Willi Brooks is the Event Operations Director for The Center for The Arts. Willi is one of the lucky ones who was born and raised right here in the Valley. On top of working full-time at The Center, Willi is also one of the owners of Roots Cannery and is an active member of the Travel and Tourism Board. 

In this episode, Willi shares what it was like to grow up in Jackson. He goes into how a part-time job at The Center has turned into a full-time career as the Event Operations Director. Willi talks about the impact The Center has on the area and how appreciative they are to be a part of such a supportive community. Stephan and Willi also chat about the Scouts, the Jackson Hole Food Cupboard, Roots Cannery, the farmers market, and the importance of volunteering. 

Find out what events are happening at The Center at jhcenterforthearts.org

Learn more about Roots Cannery at RootsKitchenCannery.com

This week’s episode is sponsored in part by The Jackson Hole Historical Society & Museum connecting people to local history by sharing artifacts and ideas to foster curiosity and continual learning, forge connections, and inform our 21st-century dialogue. Learn more online at jacksonholehistory.org

Support also comes from Teton County Solid Waste and Recycling. Old Bill’s Fun Run donations directly support zero waste education and outreach. Recycle often, recycle right, and donate today! Donate at OldBills.com. More at @RoadToZeroWaste.JH

Want to be a guest on The Jackson Hole Connection? Email us at connect@thejacksonholeconnection.com. Marketing and editing support by Michael Moeri (michaelmoeri.com,@thatsamoeri)

You are tuned into the Jackson hole, connection, sharing, fascinating stories of people connected to Jackson hole.

I'm grateful for each of you tuning in today and support for this podcast come from.

Thank you for tuning in today and participating in this podcast For me, I enjoy learning from others and sharing what I learn from other people And so I have a quote for you today in today's quote is you make a living by what you get.

You make a life by what you give.

And that is from Winston.

Churchi.

And today on episode number 205, I have the pleasure to interview one of the few folks living in town who was born and raised here.

And that person is Willi Brooks.

Although Willie is not his given name.

It is the name we all know and cherish Herbert by Willie learned at an early age, the importance of hard work and being involved in his community.

Now, a business owner while carrying a full-time job at the center for the arts and committing many hours a month to the travel and tourism board.

Willie is living a life of leadership and showing other people by example of how to be involved in a C.

Willie shares with us, his viewpoint of life.

While growing up here in Jackson hole, it is a unique one and every community is different today.

Compared to yesterday, how we participate in our communities will determine the.

Of our communities.

Willie has been a strong member of this community since childhood, the place that we call Jackson hole, Wyoming.

I know you will enjoy listening to Willie today, and it will provide you an opportunity to reflect on how you can be a community contributor wherever you live and

how you can teach the next generation to give back to their community as.

Willie, thank you for taking time out and welcome to the Jackson hole Connection, and look forward to having some insightful conversation with you

today.

Yeah.

Thanks Stephen.

Really appreciate you having me here.

You're you're welcome, Willie, let's start off with you connecting the dots to this place where we call

home Jackson hole, the place that we love and

where did your

life start off?

And how did you land out here in Jackson hole?

How long you been out?

Well, I was really fortunate in the sense that I didn't really make the choice to make it here.

I was, I was birthed here.

and so thanks to my mom and dad, I kind of just came to the universe.

So that, well, if I had like a St John's hospital, if I had bells

or, you know, buzzers to ring, I'd do that for you.

Cuz you're one of the few people that I've interviewed that was born

here.

Yeah.

When did life start for you here in, at St.

John's hospital in Teton county,

in 1987.

and yeah, so I guess we can ring the bells and blow the whistles for my mom cause.

I know that a lot of mothers out there birthing humans is quite the, the task.

Thanks.

Thanks mom and dad for making it happen here for me.

So that's right.

Pretty happy about that.

So, yeah, I was in 1987 February, St.

John's hospital.

And it's funny because, the doctor that actually was my mom's OB GYN.

just passed away like this year and it was wild.

So many people turned out for his Memorial service, but just like talking to people like during that happening this summer of like, oh my gosh, like, yeah, I'm sure you were in there and had your kid with this doc.

And I can't remember his name, but my mom, I remember just like growing up my mom being like, Hey, there's your doctor that, you know, basically birthed.

And that was, you know, I mean, there was like, I dunno, maybe a couple babies a week

being born back then.

but I know that like, it was probab, like my mom still talks about how beautiful the room was that like, they got to be in like post and.

I've heard that from so many other moms.

And I know that like the hospital has that wing where it just like outlooks over the elk re is like a really pretty pristine and very privileged place obviously to pop into the world.

So yeah, it

is.

Both of my children have been, we're born here and, oh, cool.

We fell.

We feel quite blessed to

awesome.

Be raising children here.

What brought your parents out here?

How long have they been out?

Um, my dad's been

out here since the seventies.

And so is my mom.

my dad tells this story that like the, they were all kind of sitting around and they were watching their draft numbers come up.

I believe for the Vietnam war or the American war, however you wanna call it.

But, uh, his number got pulled like very last.

And so.

Him likely being drafted was very low.

And then him and his friends that were also very low on the pole basically were like, well, we should go out west and go skiing.

And he says that they had a map and just covered their eyes and pointed onto the map.

And we're like, oh, it looks like we're close to this place.

And came out here to Jackson.

I don't know if that's actually how it happened,

but it's a pretty romantic story.

And then my mom, came out with my dad's little sister because they went to college together.

Hmm.

And one summer my aunt was like, Hey, I'm going out

to Jackson hole.

Like it's a really cool place.

My brother

lives there.

I've been out before y'all should come out kind of similar to how you hear.

It's still happening with friends from wherever.

And my aunt showed up to my dad's tiny, tiny little shack of a house.

with four girls in tow from the east coast.

And my dad was under the impression that he just had his little sister staying with him for the summer.

And here's five ladies about to crash on his floor.

And he was just like, so that's couple years down the line I, they were together and that was kinda it.

So yeah.

Yeah.

Your aunt probably exponentially grew the female population back then in the seventies.

It's by one carload.

Exactly.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

they definitely speak of that for sure.

And for you, do you have siblings?

I do have a younger brother, who, I'm lucky that he's in town as well.

And.

My best friend and, you know, we run on the same circles and so I'm pretty lucky that we both get to be back here, and make it work here.

So, yeah.

That's that's fabulous.

I, I got to see my brother very recently and I know what it's like to be close to your brother.

It's yeah, this is the reason I moved out here was my brother.

I've said that several

on the podcast.

Yeah.

Yeah.

so what was it like for you to grow up here in, in Jackson?

or, I mean, your main big part of your childhood was in the nineties.

I mean child of the nineties, some good metal

bands.

Yeah, totally.

set tapes D CDs just

coming out.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

you know, I mean, like, it was a very sheltered life and I I mean, I honestly just, I, and this is going to sound extremely.

Ridiculous, but I just kind of assumed that everyone lived a life.

Like we lived here, which is obviously very not true and very white boy privileged.

but it was like, I mean, it was amazing.

Like I had like the best possible probably upbringing.

That I could even think of, you know, like we would go cross country skiing in fourth grade and also listen to no doubt on CD, on somebody's CD player at lunch.

you know, like we would go out to Teton science school and listen to the elk bugling.

but then for my 11th birthday, my parents.

Took me to my first major concert of my life when I was in sixth grade to rolling stones concert in salt lake.

I had probably the best upbringing anyone could ever have.

you know, when it comes to.

Being in

nature and just skiing on the

weekends.

I was really lucky.

My dad worked at the mountain resort for over 40 years.

And so we had ski passes, you know, up until I was 18.

And he always says like, if I didn't work in the ski industry, you wouldn't have grown up skiing.

which, you know, I totally believe because everybody knows how pricey it is to be a skier or be, you know, Going to a resort every weekend.

but yeah, it was like probably the best possible upbringing I could have just biking around, having fun with friends and being on the river or being in the mountains, camping and doing anything like that.

It was pretty amazing.

So yeah.

Would your

parents in the summer just let you and some friends go out camping?

my dad at a very young age, got us involved in the Scouts, and I know this sounds crazy, but like in the eighties and nineties, like there wasn't a lot of money here and like my dad and mom, and like, I hear other friends' parents talk about just like how hard it was to like, make it here, because like the tour in industry wasn't there.

Like, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but like Teton village wasn.

A thing in the summertime until I was probably like in an adult, an adult.

And so like people, you know, there was the resort, the school district and the hospital.

And I know that those things are still very prevalent to the community, but like, you know, it was a lot there.

Wasn't a lot of money here back then.

And so like my parents.

My dad was like, well, like Scouts are a great way to like, get you guys out.

And so we would go camping, you know, with them, I'd go camping with friends, I'd go camping with my parents.

and It wasn't until later, probably in my high school years that like, I was really allowed to go like out camping on my own, just because everybody knows what happens on high school, camping trips.

Hmm.

you know, but yeah, like just being out in the summer, I mean, we would go camping in the winter time too.

And it was just, yeah, it was a great.

I'm I'm glad that you mentioned about how in the eighties and, and nineties, there wasn't as much money here.

And I think a lot of people don't realize that especially people that are new or are just now following Jackson in the past few years, they think, you know, they just see Jackson as right

now.

Mm-hmm

so, but even with you saying, you know, Hey, you assumed everybody had a life like you did.

It was in a way, you know, somewhat of white privilege.

living here, but that's even with, there're not being much money here.

I mean, it was a, a poor community.

Um, it wasn't, yeah, it was not a very wealthy community.

Like you said, it was, it was the resort, it was the hospital, the school district.

And, and then also the federal government think about before the resort was started.

You didn't even have that in the wintertime.

Exactly.

Like, yeah.

I don't even know what it was like what, 1964, I think Paul McCallister put in the tram and like really started the resort.

And so, yeah, like it was ranch land, you know?

that's pretty wild.

How far Did you go into the Scouts?

How far did you make it in

there?

I got my Eagle scout.

Nice.

I think I was.

15.

And a lot of that came from because my, my parents pushed me really hard to get it.

And I mean, my dad even said like, sorry, like, you're not getting a car until, or you're not allowed to drive until you get this.

which looking back on, like, I really appreciate like that discipline, like I'm sure in the moment I was like, very.

With my dad, you know, but yeah.

You know, it was, I had a lot of help along the way to get that.

And a lot of my friends that were also in Scouts also achieved that.

And I think like a lot of that was because of the community around them.

And we were like a small scout group, you know, and everybody worked hard on doing what they were doing to get the requirements done, that they needed to do it.

but it is like a, I know it's a very controversial thing now, the Scouts, and then some ways like, pretty excited to see that, like that program still lives on, especially with like allow.

Anybody into it.

And I know that there's been a lot of turmoil and controversy surrounding that, but it really should be a thing for everybody.

I think so.

What was your

scouting project for Eagle to get your Eagle scout?

so there was a guy, his first name was Levi and I can't remember his last name, but back before the Jackson food cupboard was a, was really a thing there.

He had put up some shelving units in the basement of St.

John's Episocapal church mm-hmm and it was kind of like this thing, like, we always did like scouting for food every November.

And.

All the food that was collected, there would just like go and sit on the shelves and then like folks at browsed by like, it was like a very disjointed kinda method of like, if somebody needed some food, they would go to brows by and brow, like a worker from browsed

so my project was.

Basically, in closing and kind of really taking the food covered to the next level of like, putting in walls and a door and actually like establishing a place that like people could come to and get food from on like a regular basis.

And, Like my mom always is like, oh, well, like you should say that you founded the food cupboard.

And I don't really look at it like that.

Like, it was more like, it was just like a piece to the puzzle because like then, what was called community resource center at the time eventually like took it on and there's a food bank board and everything, or a food covered board and everyth.

Which is now under 1 22, which does a really great job at every like running that and running all the programs that they run in the community.

but so basically, you know, I was a part of kind of starting and getting the food covered to where it is today.

and, and remind folks how old you were When you, when you helped build the place, when you took it from just shelves, being someplace to building the walls, the door and et cetera,

how old were you?

Yeah, I, I think I was like 14.

and so we fundraised and there was a really great guy named bill Weiss who, passed away just recently.

And mm-hmm, his, family's still in town and he just threw like, Being a part of the community when it was smaller, you know, like I just knew him and he donated, I, I don't, I can't remember how big the check was that he donated, but he wrote like a pretty sizable check.

And then the guys over at Jackson lumber, the Clark brothers donated a bunch of materials and, you know, there were, I mean, there were so many people that worked on it.

Like I like, You know, my dad's a builder.

And so my dad and my uncle, and then like a bunch of friends and other Scouts helped, like, I don't know, we put in.

Bunch of hours into basically framing walls and putting, hanging sheet rock and things and getting building inspections.

And it was just like a really interesting process as like a 14 year kid that just didn't know existed.

Like I thought just walls and call it good.

But you know, like we had to have fire marshals come in and everything to make sure that sprinklers worked and whatever.

And, I'll never, I like, I'll never forget, like the day that we hung this Dutch door.

that splits in half so that like the top half could be open and people could walk up and like, you know, basically say like, oh, this is what I want.

And like, people are like, okay, cool.

Like, there's three people in here right now.

Like once somebody leaves you can come in and kind of shop around.

but like I hung that door with, Willie Watts.

Who's the fire chief and his son, Robert, you know, so like just things like that, like.

A pretty cool experience and also just very lucky that I get to have that experience too.

Well thank you for being so important in raising the bar for the food cupboard here in town.

And well, thanks.

Look at where it's gone.

Gone now.

Yeah.

So, you know, let's talk about where you are today.

You are the events, operations director at Center for the Arts.

And you're a partner with several other people at roots, kitchen and cannery.

Yeah.

yeah, so I

started at the center part-time in kind of 2014 and just, I don't know, was kind of just looking for something a little bit more, I guess.

Some people would say grown up mm-hmm and I don't know if like, that was just kind of like where I was in my life of like, okay, like, it'd be great to start to like a new chapter versus just like working seasonal jobs.

which there's nothing wrong with working seasonal jobs.

I really loved working the seasonal jobs that I got to work.

But yeah, it was just like looking to start something new and came on.

Part-time here as the house manager and have seen it just kind of go from, you know, I think when we, when I started, we were doing maybe like a hundred to events a year, and now we have like active days on the campus when it comes to events, like, well, over like 200.

250.

but there's been a lot of people that like have gotten it to that point.

You know, Martha Bancroft was the executive director when I started here and she, you know, really pushed the vision along with the board as well.

And, guy named Mike Dowda was here and he worked really hard to like, make everything work here.

You know, it, it's a really small team.

It's always been a small team.

to like operate an entire city block worth of a building as well as work with the partners that are the residents and the nonprofits in the community to work, to produce events and do their, our own programming and everything.

And so, yeah, it's pretty exciting to like, even see where it's gone, like through the pandemic and now with our.

Executive director, Marty Camino.

Who's like really, you know, took us through the pandemic into now.

Like it's pretty wild to like see it because there were so many venues that shut down and didn't reopen.

and we're just really lucky that, you know, the community supported.

This is in the resident and the mission and like the outdoor space and to get it to where it post pandemic.

it really feels like to where we were and doing more.

we were so it's kinda wild, it?

It is wild.

And, and when you think about the number of days, To, to do 200 to 250 events a year.

That's just massive.

yeah.

When you think about how many days of the week there are, I mean there's 365 days and you start taking out holidays and weekends.

And I mean, but weekends are probably your bigger times to do things

anyway.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The team like from, you know, I mean, we're Our organization that is just the center, you know, is responsible for just making sure that the building is open and that the sidewalks are shoveled or the lawn is cut or the sprinklers are shut off appropriately, or the roof doesn't fall in.

And then on top of that, we're in charge of helping everybody else out and do what they do here.

but then.

You know, there's all the residents that have their own staffs all the way down from like one person staffs to, you know, 20 person staffs as well.

And it's, we're lucky that the supports it to the level that they do.

Every single resident in here.

cuz it really takes, it's pretty wild, what it takes to, do everything like we're we are starting a new roofing project today.

just because, I know that a lot of people don't

really look up when

they come into the building, but like there's yeah.

I mean, Snow on a big building, like this really causes some major issues.

Oh, I bet.

So.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hey Willie, we need to get a break to get a word from one of our sponsors and then we're gonna be right back.

Perfect.

Sounds great.

Welcome back.

thank you for your time right now.

And I'm enjoying speaking with you as an, committed member of our community and.

I've forgot to ask you a question.

Is Willie your given

name?

no.

Well, it was given to me by my mom.

but my legal name is Herbert Euclid Brooks, the fourth.

but so my, because my dad got to give me my legal name.

My mom said, well, I'm gonna give the name calls.

So, she, I don't know why she landed on Willie Uhhuh.

I think, well, my uncle is bill.

And he goes by Billy, which I guess is short for William so that, you know, it probably, it could have come outta that.

So.

Yeah.

That's, mom's

given so much to be thankful for.

Oh yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

My mom is, uh, yeah, my mom's a pretty great lady.

So, yeah.

And does your mom still live here?

Yeah, my I'm really lucky.

My parents both are still here in the house that I grew up in, that my dad and her.

Back, I think in 19 88, 19 89.

and yeah, so they're still here.

they always talk about how like one summer you would go build Bruce's house and then the next summer you'd go build Steve's house.

And then like, it was just like this rotating thing.

Cause like, yeah, you could work in the winter at the resort a little bit or work in the summer as like, I dunno, at least teas mm-hmm . but yeah, like they just kind of did this like revolving door of like building each other's houses, which is kind of a thing that I still wish existed a little bit,

but yeah, that'd be, that'd be nice.

Wouldn't it?

Yeah.

And, and tell me about roots, kitchen and cannery.

What's what's that about?

Yeah.

well, so I grew up with one of my good.

Friends from growing up, a guy named Orion, Colorado, who would be another great.

interview for you guys, Stephen.

he, so his dad and my dad actually were roommates back in the seventies and, our moms were in like birthing class together and he, you know, like we were just.

Always buddies growing up and in the same glass.

And, when I moved back here, I was just like looking for some summertime part-time work.

And, he, for the longest time, had a pie stand on the farmer's Mar at the town square on the farmer's market mm-hmm and at the people's market that he was also super involved in starting with slow food and the Tetons and, I just kind of started making pies with him part-time one summer and then was like, Hey, there's seems to be a little bit more here.

And he was like, well, you know, we're trying to launch this can.

And, so I just kind of bought in and jumped to help push things.

And there were a number of years where we just worked our butts off and, It was, you know, we put everything back into the business and didn't get paid.

And, and then finally we started to pay ourselves a little bit and, we opened up our can up in Bozeman with another partner, guy named Patrick Burr, who runs our facility up there.

And there was a, a guy named Bo Baldock who.

Was kind of early steps in the business and then he kind of moved on and then I came in, and so Ryan and Bo and Patrick, you know, they were kind of just figuring things out.

And then I came in and jumped in a little bit and, we started figuring more things out and now the cannery is still running gangbusters up in Bozeman.

And, You know, we distribute nationwide.

but our whole mission there is kind of to, take regionally sourced, fruits and vegetables and preserve 'em so that they can be, you know, enjoyed in the middle of the wintertime.

When, you know, you can't necessarily get carrots or beets, from your area or fr from the area.

so.

Yeah, it's it's off and running.

And it's the first year that we haven't had a stand at the farmer's market.

And I dunno how many years, but, but yeah, you know, we used to be out there selling pie and, and pickles and jam and cookies and scones and different things that, you know, we would just get from different friends that were also makers in town and put at our stand.

like I'll never forget this one summer, like friend of ours had found like, three, five gallon buckets of Chan trail mushrooms.

And we just like, we sold those at the farmer's market.

cuz he was like a fun and like we were able to say like, yeah, this is actually what it.

And our friends at the health department, like showed up and

were just like, what is this?

And we were like, no, we're

a booth.

I dunno, since two, six, maybe.

2005.

I've

I've enjoyed some of those pies and Keisha's before awesome.

And the other baked goods and, and they are bummer.

I mean, it is delicious.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But congratulations that you guys have grown to the point where you have, you don't need

to be there anymore.

that's that's just how a business grows and,

and morphs.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I appreciate that.

I don't know if it's that.

We, I mean, there's certain things that have to just like, kind of go by the wayside when you get older.

And it was just like, it was a lot like, I know there's been a lot of people that have made pies for the business and worked Saturday farmer's markets.

I don't know how many people, friends that we've had, but they know like, I mean, that process starts on like a Tuesday and you end on Saturday at.

Three o'clock in the afternoon.

and on top of like having full-time jobs and everything, everybody was just like, wow, this is a lot mm-hmm and so, yeah, so it was, it was kind of bittersweet to see it go away, but, has definitely made the summer a little bit less stressful and I bet, enjoyable.

So, yeah.

Hey Willie, tell

me.

Your thoughts on being involved in the community.

I know that you're on the travel and tourism board, which is a volunteer position.

but even being at the center for the arts that runs with people who are willing to give their time and you being an Eagle scout, you certainly gave your time.

What's, what's your view on, on that and, and how that helps individuals, but also helps the C.

Yeah.

I'm not saying

that like people have to like go out and offer up something to like, be a real member of the community here.

I know that it's like, it like winters can get long.

And this past winter was probably one of the longest winter.

I've never experienced

here.

just because like I've, and I think there's like a number of components that come out of that with lack of snow and it just rained late into the season and snow late into the season.

And, you know, they can just get dark and kind of gloomy and, to like take care of yourself.

You know, it, if somebody's just moving here or even if you've lived here for 20 years, you know, The community really takes care of its community members.

whether that's, you know, I've seen people that have broken their backs and there's fundraisers for them or things like that.

But like, I have found for myself If you are out and like volunteering, like even if it's an hour, a month or an hour a week, or whatever, you know, like, just like having, like plugging yourself into a sense of community and talking to somebody that is, you know, 40 years older than you, or 40 years younger than you for that much.

Like, it really has helped me in just like my mental state You know, I feel like I could call up a, a number of different people and you know, not that I am looking at doing this, but like people, if you are helping, like, if you are out helping in the community, like the community is.

Really there for you.

in a sense, you know, like we had the million pound party here last night at the center for the arts and, just to like see all the different walks of life, like come out and be involved with that.

Like, it was like really great, you know?

Cause what is the million

pound party?

The

million pound party is an event put on by whole food rescue.

which is a really awesome.

Nonprofit in town, that deals with like few food insecurity and, you know, they have a really great team and a team of volunteers and their staff is awesome.

but just like, that's just like a little like snapshot of like, you know, if you're just move, if you've just moved here or, you know, you've been here forever or, you know, you've.

40 million or if you've got a hundred bucks, you know, like we go out and just talk to people and, you know, work at one of these organizations or volunteer for a board or something like that.

Just because like, it'll make, not only like your experience in Jackson so much more meaningful, but like also, like you'll learn like, just so much.

Other people and like how, how to be in this community.

Because I think it's really important.

Like there is a certain way of being in this community, it's a tough place to live.

You go off the road, you need to get pulled out.

You know, you can't pull yourself out without a car.

You're gonna have to rely on somebody else to help you out.

And so if you know, I'm not saying that like, you need to go out and like do your part to like, be a part of a community, but like if you put yourself out there, which I know is really is a very difficult thing to do.

Like it's crazy, you know, putting yourself there out there is.

A big thing to do, but if you just show up and like help, yeah.

Be in uncomfortable situation from time to time, but

in

very, I appreciate it.

Uh it's it's your perspective.

And, and I agree with.

When you're out in the community, then you feel like you're part of the community and the community's gonna be there for you.

And I think that's any community.

Totally.

Um, here it is different because of our winters are longer and you know that you've met other people you've expanded your circle of who, you know, and, and like you said, you could be.

doing volunteering with somebody who worth 40 million and somebody who's got a hundred bucks in their pocket and that's all they have.

you just don't know, but that's not important.

It's what you're doing.

It's the action of volunteering.

So

yeah, I've got this joke with my girlfriend.

That's like because we have here at the center, we support so many missions and so many causes and she's always just kind of.

Gosh, is there a cause that you could like, that you don't care about?

And I'm just like, oh, you know, it just kind of comes with the territory, but you know, like you do have to kind of just, you gotta care about everybody.

And I know that the pandemic really sectioning people off because we had to, and it's hard to come back from that and like be in the community.

Or it, you know, after that it's, it was just a difficult thing to get back out and like really be together.

so yeah, its, you know, I'm sure it's it's very the same for other communities, but yeah, you, somebody say hi, I dunno.

Yeah.

Streets say hello people like, yeah, there are people just like you, you and me and.

Yeah, I, I thank you for saying that you have to care about other people.

Yeah.

it's very kind and gracious of you to say that and to share and keep, keep teaching that to other people, Willie.

Yeah, please do.

Yeah.

I mean, that's an easy thing for me to say, you know, we're here, you know, there's a lot crazy stuff happening in the world right now that is making in the way it's.

so pretty lucky that I get to.

Be that way.

Mm-hmm so, yeah.

Yeah.

So if people wanna reach out and connect with you,

learn more about

how you could help direct them to volunteering in the community or learn about roots, how to find that, how can people connect

with you, Willie?

I mean, email's super easy, but like, if you're looking for something.

That you like wanna volunteer for?

Like, I would just say like, what are you passionate about?

And there's probably something in this community.

Mm-hmm, , that's going to align with that.

And the community foundation, you know, has a list bills is going on right now.

There's a list of a million nonprofits that you, I mean, if you like hockey, you can volunteer for youth hockey, you know, I'm sure.

Like somehow I dunno how, but like coach just connect.

Yeah.

Connect.

Like the, or an organization that you're, that you align with, cuz you're gonna have a lot more fun while you're doing it.

But yeah, you know, I mean, If you wanna reach out via email to me, please feel free to, but there's so many resources in our community when it comes to the community foundation or anything else that really you can connect with and get tied in with an organization to help out with or whatever.

What's your email, Willie that you want people to use?

let's not use my work email.

Let's use Herber.

B IV com and that's probably the only email that I've ever really, or over time that I've ever used that

legal name outside of.

I love that

email document.

Herbert B Herbert the fourth.

That's awesome.

Well,

you're

the only one that has that, so good for you.

Yeah.

yeah, I know.

Appreciate,

well, I'll let you get back to your day.

You have plenty to do,

with all the events that are happening there at the center for the arts.

Thank you for keeping that place, vibrant, being a part of that.

yeah.

And volunteering at the travel and tourism board, I've thoroughly enjoyed having a conversation with you today

and my glad and thanks.

Yeah, you're welcome.

I know it's super

cheesy, but it takes a village.

It does.

Yeah.

And takes a bunch of people to make up that village.

Doesn't it?

Totally.

Yeah.

Well,

take care.

Thanks Willie.

Good to see you.

Yeah, you too.

You well, bye.

To learn more about Willie be and his community work.

Visit the Jackson hole, connection.com episode number 205.

Thank you all for tuning in today.

Get out there and share this podcast.

You can share it via social media, texting it to folks, Thank you to Michael Moeri.

Who's been editing and producing these podcasts since day one.

And of course, to my wife, Laura, my boys Lewis and William who give me everlasting support through hugs and kisses and, smiles and funnies.

Right now, Lewis is reading Garfield and William is seeing William.

Pick up on what Garfield's humor is, is quite fun to see.

I appreciate you sharing your time with me today and cheers till next week.