The challenge isn’t figuring out what to do to help stem teen suicide, it’s finding ways to fund it.
For almost two decades, the Shaka Franklin Foundation has been a lifesaver — literally and figuratively — for Denver-area youths who see no other solution to their problems than to cease living. But as Les Franklin explained at the 18th Love Our Children Luncheon, a whole lot more money is needed to keep the foundation’s programs up and running.
“The community has been very generous to us,” Franklin acknowledged, citing such donations as the $250,000 that Wells Fargo Bank has given over the years and the $150,000-plus that has come from Coors. “But we’re at a very crucial (point) because we have also lost some major sources of revenue, like the golf tournament that would bring in over $100,000 a year.”
Franklin started the foundation after his own son, Shaka, a popular and seemingly carefree student at Thomas Jefferson High School, took his own life. At Shaka’s Place, kids could participate in activities that ranged from sports to computers, talk to adults who understood where they were coming from, and take part in outings designed to give them fresh perspectives on life.
Immediate needs, Franklin said, are $1 million to open the doors to Shaka I.C.E., a rink that will be used by clients from both the Shaka Franklin Foundation and Laradon Hall, and the thousands of dollars it costs to maintain the technical arts programs at Shaka’s Place Youth Technology Center.
The luncheon, chaired by Wells Fargo regional president Donald Marshall and held at the Hyatt Regency Convention Center, also featured an awards presentation, entertainment by young singers Kristopher Berry and Indy J, and a spiritual message delivered by Sister Alicia Valladolid-Cuaron.Elbra Wedgeworth, president of the Democratic National Convention’s Denver host committee and a former member of the Denver City Council, received the Lifetime Achievement Award, while Willie O’Ree, the first black to play in the National Hockey League, was honored for Service to the Community. Cheria Cauley, who plans to attend Kansas State University, received the 2008 Shaka Franklin Foundation Scholarship.
Citations of appreciation went to Rosemary Smith, a pharmacist and author (“Space Between Breaths”) who lost her two eldest sons in a single-car accident, and George and Darril Fosty, whose “Black Ice Project” was the basis for the 2007 ESPN Sports documentary “Frozen Out.”
Luncheon guests included such foundation trustees as Dr. Kenneth Crichlow, Darryl Collier, Selena Dunham, Alberto Garcia, Paula McClain, Wellington Webb, Odell Barry, Evie Dennis, Mark Haynes and Dianne Briscoe; former Denver Broncos Billy Thompson, Tom Graham and Marvin Montgomery; Denver City Council president Michael Hancock; coffee cart entrepreneur Sylvester Talley; Ruth Denny; Margaret Fomer; Aquilla McKnight; Faye Tate; Deb Dowling Canino; Rod Dupays; and Sharon Hartman and Crissie Snow, representing the Junior League of Denver.
