One of the best friends an abused or neglected child can have, Jo Blum, is stepping down as executive director of Families First.
A cancer survivor who has undergone four successful surgeries in as many years, Blum has just been told that another lesion has appeared on one of her lungs. Her doctors are in the process of determining what her next course of treatment will be.
“It is very small,” Blum says of the lesion, but “it is time to focus more of my energies on getting and staying healthy.”
The good news is that she isn’t cutting all ties with the agency she has headed for more than a decade. She’ll work there on a part-time basis, completing tasks “in a few critical areas.”
Mary Hencmann becomes the acting executive director and spokeswoman. “Mary has stepped in for me many times in the past, and I have complete confidence that she can handle anything that comes her way, but she does not wish to stay in this role permanently,” Blum says. So, the two of them will help the Families First board establish a search committee to find “just the right leader” to succeed Blum. “To see Families First continue to evolve as the leading family resource in Colorado would put a smile on my face and be the most healing of all,” Blum says.
Have you heard?
Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong will be in Colorado Springs on Thursday to speak at the first Kids on Bikes fundraiser. Five hundred guests are expected to attend the dinner event at the Broadmoor … Also that evening, patron-level supporters of the Aug. 24 Fete des Fleurs are thanked at a cocktail party held at the Highlands Ranch home of CH2M Hill chief Ralph Peterson and his wife, Betty. Fete des Fleurs is the Denver Botanic Gardens’ signature fundraiser … Cancer League of Colorado receives $5 from every case of Absolut Vodka sold from Aug. 10-18. “I guess we need to go shopping,” observes president Barb Reece … Colorado Ballet’s artistic director, Gil Boggs, has started a blog; check it out at … Cathy and Ted Rinker moved to California a couple of years ago to help her daughter and son-in-law operate Agua Dulce Winery, but they’ve had enough of the Golden State and will be moving back to Colorado later this month. “We got so homesick we couldn’t stand it,” Cathy says, adding that while Ted is going to stay retired, she will be returning to her job in the Fifth Avenue Club at Saks in Cherry Creek. Her first day: Sept. 4.
