In ways as special as their respective interests and personalities, Dr. Patricia Gabow, Cleo Parker Robinson, Jean Galloway, Tamara Banks and the late Georgia Imhoff have helped soften the edge of some harsh urban realities.
The Denver Rescue Mission named them Women Who’ve Changed the Heart of the City, and honored them at a tea on Sept. 11 chaired by Gina Schreck at the Brown Palace Hotel.
Gabow, Denver Health’s chief executive officer and medical director, has gained a national reputation for making sure the most vulnerable populations have access to quality medical care. Through Project Self-Discovery, Parker Robinson engages inner-city youth to use dance as a healing and positive alternative to peer pressure, gang activity and substance abuse.
Galloway, founder and president of the Galloway Group, has carved quite a niche connecting companies to charitable causes, while Banks, a former television news anchor, is a documentary filmmaker specializing in giving voice to the underserved and victims of social injustice.
Imhoff, whose Sept. 12 funeral drew 1,000 mourners, was a tireless leader of causes that ranged from child-abuse prevention to empowering women. With Mary Winter and Kenton Kuhn, she founded Blacktie-Colorado, an online community devoted to supporting nonprofit organizations in their fundraising efforts.
“I am excited — giddy, really — to see all of you here,” Schreck said to the crowd that filled the hotel’s grand ballroom.
Those enjoying scones with Devonshire cream, tea sandwiches and pastries included Imhoff’s husband, Walt, and their five children; Brad Meuli, the rescue mission’s president and CEO; former Colorado first lady Frances Owens; Adolph Coors Foundation chief Sally Rippey; Friends of Nursing president MaryJo Coast; ARC Thrift chief Lloyd Lewis; Bessie’s Hope founder Linda Holloway; LaFawn Biddle; Shery McDonald- Galbreath; Jesse Ogas; Linda Goto; Phyllis Wicklund; Anita and Dr. Joseph Becky; Pat Lambert; and Ann Smith.
Savor this
Whipping up a five-course dinner from ingredients handed to them that night is the challenge Saturday night when Tyler Wiard (Elway’s Cherry Creek) and Elise Wiggins (Panzano) compete for top chef honors at a benefit put on by the Argyle Foundation.
The culinary smackdown, emceed by CBS 4’s Ed Greene, begins at 6 p.m. at Roth Distributing, 17801 E. 40th Ave.
Tickets are $75, with proceeds going to The Argyle, a private, nonprofit nursing home that has served low-income seniors in north Denver since 1874. Call 303-455-9513, ext. 251.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also, and GetItWrite on Twitter.
