Community
Development

Good morning, Broncos Country,

Our apologies to the reader who questioned whether or not we ever post anything new on our community page.  We do.

Summer has been all about our youth football commitment.  Thus far, we have had NFL Junior Player Development programs in Aurora (kudos to Billy Richardson who coordinated our effort at Hinkley High School) and in Denver (thanks to Jeff McDonald of Denver PAL who coordinated our 2 sites in Denver at East and Lincoln High School respectively).  Next week, John Ayers will run our JPD site in Broomfield. 

JPD is our joint program with the NFL geared toward teaching the fundamentals of football to the junior high school age group.  It has been extremely well received, especially in light of the fact that fewer and fewer school districts are offering junior high school football.

Wayne Voorhees has been tremendous in running our JPD feeder system:  High School Player Development.  Wayne has run our HSPD camps for several years and now selects 12 kids from the camp each year to represent the Broncos at the NFL 7-on-7 High School tournament, which is held in New Orleans this year at the end of the week.  Our own Ring of Fame member Billy Thompson has been working with this year’s team as well and will accomany Wayne and the guys down to New Orleans as an honorary coach.

I want to take a moment and reflect back on our JPD camp in Aurora mentioned earlier in the blog.  Out of that camp came an unbelievable story of courage and perseverance.  I had the privilege to meet a young man, Greg, who competed hard throughout the week and aspires to be a middle linebacker for the AYL league this fall.  Greg is a determined and special young man and I am awed by the fact that Greg is doing all of this with just one arm after losing one in a tragic accident 2 years ago involving a pit bull.  Greg, under the guidance of JPD coordinator Billy Richardson and his wonderful mother Renee, visited our group at Dove Valley last week and met with our equipment ace, Chris Valenti.  Chris graciously agreed to trouble shoot with Greg what adjustments could be made to his uniform to achieve his dreams of competing this fall at middle linebacker and it looks very promising.  I want to thank Chris for this very special showing of humanitarianism–we need more Chris’s in the world.  I also want to tell Greg that all of us in Broncos country will be rooting him on at middle linebacker this fall . . . . . . . . . .

Before signing off, I want to make mention of our upcoming Annual Broncos Bowl on Saturday, August 9th–our summer’s culmination to a tremendous youth football journey.  We are excited to have youth teams competing this year from across the state. 

Until next time, have a great month in Broncos Country.

Hello Broncos Country,

 Our apologies for not updating our blog recently.  We do have some exciting things to share!  The month of May was highlighted by the Grand Opening of the Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center, which as you all know, has been in the works for over a year.  The kids are absolutely in love with their new center, and it is wonderful to see it going to such good use so quickly.  A special thank you to the hard working staff we collaborate with at the Broncos Boys & Girls Club to make all these new visions reality:  Rich Barrows and Company (Guy, Meca, Dave, Amber, Karly, Julio . . .all of you are the best!!)

This past Monday was highlighted by the annual Mike Shanahan Golf Classic in partnership with the Phil Long Community Fund.  Many players hit the links with community members in the spirit of charity.  The tournament proceeds alternate between Denver and Colorado Springs (where Phil Long is headquartered) projects and this year’s proceeds will go to support a Phil Long designated project:  John Venezia Park.

Special thanks to  Kelly Woodward in our Community Development office who spearheaded the entire Shanahan Golf Classic.  Kudos!!

Have a great weekend in Broncos Country!!

Hi Broncos Country!

We are getting so excited!  The grand opening of the new Teen Center is just a month away!  Things are really progressing now…see all the updated pictures of the Teen Center below!

Also just around the corner is the 2008 Boys and Girls Club Youth of the Year Gala!  We look forward to this event each year and especially love all of the kids’ performances throughout the evening.  Our President and CEO Pat Bowlen along with the Denver Broncos is receiving the Champion of Youth Award this year.  It is an incredible honor and there will be many people from the Broncos organization on hand that night in support of the event including Domonique Foxworth, Champ Bailey, Boss Bailey and Hamza Abdullah!  We’ll chat again soon!

Hello Broncos Country,

It is with heavy heart that I write to you this week. Billy Thompson and I went to the funeral service Friday of a dear member of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver family — Placido “Plazy” De Santiago.

I first met “Plazy” several years ago when he joined our wonderful friend Hector Batres (the first athletic director at the Broncos Boys and Girls Club) as referees for our Annual Broncos Bowl youth football jubilee. Plazy was just terrific with the kids and it was immediately apparent how much he contributed to the lives of young people as the athletic director at the Owen Boys and Girls Club — the Club where he grew up.

What struck me the most at “Plazy’s” funeral service was how this wonderful man, in 28 short years of life, accomplished more good and touched more hearts than most people could ever hope for during their lives.

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Hello Broncos Country.

More exciting progress at the future Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center!  As you can see from the photos, the main registration area connecting the Broncos Boys and Girls Club to the DWMTC is framed in and the registration desk is taking shape.  With all this construction, you’d think the Club’s attendance and activity level would be low but it has been quite the opposite.

The Club has still be operating at capacity most days and just this past Wednesday night, the Club hosted its Youth of the Year dinner that honors the Youth of the Year winners and encourages the kids to take on speaking roles in the formal program.  Dinner — including a special VIP room with waiter service — is served to all of the members, staff and volunteers in attendance including our very own Billy Thompson and Domonique Foxworth.

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Happy Friday, Broncos Country.

We have learned some exciting news this week. Oprah Winfrey’s new show, The Big Give, will air a segment Sunday evening on the Denver Broncos Boys and Girls Club in Montbello.

Last year, Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler (along with teammate Tony Scheffler and former Broncos quarterback Preston Parsons) was contacted by one of The Big Give contestants who was challenged to spend some serious money in our community for worthy causes and people in need. Cutler took on the challenge and rallied his teammates to join him on a special delivery run to the Broncos Boys and Girls Club.

What was that special delivery about? Who actually benefited? Tune into The Big Give Sunday evening to find out. The segment will air on ABC at 8 p.m. MDT.

Have a great weekend in Broncos Country.

 Hi Broncos Country.

We thought we’d pass along some more photos of the construction progress underway at the future Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center.  Unfortunately we had a few construction setbacks that will push the grand opening back to May 29, 2008.  Although the delay isn’t ideal, we are now more than ever focused on making sure when the Teen Center does open, it is just as fabulous and wonderful as the teens had imagined it would be.  We look forward to continuing to post photos and more updates as we have them throughout the spring!  We’ll chat again soon!

As I was returning from lunch today I was pleasantly surprised to find Domonique Foxworth (our 2007 Denver Broncos Man of the Year) at our office–just stopping by to say hi.  Domonique has been such a wonderful player ambassador for our department and the Broncos Boys and Girls Club.  It is always great to see him and get a chance to catch up–especially in the off season.  Otherwise, we have to be satisfied reading his entertaining blog just like everyone else to find out what he is up to.

 We chatted for a good while about the team, the teens at the Club and went over some designs from a local company–Performance Graphics–that will be painting a special mural featuring Darrent Williams at the new Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center.  Our entire department, along with Domonique and fellow teammate Nate Jackson have been working with the teens and Rick of Performance Graphics to come up with a very inspiring piece of art.

So Domonique and I chatted a bit as we looked everything over, he ran a couple of things by Champ over the phone (Champ was in Hawaii preparing for the Pro Bowl) and incorporated Nate’s imput through a few emails and now are all set to move forward with the mural.

What an exciting and productive Thursday afternoon!  Anyways, Domonique says hi to Broncos Country…looking forward to updating you again soon!

This week, Kelly Woodward and I had the opportunity to be part of the judging committee for the annual Youth of the Year program for Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver.  I was part of the team that met with the young people at the Wilfley Branch and Kelly was part of the Boettcher Branch team.

This experience is always an inspiring one as it enables us to come face to face with some of the community’s most amazing young people and all that they are doing to make our world a better place.  It was a difficult decision, as it always is, to select the junior and the senior youth of the year winners respectively. 

Nash Hahn (junior winner) and Shonnetta Henry (senior winner) were our recipients at Wilfley, which is located at I-70 and Pecos.

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Hi Broncos Country!

How cool is this!?  We have some pictures of the construction site at the future Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center that we thought you all would enjoy.  We’ll keep posting them throughout the construction process so you all can view the project’s progress.  Definitely let us know if you have any specific questions about what is what in these photos…we’ll do our best to describe what you are looking at.  The exciting part is by mid-April, the DWMTC will be completed and already packed full of teens!