Tetra Tech Runs For Imagine!

Yesterday’s Tetra Tech Run for Imagine! was a resounding success! Here’s the report from Julie Vlier, an Imagine! Foundation Board member and the organizer of the event:

The weather was great for the Tetra Tech/Imagine! event yesterday. We were decked out, wearing some super T-shirts, too, thanks to Forrest (Fleming, Imagine! Foundation Board member) and Instant Imprints (see pictures below). All-in-all we received $673 in contributions!

After the event we convened at Left Hand Brewery and Eric (Wallace, Left Hand owner and former Foundation Board member) was kind enough to get us set up with cool beverages and a contribution to Imagine! for the drinks that were sold to our group! We also enjoyed Georgia Boys BBQ, and are planning on another $25 (+/-) from this new Longmont business.

Thanks to all involved, especially Julie for making it all happen. We really appreciate it!

Julie Vlier, Tetra Tech Manager of Water Resources, Imagine! Foundation board member, and the event organizer, is second from left.

Wednesday Thanks!

During the last full week of the fiscal year, we had several generous donations come in, including:

• Generous payments from Bob and Judy Charles and the Charles Family for Imagine!’s two SmartHomes.

• Jay and Kathy Montgomery’s check for the Billy Montgomery Community Room at the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome.

• Micro Motion’s check for $5,000 for its Gold Sponsorship of the Celebration, which will be directed to the Charles Family SmartHome.

• The Boulder Central Optimist Club donated $200.

• The “Transcend $10,000” Imagine! employee donation program contributed $1,357.

• A gift from Foundation Emeritus board member Kathy Coyne.

As always, thanks so much to all of our generous donors!

New Fiscal Year Brings Changes To Foundation Board

The Imagine! Foundation elected four new officers at its Annual Meeting on June 14, 2011. Alexander (Sandy) Bracken was elected President, Walt Pounds was elected Vice President, Jay Montgomery was elected Secretary, and Lloyd Streit was elected Treasurer.


Alexander (Sandy) Bracken



Four new members joined the board of directors, bringing the total number of board members to 22. They are: Charles Holmes, Chris Leh, Rick Nelson, and Valorie Simpson. 



Dennis Paul and Eric Wallace retired from the board after each completing six years of service. Thanks to both for their dedicated service!



Committee Chairpersons for the 2011-2012 year are: Sandy Bracken, Strategic Planning/Nominating; Sue Deans, Marketing; Lloyd Streit, Finance; and Colene Van Winkle and Paige Lawrence, Imagine! Celebration.



Thanks, Tetra Tech!

The good folks at the Tetra Tech Longmont office are sponsoring a walk/run fundraising event for the Imagine! Foundation. The money raised will be directed towards the Charles Family SmartHome in Longmont. The event is next Wednesday, June 29th, at 4:00 PM. The race will begin on the St. Vrain Greenway and end at Left Hand Brewing Company!

Many thanks to Imagine! Foundation board member Julie Vlier for arranging this event, and to Imagine! Foundation board member Forrest Fleming and his company Instant Imprints for donating T-shirts.

Wednesday Thanks!

Today’s weekly roundup of checks we received this past week from our many generous supporters includes:

A donation from Jane Butcher in honor of Emeritus Foundation Board member Jack Stoakes. Jane’s first recorded gift to Imagine! was in 1991 -- long before the Foundation even existed.  Thanks so much, Jane!

A donation from Joe and Heather DiIorio, completing a three year pledge for the Billy Montgomery Room at the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome.

A donation from Jane Mahoney.

We received in-kind gifts from Fabulous Finds Upscale Consignments and Robert Sarchet, with help from Leona Stoecker, resulting in a beautiful dining table for the Charles Family SmartHome. Read more about this great story in the SmartHomes blog.

We also received an in-kind gift of one courier trip for Imagine! (value $25.20) from Denver Boulder Couriers.  They give Imagine! approximately $150 in free courier trips each year.

Thanks to all our generous donors for their continued support of Imagine!’s mission.

Imagine! Success Story

Imagine!’s Innovations department is offering a new residential service option called the In Home Care Alternative. In this model, Innovations provides staff members for a consumer in the home of their family vs. requiring that a consumer move out of their home into a Staffed Site or Host Home. This model can be offered for both short term or long term commitments based on the individual needs of the consumer.

Read more about the model here.

We already have a success story to share with this new model. Please read the story below about Lindsey to find out more about this new approach to services.

Lindsey resides in our first successful In Home Care Alternative Home (or Family Model), and has grown tremendously since moving into this placement. 

When she first started in the Family Model, Lindsey struggled with trusting care providers and new people in her life, often isolating herself and fearing new experiences. The ability to be cared for in her home has given her the opportunity to interact with care providers and new people at her own comfort level and to feel safe in her environment. Since this move, she has slowly begun to trust care providers and allow new people in her space. She has improved in her socialization with community members and continues to find interest in new activities and adventures!

Improving cooking skills and socialization is important to Lindsey. Recently, a staff member from CORE/Labor Source reported; “Lindsey is amazing in cooking class. Today she helped me scoop the avocados and mix it all together. She served the guacamole to the other consumers and offered some to a member of the custodial crew. Lindsey is starting to make fun giggly jokes with us.” Another staff member said, “Today, I spent a few moments with Lindsey and she was funny, engaged, bringing up questions, and was conversational with staff members and just overall fun and smiley.”

Lindsey’s has made so much progress that her behavioral team is looking toward dismissing her needs in Imagine! Behavioral Health Services stating, “Lindsey has been making great strides in communicating her needs appropriately. Lindsey has also been able to use humor as a very useful tool in getting attention from her family and friends. It has been a pleasure working with Lindsey, her Innovations staff, her CORE/Labor Source staff, and her family. Lindsey’s success has truly been a team effort, with Lindsey at the helm.”

Lindsey’s success both at home and day program has been gradual. She has eased into a full five day schedule at CORE/Labor Source, including many classes such as yoga, art, music, and cooking, as well as some new interests such as science.

Lindsey has really shown me the value of patience and persistence, by overcoming her challenges at her own pace regardless of how quickly changes were made in her life. I have seen in her a great sense of humor and desire to help others since she has allowed me to get to know her.

Wednesday Thanks!

Today, we’d like to share with you some information on the generous donations to support our mission of serving those with developmental disabilities we’ve received in just the last week!

We received $1668.40 from Longmont Knights of Columbus. This money will be used for Dayspring's Community Calendar Activities Program.


We received a $1,000 grant from the Lynn and Helen Clark Fund at Guaranty Bank in Longmont. This money will be used to help support the Charles Family SmartHome in Longmont.


We received an $800 grant from Qualcomm. Even better, Qualcomm provided 22 volunteers who stained our gazebo and cleaned and mulched the beds around Imagine!'s two office buildings in Lafayette. The grant was used for mulch for the project.


We received $800 from an individual donor for Innovations' foster care program.


We received $100 in a matching grant from the GE Foundation. The match was for a donation made by a friend of a member of Imagine!’s Board of Directors.


And finally, we received $25 from an individual who was helped by an Imagine! employee, who dumpster-dived to retrieve her glasses. It is a great story, read more about it here.

Thanks to all of our generous donors! We are so fortunate to live in such a caring and giving community.

Imagine! On TV

On May 13, world renowned sculptor and Imagine! consumer Alonzo Clemons, his caregiver Nancy Mason, and Imagine!’s own Gary Stebick appeared live on the “Colorado & Company” TV show (KUSA Channel 9 in Denver).

If you missed the segment, not to worry! Check it out below. In the clip, Alonzo demonstrates his amazing skills, creating a horse sculpture in less than ten minutes. Also in the clip, Gary does a great job explaining the depth and breadth of the services Imagine! provides to individuals with developmental disabilities.

Vote IBHS!

Imagine!’s Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) department has been nominated for a prestigious Community Foundation of Boulder County NOVA Award.

From now through June 11, you can vote for IBHS online to honor their unique (and vital) collaborative partnership with Mental Health Partners to improve services to people with a dual diagnosis of having a developmental disability and mental illness.

Click here to vote!

Here’s a little more information on why IBHS is such a worthy candidate for this award, taken from the nomination:

Some of the individuals in Imagine!'s care have mental illness in addition to their developmental disabilities. Mental Health Partners (MHP, formerly the Mental Health Center of Boulder and Broomfield Counties) is responsible for the provision of mental health services to these individuals. However, individuals living with this dual diagnosis have needs that differ significantly from those of individuals with mental illness only -- specifically, needs for enhanced engagement, rapport building, and support in processing new information -- that were difficult for MHP to meet within its usual parameters of care. In 2005, Imagine! and MHP began developing a unique, collaborative partnership to improve the delivery of mental health services to local individuals with this dual diagnosis by enhancing communication and coordination among the client, his or her psychiatrist, mental health therapist, nurse, case manager, family members, and other significant sources of support. In 2006, Imagine!'s Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) division hired three clinical professionals with the necessary specialized skill set and launched IBHS Mental Health Supports. Through this program, clients receive routine care through Imagine!, and crisis care (e.g., hospitalizations or after-hours intervention), if necessary, through MHP. The two organizations engage in ongoing dialogue to ensure that the services are integrated to provide current best-practice supports to this group of clients.

The collaboration between Imagine! and MHP is the only one of its kind in Colorado and exemplifies innovative, "out of the box" thinking. Typically, services for these two populations are funded and delivered through highly segregated systems, but this collaboration integrates the dollars from both Medicaid and local sources and the services provided by both Imagine! and MHP and marshals additional community supports -- including family members and professional caregivers such as nurses and day habilitation program staff -- to provide comprehensive mental health services based on an understanding of the whole person.

Thanks to IBHS Mental Health Supports, more than 200 local individuals with this dual diagnosis currently receive expert mental health therapy without delay from a licensed professional with more than 15 years experience working with individuals with developmental disabilities. They receive timely psychiatric assessment and intervention from physicians with more than 25 years of experience and expertise in treating individuals with developmental disabilities, acquired brain injury/traumatic brain injury, and dementia. Each of these vulnerable members of the community benefits from enhanced communication between his or her psychiatrist, mental health therapist, and professional caregivers.

Congratulations to IBHS on being nominated for this honor, and don’t forget to vote!