Good thing Santa made an early visit to Invesco Field at Mile High. Had he waited until his scheduled Christmas run, he wouldn’t have had room in his sleigh for anything but the gifts for Angel Gutierrez, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver 2005 Colorado Youth of the Year. Along with the title, she received a boatload of scholarship money.
A nine-year member of the club’s J. Churchill Owen branch, Gutierrez traveled a long and difficult road to get where she is today. She had to quit school when she was 16 to become the sole caretaker for her two younger brothers. When they were able to move back in with their mother, Gutierrez was able to finish high school and go on to complete the medical assistant program at Concord Career Institute, earning grades good enough to secure a full-ride scholarship to Adams State College.
As Youth of the Year, she receives the J. Reid Lichtenfels Memorial Scholarship plus a $2,500 grant from Allstate Insurance and a $1,000 scholarship from the Reader’s Digest Foundation.
“It is special to be able to honor young people like Angel,” observed Boys & Girls Clubs president John Arigoni. “Thanks to the support of our outstanding partners and sponsors, the path to success is a little bit easier for them.”
In addition to honoring Gutierrez, the club presented its Champion of Youth Award to longtime business leader Dick Deane, whose support of the organization began in 1967. He served as president of the board from 1978 to 1980 and again from 1992 to 1993 and played a major role in shaping the clubs for the next 40 years.
BreOnna Tindall, a member of Boettcher branch, was named Junior Youth of the Year.
Looking ahead
Local comics Darryl Collier, Steve Gastineau and Steve “Mudflap” McGrew are among those providing the yuks for Hope for the Holidays, a Children’s Hospital fundraiser that begins with a 5:30 p.m. silent auction at Comedy Works. The show starts at 7 and tickets are $15 at the door … The University Club, 1673 Sherman St., is the setting for a pair of Madrigal Dinners that will raise money for Griffith Centers for Children. They’re slated for Tuesday and Wednesday with tickets going for $100 and $125. The Opera Colorado Madrigal Singers will entertain and a traditional roast beef-and-Yorkshire pudding supper will be served. Call Lori Siegling, 303-237-6865, ext. 16 … State Regent Donna Roberts Bottini is to be the guest of honor Tuesday when the Denver and Colorado chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution meet for an 11 a.m. lunch at the Denver Country Club.
Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jmdpost@aol.com.
