Over the last three months as Mrs. Wyoming American I have thought a lot about how to make our state more positive. Society right now is extremely stressful and that stress breeds a lot of negativity. For whatever reason, this thought has been weighing extremely heavy on me the last couple of nights. I am sure it is because once again I am traveling for work and when I’m away from the family my thoughts get even deeper. Maybe because the distractions of kiddos are less. The part that excites me is it hit me, the people in Wyoming are lifting our community each and every day.
On September 11th I had the opportunity to highlight one of those community members, Heather Coughenour. So who is she? You see Heather was a member of the Wyoming Air National Guard. While sitting on the flightline protecting our aircraft a rogue lightning strike went through the engine of the truck she was sitting in. In that moment Heather’s life path would take a sharp detour. Instead of continuing her career with the guard she found herself looking to start over. Because of the impact of that day and her childhood, Heather knew she wanted to give back in the area of mental health. Her new goal was to help others battle mental health struggles like PTSD and anxiety. Her passion was to help others who were unable to help themselves. Heather has a heart dedicated to the forgotten individuals like the homeless in our community.
Heather told her family she no longer wanted to be the center of attention for her birthday. She no longer wanted to receive gifts. Instead she wanted her birthday to be focused on giving back. This gave her husband the idea to ruck in honor of Heather each her for her organization of choice. This year Heather picked two organizations, Peak Wellness and the Department of Family Services. As an employee of Peak, she knew one place they could use help was by receiving travel size hygiene products to create a closet for the homeless and community members in need who didn’t have these simple items. Mike, Heather’s husband, set out to organizing what has become Heather’s Ruck. This year would be like no other as Heather’s family felt the loss of a loved one the week before the ruck but they would not be deterred.
As we arrived Friday morning the rain was pouring down. Mike posted early to make sure everyone knew the ruck would go on rain or shine. The response was incredible! Those who were there to support Heather and her cause would not be turned away by the fact that they were about to get cold. The turn out was amazing! I was once again blown away by the incredible people we have in our community. Everyone filled their rucks and some even filled and carried two in order to get all of the donations delivered. Upon arrival it became very apparent the amount of space Heather had dedicated for the hygiene closet was not going to fit all the supplies donated.
The outpouring of support for Heather is a perfect example of why I love living in Wyoming. I love that people in our community, like Heather, give so much in order to help others. I love how others will drop what they are doing to support others and lift them up. I was honored to get to be a part of Heather’s Ruck and look forward to making it an annual event for our family. I’m off to find more people like Heather. To help them give back and make sure they have the spotlight for lifting our community up!
