Arapahoe County – Students at Arapahoe High School have rounded up hundreds of toys for American Indian children in recent months as part of a tradition of giving at the school.
Dan Cooper, a 16-year-old junior, donated a couple of Star Wars light sabres, but he found himself carrying boxes of Barbies to be delivered to the Denver Indian Health and Family Services center.
“This is giving unfortunate kids a chance to have a good Christmas or holiday,” Cooper said.
The Arapahoe Warriors have a unique tradition involving cultural exchange and goodwill with American Indians since the school established relations more than a decade ago with an Arapaho tribe.
Whereas some professional and school sports teams are admonished for having Indian logos, Arapahoe’s mascot is endorsed by some Arapaho.
The logo for the Arapahoe Warriors, the head and shoulders of an American Indian, was even drawn by a tribal member.
In addition to the toy drive, Arapahoe students have in past years cooked Christmas meals for a local Indian center’s holiday dinner.
“This is really unbelievable, it really is,” said Nic Brokenleg, interim executive director of the Denver Indian Health and Family Services center, which serves about 3,000 families from low-income backgrounds. “This has been the only organization that has done this for us. We’re going to have every family that receives a toy write a thank you note for this school.”
The toy drive was started five years ago by two attendance clerks, who decided office staffers should buy presents for others instead of themselves.
The 2,100-student school also donates toys to battered-women shelters and “adopts” a different inner-city elementary school, which they provide with toys.
The students didn’t stop there. Earlier this month, they rounded up $800 for a custodian from Bosnia whose wife delivered twins prematurely.
“This school community has been just so generous over the years,” said Linda Ayres, who along with colleague Karen Lacy started the toy drive. “And it enhances an already wonderful relationship we have with the American Indians.”
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-954-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com.
