COLORADO SPRINGS — El Pomar Foundation awarded $400,000 in grants to Colorado’s best non-profit organizations Wednesday during its 19th Annual Awards for Excellence Banquet at the Broadmoor Hotel.
Before an audience of 1,000 people, El Pomar presented three special awards. Attorney General John Suthers received the Ben S. Wendelken Special Trustee’s Award; Dr. Lewis Sharp, director of the Denver Art Museum, received the Shrine of the Sun Award, and Mike Shaw Automotive received the Gov. John A. Love Award.
Computers for Kids, a Glenwood Springs-based agency that serves youth in Mesa, Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle counties, was named Colorado’s outstanding nonprofit of the year and received $50,000 – double what El Pomar had awarded in previous years to the top non-profit.
El Pomar honored 33 finalist organizations in 11 different categories. Winners received $15,000 and finalists received $7,500. Fourteen Denver non-profit agencies were honored. Winners include: PHAMALy (Physically Handicapped Actors and Musical Artists League); The Rise School of Denver; Inner City Health Center; and Brent’s Place. Finalists from the Denver area were: KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy; Young Americans Center for Financial Education; Environmental Learning for Kids; Colorado Neurological Institute; Denver Health; Judi’s House; Special Olympics of Colorado; The Listen Foundation; Denver Red Shield Community Center; and Third Way Center.
