It was in January of 2007 when Jessica Bachus, then 24 weeks pregnant, and her husband, attorney Kyle Bachus, learned that a congenital disorder, , would cause their daughter, Kenzi, to be stillborn.
Understandably, they were devastated and healing was difficult.
As the months passed and Christmas approached, Jessica reflected on how different the holiday would be for her family.
Then it hit her: Why not help make Christmas brighter for little girls whose families didn’t have the means to buy so much as a doll?
So she donated 150 new dolls to a couple of Denver-area nonprofits and volunteered at another charity’s toy distribution. It helped ease her pain.
The following year she collected and distributed 500 dolls, and was born.
To date, Dolls for Daughters has given away 87,000 items — including dolls, toys, stocking stuffers, shoes and personal-hygiene kits — to low-income families throughout the metro area at a yearly toy shop that sees families lining up 24 hours before it opens. This past Christmas, 18,000 items were given.
Five years ago, Bachus started to further help low-income families nominated by such agencies as Warren Village, Joshua Station, Hope House of Colorado, Rocky Mountain Communities and Crossroads Safehouse create a stable environment for their children. The children receive clothing, school supplies, birthday and holiday gifts, and recreational opportunities such as tickets to the zoo and a local water park.
“From the worst day of my life, something beautiful happened,” Jessica Bachus said at a luncheon held Jan. 22 at the Wellshire Inn Event Center. “To us, it may just be a $25 pair of shoes, but to the little kid who gets those shoes, they mean the world.”
Attendees included Dolls for Daughters board members like Alex Benko, who led the afternoon’s special appeal; Sandy Young, a marketing and media executive with the Denver Broncos; and attorney/board chair Brad Hamilton.
Also, Camille Gallegos Ridley, special events manager for the ; executive director Katie Jadwin and development director Valerie Lunka from ; auctioneer Shelly St. John; chief Brian Hart; and single moms Marcellina Rosales and Terri Pierce, who described what it meant to their families to be the recipients of Kenzi’s Kidz services.
Rosales and her children were the first Kenzi’s Kidz family, and said being chosen was “an amazing gift,” especially to moms like her who “work hard, but it’s just not enough.”
Pierce and her children are the 2014-15 recipients. “I never thought I would be by myself, raising three little boys and needing some help,” Pierce said. “We were honored to have been nominated, and so happy to have been chosen.”
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314, jdavidson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joannedavidson
Museum after dark
Museum After Dark, chaired by Lee McIntire, the retired president/CEO of CH2M Hill, and his wife, Susan, raised $850,000 for Denver Museum of Nature and Science. To see pictures from the event, please visit denverpost.com/seengallery
RSVP Catching up with the social scene
See additional pictures from these events at denverpost.com/seengallery
