Washakie Works continues excellent work in community

WORLAND – Patience. That is one of the most stressed words regarding the Washakie Works program, which was founded in 1995 by the late Lew Markley, and has been serving the community ever since.

The program is designed to help individuals within the Worland community who may not have the ability to hold down a job because of a mental hurdle they are unable to overcome, or are unable to maintain a job because they need support to help them learn new skills that may be required to get a job.

Current director of the program, Scott Richard, took over the program from Markley around 2013, after beginning with the group in 2000. Having been a licensed contractor prior to joining the Washakie Works program, he was able to bring his experience in the field to the program in order to help teach new skills.

“We want to give 100%,” Richard said. “We want to give the customer more than what they paid for.”

That mentality is what has caused Washakie Works to get consistent customers time and time again, and has led them to continue all of this success after nearly 25 years of helping the Worland community.

He owes much of that success to Markley, as he says that “the program would not even be here today without Lew.”

One of the largest projects that they did perform was helping build the current Cloud Peak Counseling building, mainly doing all of the finish work within the building, and they have also helped with other projects all around Worland.

Along with helping finish the current Cloud Peak Counseling building, the program also has a workshop that they use in order to build certain projects. Richard said discussions regarding holding classes when times are slower have been going off and on for years.

This program has helped build around the community, and has helped a multitude of individuals come through the program, even though they do not know specifically how many they have helped. Even with the success this program has enjoyed over the years, they are not settling in to any sort of mindset that they are going to slow down, even though some of the things they offer have changed, Richard said.

“We did used to teach computer skills at the beginning,” Richard said. “Lew even used to teach some people how to drive when we started.”

Even though the program has become more centered on construction-based learning and skills, the program still tries to help each individual in any way that they can. Instead of finding a reason to let someone go if they mess up, they do their best to use it as a teaching moment, and use patience to help maintain a smooth flowing process.

With the program specifically catered to helping individuals overcome mental barriers, it does not mean that just anybody can walk in off the street. It is important to the program to help people who actually need the help, rather than just somebody looking to make a quick dollar and leave, Richard said.

The importance of helping people stand out above the rest of the program, and focusing on helping people be successful is one of the most prominent ideas for the program.

There have been hundreds of individuals who have come through the program, and the success of the program cannot be understated, as this is the only program of its type in Wyoming. To Richard’s knowledge, nobody has been able to replicate the amount of success that has come from this program.

The program is actually funded through the Wyoming Behavioral Health Division, and is funded as a community program. This funding goes toward supporting housing as well as the supporting employment of the program.

Washakie Works is also backed by Cloud Peak Counseling as well, and gather additional funding through jobs that are performed by the members of the program. These tasks include jobs such as drywall, building decks, as well as other jobs such as painting and other contracting jobs. The program management is also stationed within the Cloud Peak Counseling building.

This program has helped change many lives over the 24 years of service so far and the hope is that it will continue serving the Worland community for years, and even decades, to come, Richard said.