June 10, 2021
Go and Do Likewise: Celebrating Five Years of Love in Action Across Wyoming
This fall, the Hughes Charitable Foundation celebrates five years since becoming an incorporated Wyoming foundation: a milestone that fills us with gratitude and hope.
Although the Hughes’ started giving in 2017 to Wyoming non-profits, we became a Wyoming-based private foundation in 2020. So officially it is a five year celebration!
These first five years as the Hughes Charitable Foundation in Wyoming have been a time of deep connection, collaboration, and positive impact. We’ve given to more than 300 organizations serving communities in every corner of the state: from food pantries and shelters, to youth programs, to veterans’ initiatives, to quality of life community projects and more.
Our guiding principle remains simple: love your neighbor.
When we support a food pantry in Cheyenne, a mental health center in Riverton, or a child care program in Thermopolis, we see the same truth reflected again and again: Wyoming communities thrive when we care for one another.
One story that reminds us of that truth comes from our friends at Pilot Hill Inc., who received a grant from HCF in 2022 to help with a quality of life amenity that would help give people in the Laramie area outdoor access to a special place nearby with improved and safe trails. Their Executive Director, Sarah Brown Matthews, shared this reflection that captures literally the many ways how “love in action” can look in everyday life:
“I was at a conference this spring in Laramie, and during a break, started visiting with the gentleman sitting next to me. He asked where I worked, and I answered Pilot Hill. His response was unusual. Rather than the typical, ‘Yes, I walk my dog there,’ he said, ‘Intimately.’
He explained that his wife has cancer and receives treatments several times a week at the hospital nearby. While she’s there, he walks on Pilot Hill’s trails - he said he ‘walks out his fears’ so that when he picks her up, he can be fully present and positive. On the days she feels well enough, they walk together, noticing new grasses and wildflowers, grateful for the benches along the way.”
Stories like these remind us that God’s hand is always at work, often in quiet, unseen ways. We know that the grants given to feed the hungry, inspire the discouraged, give shelter to unhoused high school students, and care for veterans or seniors in our communities make a direct and positive difference. Every act of generosity, every partnership, every hour of service is a seed planted in faith, and together, those seeds grow into something extraordinary.
As we celebrate our fifth anniversary as a Wyoming foundation, we’re inspired by Jesus’ call to “Go, and do likewise” (Luke 10:37).
That call is what motivates us to keep loving our neighbors across Wyoming, and we invite you to join us in doing just that: go and make a positive difference. Imagine how much more good the Lord though all of us will do if we continue working together for the next five years, serving with compassion and courage. It could be your time. It could be your $5 or $25 or more. It could be your kindness and love to your neighbor. A smile. A helping hand. All and each of these are gifts. Go, and do likewise.
As you look ahead, ask yourself: What plans might God have for the gift I can give today and everyday?
