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!
