Community
Development

Hi Broncos Country!

Last week was busy around here…the first full week of training camp was well underway but we also had a lot going on in the community too!

On Tuesday, Broncos Wives: Amber Bailey, Julie Leach, Eyamide Garrett (Cecil Sapp’s fiance), Richelle Scheffler, Lana Stokley, Kallie Mustard and Kristyn Bly all gathered at the Denver Rescue Mission’s The Crossing facility to chaparone a trip for 20 youngsters residing at The Crossing to the Museum of Nature and Science and IMAX Theatre! The group departed by bus and arrived just in time to see the IMAX Film: Coral Reefs.

Following the film, the group all gathered in the museum’s cafeteria for some fun boxed lunches and a surprise visit from Miles who brought along Cold Stone ice cream for everyone! After lunch the group dispersed in small groups throughout the museum to take in all of the exhibits. What great day it was for the children of The Crossing and from the feedback of the Broncos Wives it sounded like they had just as much fun!

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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!

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!

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!

With the holidays upon us and the New Year just around the corner, more Broncos are helping those less fortunate celebrate the season.

John and Linda Lynch hosted the 11th Annual John Lynch Foundation Christmas Party for Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver last night.  The party for 35 children included a surprise visit from Santa to deliver gifts courtesy of Wal-Mart, a holiday dinner and attendance at the musical White Christmas courtesy of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.  The program originated in Tampa, Florida and each year participating Boys and Girls Clubs directors nominate children from each club to attend.  The children’s wish lists were secretly collected and then granted by the John Lynch Foundation and Wal-Mart.  The Lynch Foundation was established in 2000 and is committed to developing leaders by encouraging dreams, providing programs that assist and motivate and recognizing achievement and excellence.

In a similar holiday spirit, Daniel Graham hosted 30 children from Young Life and Denver Kids at the Target store in Glendale last night as well.  Graham and several teammates helped the kids spend a gift card provided by Target for their families and themselves on holiday gifts.   Kids also had the opportunity to have photos taken with each of the players attending.  What a fun way to spend the holidays!

On Tuesday, Nov. 20th, Dre’ Bly joined by teammates Rod Smith and Ian Gold wanted to ensure that the families of Place Middle School (The Dre’ Bly Foundation has adopted Place for the year) had plenty to be thankful for.  Keeping up with a tradition he began in Detroit, Dre’ worked with King Soopers to provide a turkey and holiday meal items for 165 families.  Students and their families arrived at the school Tuesday evening and were thrilled to be greeted by Bly, Smith and Gold who signed autographs as they helped hand out goodies.

The neat thing about this program and Dre’ is that he started working on in back in August.  Dre’ contacted our community development department during the summer and begand figuring out how he could continue his community work here in Denver.  He hired a director for his foundation and got right to work selecting a middle school (because as he said they are often overlooked becuase they are at an in-between age) that served students that may need a little extra help from time to time.  Dre’s Foundation set up a metoring/tutoring program and he visists regularly.  He bought 25 game tickets for each Broncos home game to reward kids doing well in their mentoring/tutoring programs.  When you consider how busy these guys are (Dre’ has four children of his own!) and the weekly demands put upon them with a big game looming each Sunday…it is special to see a guy but a lot of heart, thought and planning into a great event that helped an entire community.

 The event on Tuesday was definitely a success but the bigger impact Dre’ has made on these kids–letting them know that he is there to support and encourage them–that is something the students and their families will remember and benefit from long after Tuesday.  Isn’t that what the holiday season is there to remind us of each and every year?  Lending a hand to help one another can continue beyond November and December..thanks for being such a wonderful example of that Dre’!

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 Tuesday, I headed out to Hinkley High School in Aurora to meet WR Brandon Marshall and S Hamza Abdullah who were coming to speak to the youth football players attending the NFL’s Junior Player Development Camp. The 150 youth football players, ages 12-14 and representing schools all over East Denver, were attending the camp for free. The camp provides all of the kids’ equipment and is coached by local volunteer coaches who receive special NFL training prior to the camp.

As I drove east towards the school from INVESCO Field at Mile High, the weather grew worse. The clouds had darkened and sure enough, as soon as I pulled up to the school–the downpour came. Brandon, Hamza and I made a mad dash to the football stadium and tried to stay dry under the shelter of the bleachers. The plan had been to have Brandon and Hamza participate in the camp by assisting with various drills. Obviously, we were going to need a new plan — I just hoped that Brandon and Hamza would be up for sticking it out regardless of the nasty weather.

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Last week we had our quarterly Denver Broncos Youth Football Task Force meeting. Comprised of youth football league representatives from around the metro Denver area gather with the Broncos’ community development and marketing departments to discuss current youth football issues and initiatives. It was immediately clear from our meeting’s agenda that we have a busy summer of youth football upon us.

We just wrapped up the NFL High School Player Development Camp at Legacy High School where WR Domenik Hixon and WR Brian Clark stopped by to lend their expertise. A luck group of 12 youngsters (representing Montbello, Lincoln and Legacy High Schools) from this camp were selected to travel to the NFL-sponsored 7-on-7 football tournament in Houston, Texas in early July. Good luck to our Broncos team!!

In addition, we have a NFL Junior Player Development Camp this week at Hinkley High School in Aurora (WR Brandon Marshall and S Hamza Abdullah are planning on visiting) and two the following week at both East and Lincoln High Schools in Denver. We wrap up our NFL JPD camps in July with a camp in Broomfield.

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