CHEYENNE — Laura Fowler has been giving back to her community her whole life. She began volunteering at the age of 11 at a home for disabled people in Colorado, where her mother worked, and helped raise her two younger siblings.
After a career of working as a music educator in Laramie County School District 1, Fowler now gives back through her work with the new Blue Boost Center.
At Blue Boost, Fowler helps connect community members in need with nonprofits that may be able to provide them support. She said the center has also become a hub where nonprofits come together to collaborate on projects and initiatives that can help provide continued support to the community.
Fowler, executive director of the Blue Foundation and the Blue Boost Center, is supported by one other employee at the center, Audrey Apodaca, who works as the community navigator. Apodaca nominated Fowler as one of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s Unsung Heroes this year because she believes Fowler should be recognized for her work in giving back to the community and has been an inspiration to her for her selflessness.
“I don’t think Laura really knows what she’s done in people’s lives,” Apodaca said. “… Just the impact she’s had on me as a person, but then to sit back and hear other people’s stories, you know, when they were young and going through trauma in their home, and she was their safe space. They went to school when Laura was there for them. They felt safe and at home. That’s huge.”
Apodaca said she can hardly go anywhere in the community with Fowler without someone recognizing her from her work with the Blue Boost Center or from her more than 30 years working as an educator in LCSD1.
While teaching music classes to schoolchildren across the community, Fowler developed a passion for serving children from underserved backgrounds. Driven by this passion, she co-founded the PEEPS program in the school district, which supports LCSD1 families, offering services and classes.
Now, she continues to do similar work through serving community members in need who come to the Blue Boost Center for support.
“Working here is … it’s just a really powerful way to give back to the community. I feel like we are building capacity for other agencies to partner together, as well as helping human beings on their pathway to doing better for themselves,” Fowler said.
Apodaca said that she recognizes the importance of what they both do for the community at the Blue Boost Center, but thinks that Fowler is humble about what she does for Cheyenne and Laramie County.
“She really, truly, is the light and love in our community. I think maybe she notices it, but maybe not as much as somebody else who’s looking in and seeing what’s really going on,” Apodaca said of Fowler.
For Fowler, she said she is just doing what she’s always known, what she said her mother instilled in her from a young age.
“I’m just doing what I do naturally, and I don’t feel like there’s anything, you know, outstanding about me or different than anybody else. I’m just doing the work. This is my life,” she said.
One way Fowler shines the light that Apodaca sees in her is in the way she treats people she meets. Fowler carries small stone hearts with her that she sometimes hands out to people she knows or strangers she meets, whether at the coffee shop or at the grocery store. She said it has been beautiful to see how a small act like this can brighten someone’s day.
“For me, it’s connection. I’m all about people,” Fowler said. “… It makes me feel great, too. Just one little act of kindness changes everything.”
When construction of the new Blue Boost Center was announced in December 2023, Fowler said she envisioned it as a place that invests in a culture of hope.
Today, it is a place where people come for support in things like getting food, rental assistance, housing assistance, insurance and other services to support a whole family. The end goal is to provide sustainable financial independence to those seeking support. The center supports this work by offering free one-on-one financial classes catered to the needs of the community and individuals.
The Blue Boost Center officially began operations in October, and Fowler and Apodaca say they have been busy since the doors opened. Fowler said the greatest need she has recognized so far in the community has been support for housing.
Anyone can sign up for support using the Blue Boost Center’s website, by calling ahead or knocking on their door at their new facility in the West Retail Building at the Blue World Headquarters campus near the intersection of Pershing Boulevard and Converse Avenue.
All services offered at the center are free, and the Blue Boost Center does not generate revenue for the credit union.
Both Apodaca and Fowler recognize the growing need in the community, but hope that, through their work, they are able to support the community and help diminish that growing need.
“My motto is really just ‘Be the light,’” Fowler said. “Be the light so that others can shine as well. Just love on people.”
“Laura just does things from her heart,” Apodaca said. “And I know there’s so many people that would love to just say ‘thank you’ to her.”