Once a champion, always a champion – at least as far as former defensive back Steve Foley is concerned.
After 11 seasons with the Denver Broncos, Foley established successful careers as a land developer and community volunteer. And it is his efforts on behalf of the Denver Street School and the National Association of Street Schools that have earned him the Denver Broncos Alumni Association Distinguished Community Service Award for 2006.
The honor was bestowed at the DBAA’s annual banquet held at the Omni Interlocken Resort in Broomfield.
According to president Odell Barry: “Steve’s belief in young people, and the potential we each have for making this world a better place, is truly inspiring.” Tom Tillapaugh, who founded Denver Street School 21 years ago, added: “Steve’s involvement, which led to participation by other members of the DBAA Alumni Association, lends great credibility to the whole street school movement.”
Denver Street School, serving high school dropouts and students that have been expelled from public schools, is the national model for some 45 similar institutions across the nation. It has been written up in Time and Newsweek magazines and has received commendations from first lady Laura Bush, Oprah Winfrey, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others.
Other good stuff
The Jewish Community Center’s annual dinner, which honored Robyn Loup, had a record-breaking crowd of 630 and raised $585,000. Sarah and Neil Goldblatt, Connie and Gary Levine and April and Doug Pluss chaired the event held at the Donald R. Seawell Grand Ballroom; JCC board member Kathy Neustadt Hankin produced the tribute video.
Colorado Ballet is ending its 2005-06 season with a $114,000 surplus which, says executive director Lisa Snider, “more than reverses the $545,000 deficit of the previous year.”
The City Club of Denver has presented its 2006 James Grafton Rogers Award to Noel and Tammy Cunningham for their devotion to philanthropic causes here and around the world. In addition to making their restaurant, Strings, available to local nonprofits, Noel and Tammy established the Cunningham Foundation in 2003 to help impoverished Ethiopians help themselves. Toward this end, they work with Project Mercy to bring improved sanitation, self-sufficiency, education and health care to those living in rural Yeteban, Ethiopia. One of the ways they raise money is by championing the HOPE Bracelet Project in which volunteers train Ethiopian workers to make limited edition bracelets for sale in the United States.
Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com.
