Tailgate parties and sporting events are made for each other, just like Save Our Youth is made for inner-city adolescents whose lives can soar when an adult mentor helps guide them through the challenges thrown at them.
Game Day! Tailgate Gala was no ordinary parking-lot fete; the dinner and auction was held in the Donald R. Seawell Grand Ballroom, which had been festooned with team memorabilia and various school colors.
The 450 guests wore college sweatshirts, letter sweaters, baseball caps and team jerseys for this fundraiser coordinated by Carole McVaney and Vivian Russell. Even the Epicurean Catering waitstaff got into the act, donning black-and-white striped referee’s shirts for the occasion.
Charles (CJ) Johnson, who quarterbacked the University of Colorado Buffaloes from 1987 to 1990 and who now serves as CU’s assistant athletic director, was master of ceremonies and introduced coaches Sonny Lubick (Colorado State University), Dan Hawkins (CU) and Troy Calhoun (Air Force Academy) who were the speakers for a program titled “Coaches Are Mentors, Mentors Are Coaches.”
“The men in particular loved the benefit,” says committee member and Save Our Youth board member Leslie Ferguson, “mostly because it was all about sports and they didn’t have to wear a tie.”
The event netted $154,058 for SOY-sponsored mentoring programs.
A cool idea
Anyone who likes to eat dessert first will be interested in what is actually a pretty cool idea for getting lots of donations for the auction being held at Salt on the Rim, a June 2 margarita party put on by the Kempe Children’s Foundation Alliance.
From 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, donors are invited to pull into the circular driveway of the McNicholas estate in Cherry Hills Village where in one fell swoop, volunteers will collect the auction items and offer an ice cream cone as a reward. “Drop off your gift, pick up your cone and lickity-split be on your way,” says auction guru Mary McNicholas.
Salt on the Rim is being chaired by Lani Hood and Virginia Bray; the McNicholas home is at 4150 S. University Blvd.
Also on Saturday
Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com. She also contributes at denverpostbloghouse.com/Davidson.
