August 26, 2009
Stillman quiet force for the greater good
LEFT: Kathy Stillman, right, talks with Pattie Layser at a Taste of the Tetons event for the Teton Regional Land Trust. Stillman has been lending her time and her passion to volunteer efforts in the valley for more than a decade. CITIZEN PHOTO / JEANNETTE BONERKathy Stillman is content in her garden, working a colorful pattern of fl ora in her back yard under the back drop of perfect late summer afternoon, Tetons looming in the background and homemade sun tea sweating on the picnic table.
The unassuming Stillman has maintained a steady practice of service for the Teton Valley community since migrating from New England in the late 1990s. For Stillman, volunteering for purposes and programs is a passion that has cultivated intangible fruit through years for a blossoming community.
“How can a community run if not for the volunteers?” Stillman asks on Tuesday. “Why do you volunteer?” She answers herself saying, “Why do you have passions?”
It started with the Teton Regional Land Trust. Someone mentioned the non-profi t needed help with its annual summer picnic that became known as the Taste of the Tetons. Since then, she has become a quiet force, the go-to person that staff and board members have come to rely on when the going needed to get going.
She was the organizations’ first recipient of the Fred Mugler Volunteer Appreciation Award, an award that honors the memory of an icon of Teton Valley and the Rocky Mountain West, Fred Mugler. Fred was the long-time proprietor of Mountaineering Outfi tters, a “Cultural Hub of the Universe.” Recognized for “generously giving many hours of her time for the benefit of conservation of agricultural and natural lands in the Upper Snake River Watershed,” she has also lent her assistance to projects and events for the non-profit Friends of the Teton River and more recently the Tin Cup Challenge hosted by the Community Foundation of Teton Valley.
“She is willing to help on the smallest scale,” said TRLT board member Connie Mohr. “When we we’re in need of help, I can called her and say ‘help.” In my mind that makes her a saint.”
For Stillman, the credit is quickly shifted to those she has seen volunteer tirelessly for the community through formal non-profit organizations as well as for less obvious.
“Everybody needs help,” Stillman said. “Whether it’s reading in schools; helping does not need to be defi ned by an organization.”
She encourages the young people in the community to make that leap into the world of volunteering professing that on a personal level the very act can instill a sense of self-esteem and pride in a job well done. She added that the work being done through the non-profit network continues to build and grow a dynamic and diverse community.
“I think she’s amazing,” Mohr added. “I hope I can be like her someday, by giving back to the community. She’s one of those people we should aspire to be like.”
