Howdy, Pardners!
Enriching the Lives of Adults with Disabilities
Park County Area Opportunities Fund & Working for Wyoming Endowment Fund
This story is from our Fall 2025 newsletter. See the full newsletter here!
Libraries offer a space to build community. Knitting groups meet; teen writing clubs learn together. And in the town of Cody, people can visit the Pardners Café in the Park County Library System’s Cody Library for their morning Cup of Joe.
The Pardners Café is not your typical library coffee shop. It is run by the nonprofit Cody Pardners, an organization that enriches lives of adults with disabilities through work, recreation, and community. Pardners work side by side with mentors – making coffee and baked goods, ringing up customers, and washing dishes.
Thanks to a Wyoming Community Foundation (WYCF) grant, 15 Cody Pardners experience fulfilling work that they look forward to each day.
Kathy Liscum founded Cody Pardners to offer meaningful work experiences to adults like her son Colin, who has Down Syndrome.
Cody Pardners, their mentors, and former WYCF Board Chair, Steven Cranfill pose for a photo during a cafe tour.
“We want the Pardners to feel a sense of belonging through the work they do and the community they’re building,” says Kathy. “One of the Pardners told us ‘I don’t know what I’d be doing without the café. I have friends now.’”
Cody Pardners offers friendships and job opportunities to support each Pardner’s role as a vital member of the Cody community.
Because of your generosity, Cody Pardners is changing the lives of adults with disabilities.
Among other jobs, Cody Pardners work with the local tourism office to label travel brochures. The Pardners also make quality craft items to sell in the café. There are hopes to start a garden or small farm for Pardners to work on and sell their produce. And soon they’re looking to expand into Powell’s Park County Branch Library with a mobile coffee cart.
“In the future, I want Cody Pardners to help build a residential community for adults with disabilities to live with their friends and families,” says Kathy. “A fully inclusive place that offers them community and recreational opportunities and the support they need to build fulfilling lives.”
For now, though, they’ll continue to brighten and better their town of Cody.
“The smiles that greeted us during our visit were inspiring,” says WYCF Board Member, Kellie Clausen, who visited the café. “All of us deserve the sense of purpose that comes with productive work.”