Community
Development

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!

Hi Broncos Country.

A couple of quick updates for everyone that we were excited to share.

First and foremost…construction is underway for the Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center adjacent to the Denver Broncos Boys and Girls Club in Montbello and we couldn’t be more thrilled.  We were just out at the Club on Monday to meet with local artist Jenny West, our own Nate Jackson, Teen Center Director Guy Johnson and Broncos Boys and Girls Club Director Rich Barrows to scope out a wall and brainstorm about a mural honoring Darrent for the Teen Center.  You could absolutely feel the buzz from the kids as they have seen construction begin and we have recently confirmed a grand opening date:  April 22, 2008!  It is amazing to see the dream of these teens finally being realized and know we are just months away from a completed teen center–time to get busy making plans for that big celebration! 

Our next update is not nearly as exciting but nevertheless a symbolic step for our Community Development Department.  We spent most of Monday (and numerous days prior pre-packing and sorting) moving into a beautiful new office space at INVESCO Field at Mile High.  Just down the hall from our previous office, the new one allows us all to be together as we were previous split up between two separate spaces.  Amidst boxes, dust and a lot of discovering forgotten files we have settled into our new space feeling rejuvenated and looking forward to transferring all of that new energy into our community efforts in 2008.

Hope the New Year has been great so far for all of you as well…we’ll chat again soon!

Upon opening my e-mail this morning, I was very excited to see the construction bids come in for the Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center (thank you Will Bussard of OZ Architecture for your hand in this) and to know that as of January 9th, 2008, we will have our construction partner in place and the work will begin . . . . bring in the New Year.

As you all know from past blogs, this project means so much to all of us in the organization and to the Williams’ family and we certainly know it will have an amazingly positive impact on the young people who will be members of the Center.  Particulary in the week leading up to the anniversary of Darrent’s death, it is extremely important for us to have this positive outlet to focus on and to know that something truly positive will happen in our community from a place of tragedy.

Ed Dwight, the sculptor who is working on the bronze of Darrent to be displayed outside the Teen Center entrance, has started the first casting and some of our kids from the Broncos Boys and Girls Club have been over to his studio to learn about the process.  This is also very exciting.

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Last night at Dick’s Sporting Goods at Park Meadows, the Denver Broncos formally kicked off the holiday season.  Dick’s was very gracious to give $100 gift cards to each of 40 children from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver and they enjoyed a festive dinner and shopping spree with Miles and four members of the team:  Steve Cargile, Domonique Foxworth, Chad Mustard and Brandon Stokley.

What really warmed my heart was the special spirit of the kids.  They were really neat, wonderful young people who were so very appreciative of the evening and the opportunity.  One young man, Brandon, from the Denver Broncos Boys and Girls Club is a Hurricane Katrina evacuee who fled to Houston and ultimately ended up in Denver.  He was so gracious and personable and I marvelled at the thought of what he has gone through and how he is persevering…

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We are so happy to share with you that the Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center is officially underway.  Work on prepping the interior of the building for the renovations began over the past week.  Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver has started searching for a Center director.  Ed Dwight, the world-renowned artist who is creating the life-size bronze of Darrent that will be in the courtyard of the Center, has also had his initial meeting with our Teen Center members who will be helping him with the sculpture. 

We are thrilled to be at this point and continue to raise the funds for completion. . . .if all goes according to planned, we should have the doors open in March of 2008.  It really does feel good to be able to give you this update.

As I have mentioned before, phase 2 of our dream to honor Darrent’s legacy is to build a gymnasium as part of the Teen Center.  NFL Charities has agreed to grant to this project under their new Fitness Zone campaign.  Last week, we received a start-up grant from them for $55,000 with the promise for the same in 2008.  We are definitely on our way with the gym as well.

On a different note, our department had a wonderful experience this year facilitating our annual Walter Payton Man of the Year selection process.  We had four great candidates from our team whom we put before a highly respected selection committee comprised of community and business leaders.  These guys were evaluated on their on- and off-field leadership and community involvement.  We will announce their nominations and the winner later this month.  I think we were all very proud of the community work these guys did and very honored to put them before the selection committee…stay tuned for the winner. 

Until next time, have a great week in Broncos Country!

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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Three a.m. came very early this morning and I have a brand new appreciation for the folks who broadcast live radio and live television during the early morning rush hour.

Upon arriving at our Denver Broncos Boys and Girls Club in Montbello 45 minutes later, I was greeted by Rich Barrows, our club director who is a rock star and had spent endless hours overnight making our club absolutely pristine in preparation for our live radio remote today with partner News Radio 850 KOA benefitting the Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center legacy project.

At 4:45 a.m., in walks Guy Johnson, a regular Club member and future member of the Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center. Guy has become friends with Rod Smith over the past couple of years and his mentor is clearly rubbing off as Guy can be seen often in the end zone. Might I say that I was very touched that Guy was ready to go and support Darrent’s legacy bright and early this morning.

Shortly after, at 5:20 a.m., in walks Broncos linebacker Louis Green and he could not have been more gracious and more focused on our goal at hand — to raise awareness for the Teen Center and thank our community fans. Thank you, Louis.

Once the hour of 6 a.m. rolled around, the Club was just in a frenzy with wonderful community members, kids and so many of our Broncos players on hand that it appeared as though the entire roster came out in honor of Darrent Williams.

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Wow!  What a game on Sunday!!  It is so exciting to come away from such a close, road game with a win and what a great way to start out the season!  Go Broncos!

Now that the regular season is officially underway, we have some more exciting news to share.  Next Tuesday, September 18th from 5am-9am KOA will be broadcasting their morning radio show live from the future site of the Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center (just adjacent to the Denver Broncos Boys and Girls Club) in Montbello as a kickoff event for the new Teen Center.

We will be inviting the community to have stop by and have breakfast with us, the KOA crew and a handful of Broncos players who will be on-air all morning long!  Broncos players and Ring of Fame Member Billy Thompson will be on hand to talk about the future Teen Center and discuss the positive impact it will have on the youth of the Montbello community.  Teen members from the Club will be featured and will provide their hopes and goals for their new Teen Center.  Community members interested in supporting the project can visit:

www.positiveplacedenver.org/ (Click on the DONATE tab)

The Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center is the long-lasting and impactful way the Denver Broncos have chosen to memorialize Darrent’s legacy and provide positive alternatives to young people.  The Teen Center will be open in early 2008 and host teenage members of the Denver Broncos Boys and Girls Club providing them with a space to learn, socialize and call their own while addressing the over-crowding issues currently plaguing the existing Club.

Stay tuned to DenverBroncos.com and KOA for more information–we look forward to seeing or hearing from you all next Tuesday!

Last Friday was one of the more unique and special experiences our office has had as community collaboration goes. 

As has been introduced in past blogs, one of our special tributes in the works to honor the memory of Darrent Williams is a life-size bronze sculpture that will be in the courtyard entrance to our new Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center adjacent to the Denver Broncos Boys and Girls Club in Montbello.  This project has brought us in contact with a wonderful man who lives here locally but is world renowned for his art—Ed Dwight.

Ed’s first career was that of an astronaut during the Kennedy Administration, but sculpture has always been his true passion.  His works are all over the world, including the Hank Aaron sculpture in Atlanta, Miles Davis in the Caribbean, Frederick Douglass in Virginia and Martin Luther King right here in City Park.  Ed will now ad the sculpture of Darrent Williams to his works and we are thrilled to work with such a talent on this very meaningful legacy project for the Broncos. 

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Yesterday was the 13th Annual Mike Shanahan Golf Classic at the beautiful Omni Interlocken Golf Course in Broomfield. Over 50 players and 15 coaches were in attendance to enjoy a round of golf and support a great cause very close to the heart of our team. All of the proceeds from this year’s tournament will be utilized as a start-up grant for the Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center — a much needed expansion of the Denver Broncos Boys and Girls Club.

The Boys and Girls Club teens (including TiTi previously mentioned in an earlier blog by Cindy) that initiated the conversations to build the teen center and have remained integrally involved in the process greeted golfers at the tournament proudly wearing “Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center” t-shirts with the number “27″ displayed on the backs.

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