(Lander, WY) – Dancing with the Stars Lander & Riverton has wowed our community with showmanship, pizazz, and an all-around good time for eight years, and we expect nothing less in 2024.
Now is the time to round up your friends and family to join you at the table, and mark your calendars for Saturday, April 6, 2024, for the 9th annual Dancing with the Stars Lander & Riverton, which will be held at the Lander Community Center. Teams are already practicing their routines and preparing to blow away the audience with their moves.
While it is an exciting and often hilarious night, it is important to remember why funds are being raised. Money goes to Community Entry Services (CES), a local nonprofit serving Riverton, Lander and Jackson.
For nearly 50 years, CES has empowered community members with disabilities and provided them with full services, which include affordable housing, job training, community job placement, day habilitation, and coordination of therapies and medical needs.
As a nonprofit, they have a Board of Directors, whose names can be found here.
“Fremont County is where we started,” shared CES CEO Shawn Griffin. “We serve about 150, give or take, people.”
The organization serves two different populations: those with intellectual and developmental disabilities and people with traumatic brain injuries.
“We’re the largest provider of our kind in the state, and I think that’s just because we have such great communities that we’re in,” he continued. “Riverton, Lander, and Jackson are great places to provide services.”
In addition to serving about 150 people, they employ just about that many as well.
“I think a lot of people don’t know that about us because we kind of keep it quiet,” Griffin explained about the number of people they employ. “… We want our folks to fit in as much as possible. They stand out enough as it is. We want to support them behind the scenes if we can.”
Most of CES’s funding comes from Medicaid.
“It doesn’t cover the cost of services, whether it’s medical services, therapeutic services, or the types of services we provide,” he noted about Medicaid. “Therefore, as an organization, we have to do private fundraising.”
They have three major fundraising events annually in each community they serve. In Jackson, they host “The Art of Love,” which is essentially an art art auction. In Riverton, they have “The Festival of Trees,” which auctions off beautifully and uniquely decorated Christmas trees. In Lander, there is “Dancing with the Stars Lander & Riverton,” which is a competition between dancers from the community.
So, get excited and check out the Dancing with the Stars Lander & Riverton Facebook page for updates, including team announcements over the next several weeks.
Click here to learn more about CES.