Tough guys wear … pink?
Darn right. And in one small Colorado town, it pays off to the tune of about a half-mill.
In 2004, when the company that makes Wrangler jeans launched Tough Enough to Wear Pink, a breast cancer fundraising and awareness initiative, the Gunnison Cattlemen’s Days rodeo became an enthusiastic participant. Through private donations and other means, they parlayed a $5,000 grant from Wrangler into a $210,000 “nest egg” that local breast cancer survivors could tap into for help in paying for medical care, rent, propane, a cord of wood, or “whatever they needed to help get by.”
And that made Gunnison, a town of 5,298, the nation’s No. 1 rodeo in terms of support for Tough Enough to Wear Pink.
Which made a group of Cattlemen’s Days officials feel comfortable enough, when they were in Las Vegas last week for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, to ask the Wrangler higher-ups if it might be possible for them to get a second $5,000 grant.
They were elated when the answer was “yes,” and in fact were on their way home when Wrangler’s marketing man called and asked if they would mind turning around and heading back to Sin City to accept a special award.
“We were thinking ‘plaque,’ ” admits Jim Swaim, chair of the Gunnison Tough Enough to Wear Pink effort. “But when we got to the Thomas and Mack Center, we were told to stand outside chute No. 2, and what what comes flyin’ out but another check for $210,000!”
The 2009 Tough Enough to Wear Pink event will be July 16, which is opening day for the 109th Cattlemen’s Days.
Trees for a cause.
Thirty of the area’s top architecture firms, contemporary galleries and artists created imaginative interpretations of modern holiday trees for Bough House, an auction that raised $7,500 for the Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center.
The tabletop creations ranged from literal to wildly abstract. Some were three-dimensional, others were wall hangings and still others a combination of the two.
BurkettDesign won Best in Show, judged by a panel of Denver Design District representatives headed by Herman Miller and Hilary Oswald, editor-in-chief of Colorado Homes & Lifestyles.
Three hundred people attended the cocktail gathering hosted by the Denver Design District and sponsored by Barolo Grill, CH2M Hill, Colorado Homes & Lifestyles, grow, Gourmet Fine Catering, Odell Brewing Co., One Home, and Yum Yums Delights.
The nonprofit Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center, founded by Shari Shink, works on behalf of abused children through legal advocacy, legislative reform and various therapeutic programs.
Bough House designers included: (shike) design; AndersonMasonDale Architects; AR7 Architects; bigfishdesign; Chad Roark Design; Composition; Kim Sullivan on behalf of the Denver Art Museum Design Council; David Castle Art; Eye Candy Graphics; Gensler; Semple Brown Design; and Studio R Interior Design.
Society editor Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also,
