JACKSON, Wyo. — In May, the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole kicked off a collective project geared toward mental health awareness with Mocktail May. Nonprofits were invited to register as mocktail ambassadors, and received kits including recipes and resources for crafting zero-proof beverages at events.
At the end of 2025, 31 local nonprofit organizations are enrolled in the program and show their support by offering nonalcoholic options at gatherings and events.
The mocktail program was a huge success in its first year. President of the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole Laurie Andrews told Buckrail that she was excited by the way nonprofits embraced offering mocktails at events.
“We were just thrilled by how the nonprofits really embraced [the program] and got really creative,” Andrews said to Buckrail. “It was a really nice way to give events a different option. That was the hope and people took it to a whole other level.”
Andrews also expressed that the Community Foundation hopes to expand the program in the new year to more businesses and catered events beyond the nonprofit world.
According to a Community Health Needs Assessment done in 2024, alcohol misuse was a leading health concern for 37.1% of the population of Teton County, which is 15 percentage points ahead of the county’s second-highest concern: unsafe housing structure.
“It always comes down to our number one issue, and problem, [which] is overconsumption of alcohol,” Teton County Public Health Coordinator Beverly Shore told Buckrail in November. “That impacts anyone’s wellbeing. I mean you can drink in moderation and you can enjoy. But we are a community where — and our peer communities see the same thing — we are this big destination for leisure and vacation and a good time. Put on top of that extreme outdoor recreating and risk taking and ‘overdoing it,’ it’s almost like this perfect storm.”
On top of the Community Foundation offering healthier, nonalcoholic options at nonprofit events, the Teton County Health Department offered its annual program this winter to fight the winter blues, including “Beat the Winter Blues” Bingo. Teton County’s CredibleMind website is also an invaluable resource for free and confidential access to the internet’s largest library of validated, trustworthy mental health and wellbeing resources.
