For all the talk about the importance of strong family units, only one personretired educator Robbie Bean — has stepped up publicly to celebrate families from various ethnic groups that have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure their children have strong foundations on which to grow.
Her Family Extravaganza may have had a grassroots start, but it is now an incorporated entity (Celebration of Families-Students Inc.) that each spring fills the huge New Hope Baptist Church to overflowing. It also has expanded to include creative-writing and art contests for children and field trips that are open to senior citizens, as well as youngsters.
The 2008 Family Extravaganza honored 40 families — some traditional, some not — as well as outstanding writers and artists from Ashley Elementary School, Excel Institute, Florida Pitt Waller School, Greenwood Elementary, Heritage Home School, Northeast Academy, Orchard Valley Learning Center, Samuels Elementary, Smith Renaissance School of the Arts, Swansea Elementary and Challenges Choices and Images.
Glenda Barry was mistress of ceremonies; her son and daughter-in-law, Damon and Heather Barry, offered a toast to the honorees; and musical selections were sung by the Children’s Mass Choir and the Colorado Mormon Chorale. Deacon Jo McDonald Smith and Dr. Kathleen Gilbert Macmillan were the narrators.
Honorees included the Don Santos family for their support of grandson Daniel Armijo, who is graduating second in his Aurora Central High School class and will be the salutatorian as the commencement ceremony. Armijo will attend Colorado School of Mines on an academic scholarship. Wil and Roz Alston were honored for their devotion to community causes; the Faustino Cervantes family for commitment to Swansea neighborhood; and the Revs. Alberta and James Rogers for their efforts on behalf of the homeless and hungry.
“Our children are what the Family Extravaganza is all about,” Glenda Barry said. “We know that if we can keep our young people focused, what a wonderful world we will have.”
Let’s go camping.
You don’t have to be a kid to love a camp-out, and thanks to Janet Elway, a couple hundred adults get to enjoy the games and food without having to pitch a tent or be on the lookout for bears.
Janet’s Camp, held in the spacious yard surrounding her Cherry Hills Village home, raises enough money to send 300 children from low-income households to YMCA summer camp each year. The 2008 edition is June 6, and ticket sales were launched at Campy Couture, a cocktail party and fashion show held at Saks Fifth Avenue.
As Gloria Neal provided the play-by-play, Elway took a turn on the runway with Annabel Bowlen, Peggy Shanahan, Ed and Lisa McCaffrey, John and Linda Lynch, Aimee Sporer and Dan Caplis, and Kyle and Tamika Speller.
