What: An afternoon of country bands/auction, silent auction

When: Starting at noon Sunday, Aug. 31

Where: Outlaw Saloon, 312 S. Greeley Highway

Who benefits: Lance and Lilly Nilson live five miles outside of Chugwater. On Aug. 3, their uninsured home was struck by lightning while they were in Rapid City, S.D., and it burned to the ground. The fundraiser is to help them with the rebuilding process.

Cost: Donations are being accepted at the event, and there will be an auction and silent auction between 5 and 6 p.m. Items to be auctioned include collectable albums, musical instruments (including a new “Swampcaster” electric guitar), sporting goods and Denver Broncos game tickets.
In addition, donations can be made at any Wells Fargo Bank branch in any state. Such donations should be made to the account of “LillyAnn Nilson” #2450164005.

More information: The Nilsons are members of the Dakota Country Band, which has performed in a five-state area since 1981. A variety of members of the band throughout the years, as well as other bands, will perform at Sunday’s event.

For more information: Call Joe at 605-645-0782.

By adding some simple gifts to your back-to-school shopping list and saving the shoeboxes from new shoes, Cheyenne-area children are joining the effort to aid some 8 million needy children in more than 90 countries worldwide.

Volunteers for Operation Christmas Child, a project of international relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, headed by Franklin Graham, fill simple shoebox gifts with toys, necessity items, school supplies, candy, and often handwritten notes of encouragement. The gifts are then delivered to children worldwide who are suffering because of natural disaster, disease, war, terrorism, famine and poverty.

Locally, community members can deliver boxes to Pointe Frontier on Prairie Avenue during National Collection Week Nov. 17-24.

Operation Christmas Child is not limited to just a few weeks a year. It is a year-round project, requiring months of organization and preparation to reach millions of kids around the world.

Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has distributed shoebox gifts to more than 61 million hurting children in some 130 countries. Last year, Cheyenne filled 2,000 boxes.

For more information on how to participate in Operation Christmas Child, call 303-745-9179 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org. You also can click on “To give something” at right.

Set aside some time on Saturday, Sept. 6 to have some fun with your children or donate your time to the second annual Grandparents Kinship Care Day in the Park.

The event, which runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., will be held at the Cheyenne Family YMCA gymnasium, 1426 E. Lincolnway. It will feature carnival-type games and craft tables for children to play. There also will be a used jewelry sale, bingo with donated prizes, a 50/50 raffle and hamburgers and hot dogs for sale. Volunteers are needed to help make this event a success.

What is kinship care, you ask? Kinship care is the provision of any full-time living arrangement in which minor children live with neither of their parents but are cared for by a relative. Wyoming has about 8,000 children living in grandparent-headed households, and, not surprisingly, Laramie County has the highest concentration with 546.

A program of Community Action of Laramie County, Wyoming Kinship Advocacy has been operating in Wyoming since 2004 to connect kinship care families to appropriate resources and support services. The funds raised through this event will help support grandparents applying for temporary guardianship by assisting with the $60 filing fee, as well as doing background checks for the respite care providers and for incidentals not covered by Medicaid.

You can volunteer to work at the event, make a donation by participating in the event or send cash donations to Community Action of Laramie County for Wyoming Kinship Advocacy.

For more information, call Alice Carter at 635-9291 or click on “To give your time” or “To give your money” at right.

Frontier Refining Inc. has donated $13,655 to the Friday Food Bags program.

The Cheyenne office of the Holland & Hart Foundation announced the donation Tuesday to its program, which distributes food bags each week of the school year to Cheyenne children who are at risk for hunger.

“The Holland & Hart Foundation is thrilled with this donation,” Heather Canarecci, foundation chairwoman in Cheyenne, said in a news release. “We greatly appreciated Frontier’s earlier donation and volunteer efforts and hadn’t expected a further contribution on this scale.”

An enthusiastic group of Frontier Refining’s Friday Food Bag volunteers first encouraged it Vendor Appreciation Day committee to select the program as its designated charity. The refinery hosts Vendor Appreciation Day each Frontier Days to thank the company’s vendors and contractors.

The Friday Food Bag program was initiated last fall by the Cheyenne office of the Holland & Hart Foundation, an organization of current and retired law office personnel.

Over the upcoming year, program leaders anticipate being able to deliver 4,000 food bags – about 125 each Friday – to Laramie County School District 1, Head Start, Boys & Girls Club, Safehouse-Sexual Assault Services and Laramie County School District 2.

To contribute to the Friday Food Bags program, mail checks to Holland & Hart Foundation, Friday Food Bag Program, 2515 Warren Ave., Suite 450, Cheyenne, WY 82001.

Going school shopping for your kids this weekend? Although we’re all feeling the pinch of tough economic times, there are many in our community who can’t afford the basic supplies needed to get through the school year.

That’s where the following program comes in:

What: Operation Back to School

When: Now through Aug. 29

Where: Collection spots are located at the Wal-Mart Supercenter, Laramie County Library, F.E. Warren Air Force Base Education Center-Embry Riddle Office, Laramie County Community College and The Salvation Army office.

What you can do: You can help ensure low-income students in Laramie County receive the supplies they need to start school this fall.
In its 18th year, Operation Back to School helps qualified kindergarten through college-age students embark on their school journey with the proper materials.
Basic school supplies needed are pencils, crayons, scissors, rulers, glue, loose-leaf paper, spiral notebooks, etc.

Distribution dates: School supply distribution will begin Aug. 13 for college students and Aug. 20 for kindergarten through 12th-grade students at Needs Inc., 900 Central Ave.

For more information: For more on the donation drive, call Laramie County School District 1 at 771-2238. If you know someone who needs to receive school supplies, call Needs Inc. at 632-0409.

Please do what you can to help those less fortunate as we gear up for back-to-school!

Some events, like this weekend’s Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, are well-known in the Cheyenne area. Other events, which are much newer, get less publicity and are less well-known.

Such is the case with the American Cancer Society’s Climb to Conquer Cancer. Although the Cancer Society’s Relay for Life is well-known, last year was the first year for the Climb.

This non-competitive fundraising event isn’t really a climb so much as a walk along the trails around Granite Springs Reservoir at Curt Gowdy State Park. It’s a great way to get out, get some fresh air in the mountains and give to a good cause.

After paying a $35 registration fee and checking in to get your T-shirt and other materials, you simply walk along the trail, stopping at various checkpoints, if you choose, for water and other refreshments. A larger refreshment station and other activities can be found at the end of the walk.

This year’s event, which runs from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Aug. 16, also features a concert by the water featuring singer/songwriter and cancer survivor Kevin Sharp. Sharp also is holding a $10 per person concert and cookout at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15 at Curt Gowdy State Park, which includes food.

For more information, click on “To give your money” at right.

(In full disclosure, I have to tell you that the posters around town and at the state park include a photo of my son, Conner, and niece, Eryn, that I took with my cell phone camera during last year’s Climb. The photo is at the top of this blog entry as well. A member of my church, Dee Melander, who is involved in promoting the Climb to Conquer Cancer, saw the photo and asked if she could give it to the Cancer Society to use in this year’s publicity. And no, I was not compensated in any way for its use or to write this promo for the event. It’s just a great event. Enjoy!)