On Friday, 60 youngsters with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses will arrive in Aspen for what is formally known as Winter Games Week.
Hosted by the Shining Stars Foundation, the seven-day respite from doctors and hospitals is so much more than a chance to play and stay in one of Colorado’s more picturesque communities.
As executive director Kathy Gingery is quick to point out, the Winter Games can be the best possible medicine for the young adventurers. “So many of them have lost the will to live,” she says. “Their treatment is so grueling, so all-encompassing, so financially devastating for their families. They arrive bloated and bald from their medications, depressed because they’ve probably lost all of their friends or seen their parents divorce because of stresses relating to their illness. At the Winter Games they can just be kids, happy and carefree kids who are enjoying winter sports and the company of other kids who are just like them.”
Eighty percent of Winter Games participants are from Colorado, having been nominated by The Children’s Hospital, Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center, Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children and the Children’s Hematology Center in Colorado Springs. Others come from facilities in Chicago, Phoenix and Palo Alto, Calif.
A good portion of the money it takes to put on the Winter Games is raised at the Snowball, a gala held each year at the Colorado History Museum in Denver. This year’s theme was Carnival! and the 300 guests enjoyed food from Udi’s, Three Tomatoes, Wingman and Strings, plus music by the Brazilian band Sambadende.
In addition, Bright Light awards were presented to vocalist Lannie Garrett and former Denver City Councilwoman Happy Haynes; Jeff Schomay showed off his juggling skills, and 2003 Winter Games participant Paul Lemieux, who is in remission from a malignant brain tumor, spoke about the positive effect the program had on his recovery.
Guests included Winter Games ski director Hal O’Leary; Bill Kritzik, president of the Shining Stars Foundation Denver Advisory Board and the gala chairman; such advisory board members as Peggy Beck, David “Dougal” McDougal, Alan and Susan Seidenfeld, Donna Hultin and Nan Belme; Mike Lipman and Ricki McKenna of Aspen; Barb Wyatt of Butler Rents; Nick Flores; Gin Vestle; Roxane White, recently named director of the Timothy and Bernadette Marquez Foundation; Dr. Alfred Nash; and 17-year-old Anise “Little Red” Fletcher of Longmont, a 2005 Winter Games participant, with her mom, Kim.
“The Winter Games are a fantastic opportunity for the kids,” Kim said. “For my daughter, they were a life-changing experience. The acceptance, the new friendships, they all made such a difference.”
The Winter Games are but one of about a dozen recreational and outreach programs that the Shining Stars Foundation offers at no charge year-round. Learn more about this not-for-profit organization founded in 2001 by visiting .
Coming right up.
Developmental Pathways honors the “extraordinary achievements of people with developmental disabilities” on March 27.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also, .
