Challenge Recreation

It’s Colorado’s biggest online giving event of each year, and just about our biggest fund-raising event too! It’s on the news, in your email box – just about everywhere.

But just so you don’t forget, you can go online at https://www.coloradogives.org/donate/CoCenter and schedule a donation to roll over on December 6. That’s the day your gift will count toward our percentage of the $1 Million Incentive Fund for Colorado Gives Day!

Late this spring we determined to bring challenge recreation back for our students. We set it aside for over a year for reasons of social distancing, etc. First, We arranged to go whitewater rafting in Idaho Springs, where we’d gone for almost ten years, and it was great to be back on Clear Creek with some old friends!

Meanwhile, martin Becerrra-Miranda was tasked with finding a new company to guide our Independence Training Program students on rock climbing excursions.

“I think these guys might be the ones,” Martin said after talking with Dan Krug of Denver Climbing Co. “They just get it.”

His reasoning was sound. Dan K told Martin he started rock climbing to address his own anxiety.

“I felt trapped (by anxiety) until I discovered rock climbing” says Dan. “It provided me with an avenue to push my limits in a controlled environment with supportive people. These factors acted as mental scaffolding to provide support as my brain relearned my actual potential and ability. I remember this with every client I take rock climbing and recreate the circumstances that helped me.”

Monday August 3 students and staff at the Colorado Center for the Blind met up with members of the Arapahoe County Sheriff Offices Mounted Unit at nearby Sterne Park. When Lt. Rich Anselmi, the unit’s commander first contacted Executive Director Julie Deden a while back about planning something together, Julie immediately reacted that it sounded like a lot of fun. She probably meant it would be fun for the students, too.

Thirteen is our lucky number when you look at the Rogue’s Gallery in this photo. These are thirteen volunteers who contribute so much to the Colorado Center for the Blind and to our students. Yet they humbly protest that they get back more than they give. We suppose that’s their call, but we’re telling you they give a lot.

There are lots of opportunities for students at the Colorado Center for the Blind. Some are part of the formal program, others staff and students develop out of their own interests and contacts. This fall activities like motorcycle rides and rock climbing were mixed in with graduations and the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado Convention, to name a few.

Pictured above: On September 9 students had a chance to go for a motorcycle ride into the mountains. Members of the Sentinels Motorcycle Club loaded up students and took a tour as far as Indian Hills before returning for lunch at Wrigley’s Chicago Bar & Grill in Golden. We thank Dishon Spears for organizing this each year.

Brian organized the scuba experience at A-1 Scuba in Littleton. A certified diver himself, he found satisfaction in sharing the sport he loves with his friends and fellow Center students.

A group of seven Colorado Center for the blind students took a scuba lesson on August 31, thanks to the enthusiasm, organization and experience of one of their peers, Brian Bussard and A-1 Scuba and Aquatics Center in Littleton. In fact, A-1 donated the lesson, including gear and instructor time!

Since January, fans attending Colorado Avalanche games have been treated to between-periods video of the Try Blind Hockey Day on January 17. Over 50 blind Coloradans went out on the ice that day, some for the first time, others with a stick in their hand for the first time. Fans are impressed by the video, but it is little more than an historical artifact now.

Back in January the Colorado Avalanche hosted a “Try Hockey” event for prospective blind hockey players. It featured several blind hockey players from across Canada and the United States and was coordinated by USA Hockey and the Colorado Amateur Hockey Association. Forty-two blind participants, including youth and some, like me, who were much older, took to the ice that day. About half of those participants came from CCB.

You can read more about it in this article, Try-Blind-Hockey Day Another Example of How Hockey is for Everyone.

We wanted to bring your attention to a couple of newspaper articles that appeared in November and brought attention to the Center. Both reflect great partnerships that help us ensure that our students can, as our tag line says, learn to “Take Charge with Confidence and Self-reliance!”

The first, from November 5, appeared in the Denver Post’s YourHub. It’s about our neighbor and partner, Angel Concept in downtown Littleton. The article isn’t about the Center, but it features one of our students who has been learning job skills there. For a number of years, we’ve counted on Angel Concept to also mentor one of our summer youth in the “Earn & Learn Program”, helping them gain valuable work experience.

Here’s the article by YourHubs Holly Graham:

Disadvantaged women get a chance to build confidence, learn retail skills at this Littleton boutique