Kindness in Carbon County

I am getting ready to do a presentation for an organization which wants to hear about my time in Asia. I have been looking over a lot of items and photos of my time in Taiwan and China.

My years in Taiwan were in a big city, sort of, 3 million, but actually for Asia, Taichung is a medium city at best. Running a business, a restaurant/bar in particular that focused on Western cuisine, had me in the forefront of the expat community.

I threw a lot of parties for different Western cultures and got exposed to tons of things I didn’t know about people before.

Plus I got exposure to some top notch politicians and businessmen because I was in the right place at the right time.

Mainland China exposed me to even more folks from all over and I met some great people I am still happily in contact with.

I always thought this period was going to be the time in my life, I would point to and say, I learned a lot about the human spirit that is out there.

I was wrong.

Moving to a small town in Wyoming 20 years ago, I never doubted I would see some sort of community spirit, but for quite a few years, I was a resident in Wyoming only because I had my house here. I have mentioned years would go by before I would walk through the front door and relax on my patio.

I always told people who knew me living overseas, when asked why I live in this small town in Wyoming,  I would say, “It was a place I knew that was waiting for me to start living in the USA. It gave me a sense of solace as I spent time in other countries.”

Most everyone who knew me overseas, said it was cool I had the homes, but if I ever went to live there for any extended period of time, I would get bored. 

They were wrong.

I have to give Keith McClendon at the Saratoga Sun credit for opening up the Carbon County community to me over five years ago in a way I had never seen before by making me go out and find stories about my fellow man.

One of the first stories I did was in Hanna about a little girl that was going through heroic efforts to stay alive because cancer had started attacking her body at an incredibly young age. There was a fundraiser for the family to help with the expenses. 

It was first my exposure to seeing a Carbon County community come together to help a person (child) that needed it.

It really touched me.

It didn’t stop there.

Whether you are talking about small towns like Riverside, Medicine Bow, Encampment, Elk Mountain, Baggs, Sinclair, or larger places like Saratoga, Hanna and Rawlins. I have more than one instance in each place of remarkable kindness of people helping neighbors, friends and even strangers.

I have seen so many acts of generosity by individuals, companies and administrators of the county and state, I would need a whole paper to list them all.

The human spirit when it is doing something kind, is truly wonderful to behold, especially when it is about helping those less fortunate.

I am not going to say everyone I meet in Carbon County is willing to help others in need, but I can say, it is pretty damn close.

I got a huge dose of kindness from so many in the past weeks, I could not help but be touched by their actions.

This year, I found myself in charge of setting up the Haunted House at the Hanna Recreation Center. I have covered the event for the paper every year since I started at the Sun and it is quite spectacular. 

When I was told that we need to fill at least 150 bags full of candy, in addition to getting the place ready, I was fairly nervous we would hit the mark.

The first place I went to ask for candy was Adam Clark, owner of Valley Foods. His generosity was way more than expected and because of him,  I felt I was off to a good start. There were donation jars and baskets set up throughout Hanna and again, it was amazing how much support was thrown at this event for the kids. Places outside Hanna contributed just like Valley Foods had. Crossing Cafe out of Elk Mountain is another example of a business helping although it is not in Hanna.

Not only businesses and locals showed me how generous people can be to kids.

There was a group of hunters from the West Coast who dropped in a $100 dollar bill in Rec’s  donation jar who had come to the Rec Center to use the showers.

Happily I can say, we reached our goal of 150 bags and then some.

Individuals and businesses made the Haunted House a success.

They really did.

It really heartened me to see how many people wanted the kids to have a good time. 270 people came through the doors Halloween night and there was more than enough candy and prizes.

Halloween is not the only time I have seen generosity given to those in Carbon County. 

The Saratoga Resort and Spa recently paid for law enforcement armor vests for the police department. Bridge Street Bargains funds worthy causes throughout the county all the tim. The ladies who volunteer their time to keep it going are inspirational.

Volunteers who help distribute food to those in need are another example of kind people helping others.

I find it funny now as I look back thinking my time overseas was where I thought I would be most influenced by peoples’ kindness to one another, never realizing that the county where I had a home would actually inspire me more about the human spirit.

There is nothing boring about that.