Serving On Sacred Ground

The Wyoming Service Corps

Photo by Kamryn Bouyett

The 2025 On Sacred Ground (OSG) Wyoming Service Corps (WSC) includes James Goff, Charlie Bond, Maggie Anderle and Amy Brooks, all exploring their spiritual connectedness and embodying it in their regular lives.

The Corps is part of a larger network of the Episcopal Service Corps nationwide, serving different communities. Each location chooses a name that is local and specific to the work that they do. Since the corps has a range of different jobs and lifestyles, they decided to choose “On Sacred Ground” to acknowledge the various Indigenous groups that once occupied Wyoming and the nation.

“This church has been held as this very sacred place since the very beginning of Cody in the 1890s, and it’s been a place of worship since then.” Charlie Bond continued to explain. “A big part of our work here is engaging and acknowledging the Indigenous spirituality of this land.

“We want to acknowledge that as a corps, all of the Earth is sacred, the sacred ground and every step we take, [we’re] walking on sacred ground,” he said. “Coming to live together, in community, in the beauty of the world.”

The national church recruits fellows from college campuses and campus ministries. While members aren’t required to have a religious background or be an Episcopalian to apply, they must have an interest in serving and discerning time for a content future for themselves, locally and globally.

“I firmly believe that taking time to discern one’s greater calling and serving others with your gifts is how we grow and learn to live in the world, treating our neighbors as ourselves,” said Tiffani Feeley, Program Director of OSG WSC.

The previous program director was Deacon Allen Doyle, one of the founding members of OSG Wyoming Service Corps. He was recently ordained at Christ Church Cody on Feb. 1, alongside Andrew Stump, who served as a Corps member.

After Doyle moved to Laramie to run the campus ministry at the Episcopal Canterbury House, Tiffani Feeley became the Program Director. She worked with the second cohort and eventually recruited the 2025–2026 cohort.

Throughout the year, every Corps member is surrounded by mentors and leaders so they’re empowered on their part to address unjust structures, have the opportunity to dig deep into issues that matter to them, and possibly change these structures.

“I am passionate about this work,” said Tiffani Feeley. “It is an honor to be part of the fellows’ lives in this time of their lives, of great questioning and growth.”

May 2025 Photo by Kamryn Bouyett

It’s not just a job, a venture, or work for her.

“I look at it as [a] ministry,” Tiffani said.

Tiffany was born and raised in Cody. She is an Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner, Spiritual Coach and Celebrant certificates from Southwest Institute Healing Arts in 2021.

“We do Therapeutic Art exercises in formation,” she said. “I meet with the fellows one-on-one on a regular basis which enables me to both spiritually guide and coach them through difficult issues.”

She also teaches yoga at Firefly Yoga and Wellness. At the Cody Country Art League, she even teaches art classes to children in grades kindergarten through fifth. Tiffani Feeley’s favorite quote is from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, “Instead of always trying to pull people out of the river, why don’t we go upstream and find out why they are falling in?”

The Current Corps Cohort

James

James — Photo by Kamryn Bouyett

James was born in San Francisco, California. The youngest of two older brothers. His parents were raised in Marin County, in the suburbs north of San Francisco. They both valued the outdoors, nature, community and “spaces of beauty,” he said.

“I really found that Wyoming is a bountiful land full of geographic, geologic, and hydraulic beauty,” said James Goff.

When James decided which Episcopal Service Corps program he wanted to attend or whether the program was right for him, he realized the value of nature within his own life.

“Once I realized that Wyoming was as wild as it is and how this program focused a big part of it is the spirituality of the outdoors, I knew this is where I had to be,” he said.

Charlie

Charlie — Photo by Kamryn Bouyett

Hoping to be ordained in the Episcopal Church is Charlie Bond. His ancestry goes way back in Columbia, South Carolina. He, too, was born and raised there, only recently attending Sewanee, The University of the South in Tennessee.

“I was looking for something to do right out of college,” said Charlie Bond. “I didn’t really know where I wanted to go.”

Charlie did know that he wanted to do something that had to do with the Episcopal Church and wanted an opportunity to gain job experience.

“I had a friend who had done an Episcopal Service Corps in Massachusetts and she really loved it and encouraged me to pursue — you know a similar program, so I applied,” he said.

Charlie looked at similar programs and ended up falling in love with the one in Wyoming because it could, “afford us (referring to the Corps) a lot of great opportunities simply by the proximity of nature.”

He felt called to the people who acted so loving and kind during his interviews. A big aspect of relocating to Wyoming was the ability to experience the beauty of creation, he said.

Amy

Amy — Photo by Kamryn Bouyett

Amy Brooks was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. She attended the University of Central Arkansas and pursued a degree in elementary education, primarily for kindergarten through sixth grade.

“Loved all four years,” said Amy Brooks.

She was introduced to the Corps by a camp counselor in Colorado and a mutual friend of her boss at the time. Amy was the oldest counselor, advised to connect more with other young adults in the Christian community, so she looked into it.

“There’s this quiz that you take to find which programs would be best for you,” said Amy. I met with the friend because she actually worked at one (service corps) and ran it in St. Louis.”

Amy’s friend, who no longer runs the St. Louis corps, explained what to expect from the service corps. Five programs were open. Two had closed, and the other was a good fit for her.

She questioned, “Is this what I truly need in my life, to go to a program?”

Instead of wavering away from the opportunity, she led with the uncertainty that the other program would close.

“I didn’t let that stop me,” she said. “I just felt like, as the interview was going on, I didn’t feel stressed, I just became at ease. And they didn’t turn me down.”

Already keen on nature, like her two summers in Colorado, Wyoming was the best option. Amy plans on pursuing graduate school after she concludes her second year with the Wyoming Service Corps.

Maggie

Maggie — Photo by Kamryn Bouyett

Just north of Boston, Massachusetts, Maggie Anderle was born and raised in the town of Peabody. She went to Hope College in Collins, Michigan, majoring in elementary education with an early childhood endorsement. An early childhood endorsement is an additional certification after an individual has completed specialized coursework and meets specific requirements to teach young children.

“After college, I wanted to explore the West,” said Maggie Anderle. “And be in a program that focused a little bit more on simplicity of living, creation care, prayer and discernment.”

Maggie had other things going on and wanted guidance with her career goal of becoming a teacher.

“I wanted a more holistic approach before I jumped into a career in teaching, which often lasts upwards of 30 years,” she said. “I chose Cody because it’s out west and in a really beautiful location.”

On her own time, she loves to hike and explore the outdoors through various activities, such as cross-country skiing.

Members of the OSG WSC are encouraged to apply their passion and creativity in different placement sites, dedicated to building a just society while honing their professional skills to prepare for their next venture.

“Empathy and understanding, especially for children,” said Maggie. “I think one of the best ways I can serve out that gift is through teaching.”

Maggie knew that she was good with kids. A gift and a blessing, she said.

“I just wanted a year to really dial in on my faith so that I could enter the teaching world super fortified, just full of grace and patience, so that I don’t end up burnt out as a teacher.”

The Corps has given her that chance. For Maggie the goal every day is to make sure that the kids know “that they’re loved, that they matter that they’re worth it and that they’re good,” she said.

Charlie wanted to find out if he truly felt called to work full-time in a church. Before he served as an acolyte in high school, an assistant to the deacon in worship. Then in college, he served as a sacristan. As the Christ Episcopal Church assistant, there was access through the service corps.

“It was a great way to get my foot in the door,” Charlie said. “I worked a lot to help out with setting up the services and then helping put the services on. I felt really at peace there and happy doing those things.”

“Getting to know people that I worked with and just being able to be at the center of worship — from all of that.”

James works at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center in Powell. Before he was a student, studying political science. He’s learned how to relay sensitive topics and artifacts at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center.

He explained that empathy is at the heart of confronting history, especially racial history.

“In a state such as Wyoming, you have to view what happened here in the context of the time, and use modern applications of theory,” James said. “History theory and social theory to what happened to unlock what is led up to these events and how we can prevent something like this from happening again.”

When he’s handling an artifact, like a doll made by an incarceree, behind barbed wire, James has to take a moment to slow down and take in the environment around him.

“This harkens back to my other answer, taking the Absaroka’s or the Beartooth’s or Heart Mountain itself, beautiful land,” he said. “What the earth is telling me when I’m at Heart Mountain, whether that’s working at the front desk, informing visitors of all stripes, all political affiliations, all backgrounds, all nationalities and we tell them the story.”

James described his encounters with visitors. His experience had required him to be firm in his beliefs of what happened and why they tell this story.

“As well as make sure that people have the opportunity to learn and to engage with this history,” he said. “That’s where I see spirituality really at its heart as being a steward of difficult things.”

Discernment

May 2025 Photo by Kamryn Bouyett

“When a fellow leaves On Sacred Ground, we hope they take away a greater respect and reverence for themselves and the people around them, in such a way that they can be healthy leader in the life they choose to live after the Wyoming Service Corps,” said Tiffani Feeley.

Members of the OSG WSC are encouraged to apply their passion and creativity in different placement sites, dedicated to building a just society while honing their professional skills to prepare for their next venture.

“Empathy and understanding, especially for children,” said Maggie. “I think one of the best ways I can serve out that gift is through teaching.”

Maggie knew that she was good with kids. A gift and a blessing, she said.

“I just wanted a year to really dial in on my faith so that I could enter the teaching world super fortified, just full of grace and patience, so that I don’t end up burnt out as a teacher.”

The Corps has given her that chance. For Maggie the goal every day is to make sure that the kids know “that they’re loved, that they matter that they’re worth it and that they’re good,” she said.

Charlie wanted to find out if he truly felt called to work full-time in a church. Before he served as an acolyte in high school, an assistant to the deacon in worship. Then in college, he served as a sacristan. As the Christ Episcopal Church assistant, there was access through the service corps.

“It was a great way to get my foot in the door,” Charlie said. “I worked a lot to help out with setting up the services and then helping put the services on. I felt really at peace there and happy doing those things.”

“Getting to know people that I worked with and just being able to be at the center of worship — from all of that.”

James works at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center in Powell. Before he was a student, studying political science. He’s learned how to relay sensitive topics and artifacts at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center.

He explained that empathy is at the heart of confronting history, especially racial history.

“In a state such as Wyoming, you have to view what happened here in the context of the time, and use modern applications of theory,” James said. “History theory and social theory to what happened to unlock what is led up to these events and how we can prevent something like this from happening again.”

When he’s handling an artifact, like a doll made by an incarceree behind barbed wire, James has to take a moment to slow down and take in the environment around him.

“This harkens back to my other answer, taking the Absaroka’s or the Beartooth’s or Heart Mountain itself, beautiful land,” he said. “What the earth is telling me when I’m at Heart Mountain, whether that’s working at the front desk, informing visitors of all stripes, all political affiliations, all backgrounds, all nationalities and we tell them the story.”

James described his encounters with visitors. His experience had required him to be firm in his beliefs of what happened and why they tell this story.

“As well as make sure that people have the opportunity to learn and to engage with this history,” he said. “That’s where I see spirituality really at its heart as being a steward of difficult things.”

May 2025 Photo by Kamryn Bouyett

“I would like to thank the Cody Community and our local Community Partners,” said Tiffani Feeley “The love we have shared together for these fellows is immeasurable. I am so proud of this town and county for embracing the Wyoming Service Corps. It takes a village!”