Community
Development

Last Friday, October 26th we hosted a very special Broncos Reading Corner opening at the Anchor Center for Blind Children’s new facility.  When we first began discussions about putting a Broncos Reading Corner at the Center, we knew it would be special and unique, but we had no idea just how wonderful, moving our experience would be.  Spending the afternoon with Cristina, Uriah, Drew, Alex, Aidan, Diego, Cici, Jesus, David, Elie, Haley, Alma, Miranda, Nicholas, Daniel, Arturo and Skyla, their families and the Anchor Center staff was something we will not forget.  

At each of our Reading Corner openings, the highlight is an interactive reading for the kids with Broncos Ring of Fame member Billy Thompson and Miles (the Broncos mascot), in which Miles acts out the adventures in the book!  In preparation for our visit at the Anchor Center, we knew we needed come up with a way for visually impaired children to enjoy this experience and to introduce them to Miles!  Working in conjunction with staff members at the Anchor Center, we came up with several ideas — we began by having Miles come in shaking pom pons (an auditory cue for the children) and gave them the opportunity to come up and touch Miles to give them a sense of him.  One of the children, remarked…he’s big, furry and wearing football pants!

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In 2006, the Broncos Wives gave a portion of the monies raised from their annual Broncos Wives Drive to Mayor Hickenlooper’s 10-year initative to end homelessness in Denver – Denver’s Road Home.  The Broncos Wives wanted to learn more about Denver’s Road Home and how they could help, this lead them to Project Homeless Connect which was held at INVESCO Field at Mile High last Friday, October 19, 2007. 
 
Project Homeless Connect is a partnership event betweeen Denver’s Road Home and Mile High United Way.  The event at INVESCO Field was Denver’s fifth Project Homeless Connect since the program’s inception in 2005.  Project Homeless Connect is a one-day event connecting homeless individuals and families to needed services — including health care, employment, legal assistance, permanent housing food, clothing, Social Security and food-stamp benefits and other community-wide resources — in one location to alleviate the burden of searching for services on their own.

More than 800 students, alumni, faculty and staff from Regis University along with Young Professionals of Denver (YPOD) worked one-on-one with homeless individuals, helping them prioritize their needs and escorting them to services that fit their needs.  The Broncos Wives volunteered in the child care area, and local employers were on site with job interviews. 

“Project Homeless Connect is a remarkable event that connects people with the services they need to get off the streets and into lives of stability and self sufficiency,” said Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. “The team at INVESCO Field at Mile High made us feel especially welcome by hosting us on the Club Level. We are grateful to them, the Broncos Wives and Regis University for their partnership and commitment to serving the homeless — and many other populations — in our community.”

Jamie VanLeeuwen, Project Manager for Denver’s Road Home reported “as our last guest walked out of the stadium last Friday, we served 820 men, women and children who are homeless. Of those,  565 received medical services, 284 received flu shots, 265 received housing referrals and services, 409 received employment services, 81 left with resumes, 543 received access to benefits, 240 accessed legal services, and 70 children attended the child care area…a very extraordinary day for Project Homeless Connect!” 

The Broncos Wives and INVESCO Field at Mile High would like to thank Denver’s Road Home, Mile High United Way, Regis University Young Professionals of Denver, Epicurean Catering, Coca Cola, Shamrock Foods, Xerox, Corporate Express, and Halsell Brokerage & Distributing for being CHAMPIONS IN THE COMMUNITY and making Project Homeless Connect 5 a wonderful event!

Tuesday, Oct. 16 marked our annual NFL Hometown Huddle program in partnership with Mile High United Way.  This year’s joint service project focused on kids’ fitness as part of the NFL Play :60 campaign, encouraging children to get at least 60 minutes of exercise in per day.

Tuesday was a perfect day for this.  The skies were blue, the sun was shining and about 120 kids from Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver were raring to go as the Broncos and United Way introduced them to the fundamentals of football.

Players Brian Clark, Chris Myers, Domonique Foxworth and Brandon Marshall joined Ring of Fame Member Billy Thompson in hosting five different stations of the Gatorade Junior Training Camp, with each running a station that presented a different football skill for the kids to practice while getting exercise at the same time.

Brandon Marshall had his kids doing the infamous touchdown dance of their choosing after completing his drills.  Will we see any of these dance renditions from Brandon on Sunday?  He saw a lot of good material from which to choose.

The day was capped off by decadent ice cream treats from Cold Stone for all who participated.  That may not exactly support the primary health and fitness message for the day, but it sure brought smiles to the kids’ faces and supported the notion that life is all about balance.

The Broncos Wives gathered this past Sunday prior to the Broncos vs. Chargers game in an effort to tackle hunger and homelessness in Denver for their annual Broncos Wives Drive.  This year marked the 26th year of this great tradition within Broncos Country!  With Annabel Bowlen and Peggy Shanahan leading the charge alongside many players, coaches and staff member wives collecting cash donations at all of the gates prior to the game.  Many of wives even came with their children to help collect donations and to meet the Broncos Fans.

The Broncos Wives would like to thank ALL of the Broncos Fans that contributed helping them raise nearly $40,000 in cash donations and over 1600 pounds of food donations in their effort to support hunger and homelessness initiatives in Denver.

Cash donations are given to Denver Broncos Charities and distributed in the form of grants to Denver area non-profit organizations that help the hungry and homeless.  The non-perishable food donations are given to COMPA Food Bank Ministry and distributed to area food pantries.

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Unbelievable to think that today is the 10th Annual Denver Broncos Community Blood Drive with Bonfils Center.  As of about 2:30, we have collected over 1,000 units of blood — each of them with the potential to save up to three lives in need.  What a great day!!!!

Our team once again has represented our organization with such class and professionalism — Louis Green, our resident early riser, was here at 7 a.m. welcoming the morning’s very first life-saving donors.  Shortly thereafter, donors saw the likes of Nick Ferguson, Brian Clark, Domenik Hixon, Nate Webster, Elvis Dumervil, Steve Cargile, Andre Hall, Antwon Burton, Mike Leach (who was pulling double duty today as he then went on to his monthly visit to the pediatric ward at Presbyterian/St. Luke’s . . .above and beyond) just to name a few.

Nate Jackson, Tony Scheffler, Chris Kuper and  Chris Meyers joined some of their teammates in the afternoon.  Nate, by the way, is going to help us with a special mural, the “All Ready” wall, at the new Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center by giving permission to have some of his wonderfully written tributes to Darrent scripted into the mural .  Thank you, Nate.

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