(Fremont County, WY) – Christmas morning was a little brighter for several Fremont County children, thanks to the efforts of two local businesses, the Wyoming Army National Guard in Lander, and the community as a whole.
For the last two years, the Wyoming National Guard in Lander has organized a holiday toy drive in December. They set up collection boxes at Family Dollar in Lander and Murdoch’s in Riverton, where the community could donate new toys for those in need.
To recognize the two businesses, Staff Sergeants Spencer Muller and Austin Krueger organized a Certificate of Appreciation presentation for both of them on Jan. 3.
“This biggest thing we wanted to do is bring the community in and show them the Guard is here,” explained SSG Muller. “We want to put the state first, the community first, before we do our federal stuff.”
In Dec. 2023, they raised around $9,500 worth of toys and donated them to Fremont County School Districts.
SSG Krueger shared that those toys went to the Angel Tree students, who were maybe late to sign up and wouldn’t otherwise be receiving gifts.
“The coolest thing is it’s really all a community event, and it impacts the kids and family,” he noted. “We just drop them off. We’ve had people reach out to us and want to help us. (Asking) can they set up a box at their place? … It’s really turning into a huge community event.”
For 2024, Staff Sergeants Muller and Krueger will be out of the country, but hope that those still here continue the tradition of the toy drive and their other initiative, a pet food drive and adoption event.