pioneer Days Rodeo for the community using volunteers. This rodeo, a Lander 130-year-old tradition, is recognized as the “Oldest Paid Rodeo in the World.” LOTRA supports our western heritage year-round by maintaining an indoor arena to host equine events. We support educational opportunities to local youth, families and equestrians by providing an indoor barn to practice their sport, and to ride and train horses.

(Formerly Lander Community Concerts Association)

Art belongs to everyone, even in a rural community like ours. Lander Performing Arts wants to include you and our community in all of our shows - be it through volunteer opportunities, outreach programs, and community building events. We cannot fulfill our mission without you! With Challenge For Charities afoot, now is the time to donate to Lander Performing Arts and help us bring the performing arts to Lander.

The Lander Pet Connection is dedicated to saving the lives of homeless Lander-area animals. We rescue lost, abandoned, and unwanted companion animals and place them in loving homes. The LPC is compassion and kindness in action, and your donations fuel our life-saving mission!

Lander Presents is an initiative to bring live music, film, and events to audiences in the foothills of the Wind River Range year-round.

Lander Search and Rescue is an all volunteer team of highly skilled local citizens. We offer year round backcountry search and rescue services to Lander’s residents and visitors. Your C4C donations will go toward equipment and the ongoing training needed to keep our volunteers operating safely and effectively.

Lander Senior Citizens Center, Inc. exists to serve as an effective and visible advocate for older individuals as well as assist older citizens to remain independent and enjoy a healthier lifestyle and social interaction.

Lander Spay and Neuter believes that preventing unwanted litters is the most effective and humane way to reduce animal abandonment, suffering, and feral cat overpopulation in our community. We provide free Trap-Neuter-Return services for feral cats in Lander, as well as financial support to make spay and neuter surgeries affordable for owners of pet cats and dogs.

Lander Swim Club is a not-for-profit organization empowering athletes of all ages to grow and achieve their personal best through excellence in swimming. The Lander Swim Club program is designed to enable swimmers to grow from minimal swimming ability into competitive swimming ability at the local, state, regional, and national levels. The club is committed to fun, family, exercise, team spirit, and helping swimmers achieve their personal best.

The Lander Valley Farmers Market is a weekly market from June to October that has a mission of providing and promoting locally produced food in a welcoming community gathering space. In 2023, LVFM is permanently moving the market downtown to 3rd Street in order to better serve the Lander community. The C4C funds we will recieve will be used to help cover the costs of this new location, new marketing initiaves for the market, and to bring more live music to Saturday mornings downtown.

Lander Womentum focuses on developing women's leadership skills through monthly events, workshops, and mentoring relationships. C4C donations help us to offer our programs to a new group of women each year and to connect our alumnae. We plan to use 2023 donations to continue to connect women, offer vital programs, and improve the work we do.

For more than 30 years The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming has been protecting Wyoming's wild and working spaces. In Lander, we have been managing the iconic Red Canyon Ranch as a Nature Conservancy preserve since 1993. Red Canyon Ranch is a working cattle ranch, nature preserve, and an outdoor laboratory. We field test practical solutions to critical conservation problems that can be used across the state and beyond. On the Popo Agie we are partnering with the city of Lander, the local conservation district, irrigators, and others on the Healthy Rivers Initiative. We strive to protect and improve this precious resource for agriculture, recreation, and wildlife.

PFLAG Lander was founded in 2023 and works to create a caring, just, and affirming world for LGBTQIA2S+ people. We support families, educate allies, and advocate for equality. Monthly support group meetings are the 4th Monday of each month and are open to everyone 18+ in a comfortable atmosphere of openness where parents, families, friends, and LGBTQIA2S+ individuals can share their experiences and learn how to support one another with love. We build connections and explore how to have difficult but important conversations by leading with love.

Pushroot Community Garden is a place where local residents can learn and practice gardening, grow their own food, and donate to the broader community. Contributions received through Challenge for Charities have reduced the burden of maintenance and irrigation costs so that we can promote food sustainablity while keeping plot rentals affordable for all.

The Sinks Canyon Conservancy is a local nonprofit contracted by Wyoming State Parks & Cultural Resources Department to promote and help fund projects in and around Sinks Canyon State Parks. Our mission is to promote and support the scientific, educational and cultural programs and projects in and around Sinks Canyon.

Sinks Canyon Wild is a voice for Lander citizens who desire to protect Sinks Canyon’s wildlife, wild lands, and historic and cultural resources, while promoting low-impact dispersed recreation. SCW is an all-volunteer organization that needs your help, passion, financial support, and expertise to achieve our collective goal of ensuring that Sinks Canyon is protected and wisely managed.

Slow Food Wind River is a local non-profit committed to building a resilient local food economy that financially sustains farmers, ranchers, and food artisans to provide fresh, nutritious, locally grown foods to our community. Meadowlark Market and Kitchen, a program of SFWR, supports local food producers and provides year-round access to local food and education. As a start-up non-profit, your gift will support our efforts to make local food accessible in our community.

"The Soldier’s House serves those who’ve served by managing PTSD, preventing suicide, projecting hope, and promoting resilience. We believe Veterans PREVAIL through mitigating isolation, promoting community, and supporting independence. Our services are free and by virtue of services provided or coordinated and through the generosity of volunteers, donors, and partners we provide access to Wellness Outreach (Mental Health Counseling, Acupuncture, Healing Bodywork, Case Management, AA); Food Security (Victory Garden, Holiday Meals, BBQs and WY Hunger Initiative services) and Housing Security (Construction Retrofits and Repairs to Sustain Existing Housing).

ALL Veterans and their loved ones are WELCOME.

The Water for Wildlife Foundation is a Lander based wildlife and habitat conservation organization. Since 1975 we have been providing grants to improve wildlife water sources and habitat including the Middle Fork Popo Agie River restoration after the 2010 flood. Conservation education is an important part of our mission and we host the WFW Discovery Center on Main Street to educate and entertain the public free-of-charge. C4C funds raised go to student internships and Discover Center enhancements.

The Wind River Cultural Center Foundation mission focuses on fundraising, grant writing and fund management for the Fremont County Museums. The Foundation assists in the preservation of Wind River County history by providing long term sustainable financial support to Fremont County Museums. In this case, specifically supporting the Lander Pioneer Museum, which is pinnacle in promoting and sharing the stories of the rich blend of culture, events and citizens that impacted the history of our community.

Wind River Dojo is a nonprofit martial arts academy specializing in Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. We offer high quality, black belt level instruction to adults, teens, and kids starting at age 6. Our welcoming, family friendly environment and concurrent classes allow families to train alongside one another.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council is a Lander-based nonpartisan conservation group that has been bringing people together to protect Wyoming’s public lands, wildlife, and clean air and water since 1967. Your gift will support conservation efforts right here in Lander’s backyard.

We build trails and make communities more bikeable and walkable!

Wyoming Shakespeare's training programs prepare actors of all ages & experience to explore their craft and grow as artists. Students, ages 7-18, gain the confidence and skills to succeed both on and offstage. Adults, 18+, expand their creativity through professional calibre theater classes and productions.

Wyoming Wilderness Association works to protect our public wildlands through advocacy, education and stewardship. Our work within the Red Desert and surrounding Lander landscapes provide ample opportunity to get folks out to learn the stories of the landscape and give back through stewardship projects. Funds from the C4C will help make these experiences possible!

WWF delivers leadership in conservation for wildlife, hunters, anglers, and conservationists through education, habitat projects, advocacy, and policy. We work to provide opportunities for all community members to learn about and experience Lander’s wildlife and habitats through events such as summer camps, the annual wild game cookoff, Wildlife on Tap, and volunteer habitat projects.