My guest today is Casey Allen. Casey is a co-owner of Wheatley Creek Services. Here in Granby we talk about her 100 Days of Coffee, where she meets with locals to talk about their interests, what they do, why they like living here in Grand County. It's a really cool concept and I can't wait to meet with her, to learn more about her during coffee. So sit back and enjoy my interview with Casey. Good morning, casey. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. How are you Good? It's so nice to see you in person. I guess, kind of in Zoom, we should have done this virtually, virtually. Yes, you've come up with this great thing here in the county called 100 Cups of Coffee and I wanted to know how did you get started with this concept?

Yeah, absolutely so. Back in August I went to a business conference for business entrepreneurs in the home service industry and on day one the guest speaker at the end of the day asked the room if anybody had an idea to share with other business owners on how to grow their business to the next level. And one of those ideas was 100 cups of coffee. And the idea is, over the next year, to have 100 cups of coffee. And the idea is, over the next year, to have 100 cups of coffee with 100 different individuals. The individuals could be whoever you choose, but the focus is kind of building community, to learn more about your community and people in your community so you can grow your business but also grow yourself within your community. So I love that idea and I love that challenge. Of course I wanted to initially take it on to grow our business and to grow our reach within our business so that I could more people could learn about us.

But what is kind of developed now I'm on Coffee 23. And what is kind of developed into is learning more about how our community works and functions and the people that are involved in growing our community. So, for example, I met with Sylvania who is the front desk person. She's the person when you go to the Mountain Family Center. She's the person that greets you with a smile when you walk in. Sounds simple enough, right On a resume, but it's so much bigger than that. She has the biggest heart and she's actually growing our Latin community. She's growing an organization to help bring them together, providing the resources so that they can provide or they can find the resources in our county so that they can help their family and grow, but also to help find jobs and events. So she recently partnered with Destination Granby to do the Day of the Dead event last weekend, which was a big event. A lot of people came. So it's neat to see to meet people like that and see how they're growing within our community and helping our community grow as well.

Yeah, she's my, she's our neighbor, cause we live close together. I heard that event was so successful. I was out of town, but she said there was about 250 to 300 people there.

It felt like the stadium was filled on. They did. They brought in dancers and bands. The bands were in the cafeteria portion of the school and then the dancing was in the auditorium and I don't know how long it lasted probably 30 minutes, but the stands are probably. They were pretty full. There was a lot of people there.

Oh, that's so great. Well, I want to back up a second, because you were talking about that. You came up with this concept by being at a meeting. What is your business here in Grand County?

So my husband and I own Wheatley Creek Services and we're a home service company. Primarily we provide home services such as painting, handyman and cleaning, so like residential cleaning. But we have seasonal work too. So like right now, we're doing Christmas lighting and we're hiding our hanging lights at, like, country Ace Hardware, destination Granby, I mean throughout Grand County. But it's that's like the magical part of what we do. When you hang Christmas lights, like you're lighting up people's face, it's amazing. We love it.

But then in the spring we're going to roll into window cleaning, and we'll be cleaning windows in the spring and the fall and then through the winter we'll do remodel work interior. Right, we get our snow and it's like what is it that? How can we bring our our work inside? And then we start working on small residential work. So we'll take on the like smaller projects that the contractors don't want to take on. Right, the home builders are taking on homes where we're going to take on like small kitchen and bathroom remodels.

Oh, that's great. I need to get on your calendar for the window cleaning. I would love it. I attempted to do mine this this summer and, yeah, it's better left to a professional.

It's an art. I will tell you, I'm not the professional window cleaner. Our maintenance side of the crew is, and it is very much an art, Like we've done videos on how you can how you can improve your window cleaning expertise.

It's amazing, that's great. I should look at that, but I still think I want to hire you. So let's go back to a hundred cup of coffee. So you said you've done 23 so far. Yes, and who's been? What kind of stands out? I know you talked about Sylvania, but is there somebody else in the community that you had no idea what they did or point of view there's been?

quite a few. There's been a few that I've known for years, but there's been a lot that I don't know when I'm meeting for the first time. Most recently I met with the former and now current mayor, josh Hardy, of Granby. That was a surprise because I've seen him in the community. We actually grew up together, come to find out, we went to school together and even though we live in the same community and we go to a lot of the same functions, I don't know him per se. So I really felt like in an hour cup of coffee sitting down I not only got to know him but I got to know his roots, that we've grown up in the same.

I moved here in 95. I've been here for 30 years. Josh is born and raised here, we we've raised our family here. So a lot of local roots and it's it's really passionate for me to meet somebody like that that's invested in our local community, because it's more than just. I moved here and I want to join a board and see if I can make change. It's you're really invested in home and making a change for the better for you but also your children and the people that move here in the future. So there's a lot of passion there and you can really feel it when you meet somebody like that.

Another one, completely opposite of a local experience like that, is a lady that doesn't live here. This is her second home and she retreats here. So all of her work is actually in Denver and she comes to Grand County to volunteer at the ski resorts to ski with kids to kind of get a break. But what she does in the city is she is actually the point of contact for a child when parents are going through a divorce. She's the person that is in charge of helping the child and making sure the child is heard.

That's an incredibly important job and I was blown away by her story and you can actually, if you find me on Facebook, cassie Allen, you can kind of read her story and then get a link back to her website, which I think is sarahknowskidscom. But that story was incredible. But that story was incredible and I was so surprised because it was completely different from the community that you think in your head, which is going to be like executive directors or trustees or people that are working like volunteering in our community. It's like where Grand County is an escape to be able to enjoy it in a way that you never thought of. Right, how did you find her? She actually found me and that's where, like this whole hundred cups of coffee kind of comes from.

A lot of people ask me how are you finding your people? How are you selecting your people? So far I haven't. Either. People have come to me and they've asked if they can meet with me, or when I'm meeting with somebody, I'll ask if they have a recommendation on somebody that they would recommend I meet with, and so so far that's been my list and it's a short list. I probably have only like 30 people right now, but because I ask usually if there's a recommendation, then I'll get another recommendation that I can add to the list, and it keeps growing. I don't know what's going to happen past 100, but so far it's been really fun.

I try to keep it at two cups of coffee a week and that that helps me also get my other things in life done, but there have been times where I've met four times a week and it's a lot. But I feel like it's a lot because not because the this is hard. Talking isn't hard, right, an hour coffee, two hour coffee isn't hard. It's taking what I learn and making it a story so that I can share on social media, so that the person feels like they were heard when they talk to me and that I'm not exaggerating their story or telling their story wrong. That's what takes a minute, so I have to like I take a minute afterwards and I and I write the story so that it's very empathetic and but also strong and compassionate about the person that I just met with.

Oh, that's so cool. That's it. I just love that you're doing this. So who is there? Somebody in the county that you're just dying to have a cup of coffee with?

And that's kind of new to my list. I have, like photographers and videographers. I think they tell a different side of the story of Grand County Right A lot of it's people, but also like the view of our county. I really love that story. I think there's a great story there. He doesn't know it, but I'd love to meet with Joseph at Copycat. That's funny, but he is a he's like a really big, important person in our community. Yeah, everybody I talk to is like you should talk to Joseph and I'm like I love that guy. I didn't even know that yet. I need to reach out to him.

Yeah, you do, and you just can cross over to the roastery across the street.

Yeah, absolutely. I really feel like the people that I'm meeting with are like not necessarily movers and shakers, but like influencers, but maybe they don't know they're influencers, you know what I mean? Like they're touching people's hearts and they're growing our community, and maybe they don't even know that. But it's like people are like oh yeah, have you met the guy down at 7-Eleven? He's great, you should go talk to him. And it's amazing that you have these people that are touching hearts and creating community and maybe they don't even know they are.

Right, yeah, that's such a good point and you're figuring this out and finding out like everybody has a story. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and I really strongly believe that the story is what is going to continue to grow us, but also is what keeps us all together. More often than not, because I've been here for a while, I usually know people, but I don't remember that I know them. And then, as soon as I mention my husband's name because he was born and raised here, he's fifth generation, he knows everybody here. So as soon as I mention his name, they're like oh yeah, you're Izzy's wife.

And then it is funny being in a community for so long and there's new people coming in and new things happening. But even some of those old stories are just fantastic.

Absolutely, and speaking of that, that, that is also on my list. I would love to meet with historians. I know, like Donald Daly, I love talking to that guy, I love hearing his stories and he is one of those you can sit down with and you don't even have to talk, he'll just talk and talk and talk and he has the best stories and he's one of those you can sit down with and you don't even have to talk.

He'll just talk and talk and talk and he has the best stories. I would love to sit down and meet with him. I have met Shanna, who's the executive director with Grand County Historic Society, and she has great, great tales and she's a great connector right. She could connect with different people and I think that that's a really important. Next step for us is to help tell that story better. Especially here in Granby is to tell our story of Granby and share it with the community. But I know we have a lot of people that have that story. They have it in their head, they have it at the museum and they have it in their hearts and I think we could do a really good job of helping to tell that story to our community.

Yes, and especially with the 150 year celebration that's going on. Oh yes, absolutely yeah, there's some great history here in the county. Yeah, absolutely Well, casey, keep up the good work. This is just fascinating. And you said people are contacting you. How can they get a hold of you if they want to have a cup of coffee with you?

You can find me on Instagram or Facebook and it's Cassie Allen and my name is spelt a little unusually, but it's K-A-S-YAllen, a-l-l-e-n. And again on Facebook. And I'm on Instagram and I'm super social. Hit me up and send me an instant message and I'm happy to meet and connect.

That sounds great. Well, thank you for your time today. I just love this and I want to get on your list to have a cup of coffee with you. I would love to.

Yes, please, okay, we will schedule something after this call. Sounds good. Thank you so much. Okay, take care.