Awards Season

Imagine! continues to be recognized for excellence in many ways. Check out the latest:

Imagine!’s CORE/Labor Source department has been nominated for a Colorado Developmental Disabilities Council (CDDC) Dan B. Davidson “Excellence in Inclusion” Award! The award ceremony will take place July 25 in Denver.

The Awards honor Dan B. Davidson, who died in 1996 at the age of 41. Defying the odds, Davidson had followed his dream of living independently in the community. CDDC celebrates Dan's spirit and memory by recognizing individuals, agencies, and organizations that exemplify visionary practices regarding inclusion in the categories of education, employment, and community.

Congrats, CORE/Labor Source, on this well deserved honor, and good luck!

Also, Imagine!’s Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome in Boulder is a finalist in the Colorado Green Building Guild (CGBG) and the Boulder County Business Report (BCBR) Best of Boulder Valley Green Buildings awards. The SmartHome is a finalist in the Best Green Multi-Residential Building category.

What a great recognition of the efforts we put into making the home environmentally friendly and to meeting our commitment to our community!

Thanks CGBG and BCBR!

Read more about the Best of Boulder Valley Green Awards here.

Thank You Thursday!

This week’s roundup of generous donations to the Imagine! Foundation includes:

Cash Donations This Week

Platinum ($10,000+)
AEC Trust - $10,000 grant for Dayspring’s Community Calendar Activities Program

Gold ($5,000-$9,999)
Micro Motion/Emerson Electric Co -- $5000 Gold Sponsorship of 2012 Imagine! Celebration

Bronze ($1000-$2,499)
Lynn & Helen Clark Fund/Guaranty Bank and Trust Company – Grant for Charles Family SmartHome

Supporter ($250-$499)
Amgen Foundation - Matching Gift for Rick Burdick

Friend ($1-$249)
Tim Hilden & Natalie Smutzler

In-Kind Donations This Week

In-Kind Bronze ($1,000-$2,499)
Jennifer Caracciolo – Emergenetics Training for Imagine!’s Executive Team

In-Kind Supporter ($250-$499)
Cary & Debbie Graus – sofa

As always, we say thank you to all of our donors. 

Thank You, AEC Trust!

Today, we’d like to say “thank you” to the AEC Trust for its recent grant of $10,000 to Imagine! to be directed toward the Imagine! Dayspring Community Calendar Activities Program.

The AEC Trust is a private foundation established in 1980 as a philanthropic, grantmaking organization. It is governed by an Advisory Board that sets policy and is responsible for the review of grants.

Imagine!’s Dayspring Community Calendar Activities Program introduces local families to places in our community that offer great activities and opportunities for children to meet their goals through fun and play. All activities encourage motor, sensory, social-emotional, cognitive, and speech-language development.

Each location has activities that are age and developmentally appropriate. Activities are centered around play, because play is the primary vehicle for a child’s mental and physical growth. Play has a vital role in cognitive, speech-language, physical, emotional and social development.

Much of young children’s learning takes place when they direct their own play. Learning occurs as children touch, manipulate, experiment and talk about things, while interacting with people who facilitate without directing. During play, children are provided with sensory experiences and opportunities to move. Young children need to climb, run, jump and challenge themselves motorically. Children are natural explorers and instinctively touch, taste, hear and observe the world around them.

Thank you, AEC Trust, for your support of some of the youngest individuals served by Imagine!.

Thank You Thursday!

This week’s roundup of donors to the Imagine! Foundation includes:

Cash Donations This Week

 

Supporter ($250-$499)

Young Americans Center for Financial Education

Friend ($1-$249)

The GE Foundation -- Match for Alfred LeBlang contribution

Arthur & Maria Richmond

Morgan Stanley – Match for Bryan Pieper contribution

In-Kind Donations This Week

In-Kind Associate ($500-$999)

Rick & Jackie Nelson – piano and couch for Labor Source

As always, we offer a hearty “thank you” to all of our generous donors.

Join Imagine! at Millennium Harvest House FAC This Friday

On June 15, Imagine! will be the featured non-profit at the Millennium Harvest House Hotel Friday Afternoon Club (FAC). This Rockin’ The Gardens concert, featuring the band “Soul School,” will take place from 5:30 - 9:30 PM. This is the fourth year that the Millennium has invited Imagine! to participate in the FAC.

Artists/consumers from Imagine! will be on hand, and attendees of the FAC will have opportunities to learn about Imagine! and are welcome to draw and paint with Imagine! artists. This is a very family-friendly event and a great opportunity to observe the work of the artists, as well as to support the Millennium, a longtime donor to Imagine! and an employer of people with developmental disabilities. The Millennium is located at 1345 28th Street, behind the Safeway store on the southwest corner of Arapahoe and 28th Streets.

Hope to see you there!

Thank You, J.M. McDonald Foundation, Inc.

Today, we’d like to say “thank you” to the J.M. McDonald Foundation, Inc., for its recent grant of $5,000 to Imagine! in support of Imagine!’s Assistive Technology Lab.

Imagine!’s Assistive Technology Laboratory (AT Lab) is Imagine!’s new headquarters for helping individuals served by Imagine! to identify, obtain, and learn to use the specific assistive technology devices that will allow them to reach their full potential. Learn more about Imagine!’s AT Lab here.

The J.M. McDonald Foundation, Inc. was created in 1952 by Mr. J. M. McDonald. Over the past 60 years, Trustees of the Foundation have sought to uphold J. M.'s desire to improve education and social programs.

This is not the first time that the J.M. McDonald Foundation, Inc. has supported Imagine!’s goal of using a variety of technologies to improve the lives of individuals with intellectual disabilities. In past years, the Foundation has made generous grants to support both the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome in Boulder and the Charles Family SmartHome in Longmont.

Thank you, J.M. McDonald Foundation, Inc. for your continued support of Imagine! and the people we serve!

Thank You Thursday!

This week’s roundup of generous donors to the Imagine! Foundation includes:

Cash Donations This Week

Silver ($2,500-$4,999)
Sandy & Sally Bracken

Supporter ($250-$499)
Bob & Beth Davis

Friend ($1-$249)
Joe Hansen

In-Kind Donations This Week

In-Kind Friend ($1-$249)
Denver Boulder Couriers -- One courier trip

As always, we thank all of the donors whose generosity has made such a positive difference in the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities living in Boulder and Broomfield counties.

Young AmeriTowne Citizens Support Imagine!

This past Monday Imagine! received a donation from a very generous and enterprising group of youngsters: 5th graders taking part in Young Americans Center for Financial Education’s Young AmeriTowne program.

What is Young AmeriTowne? A program that teaches school kids about our country’s economic system in a fun and relevant way. The program begins with several weeks of interactive lessons and activities taught by teachers in the classroom. Students learn important economic and business concepts such as supply and demand, budgeting, banking, government workings, and more. They elect a Mayor and Judge, vote on town laws, and apply and interview for jobs in town.

During the culminating event, students put into practice what they have learned when they attend Young AmeriTowne for the day and earn money running a life-like town of 17 businesses.

Part of the program involves teaching the kids about philanthropy, and that’s where the Imagine! donation comes in. At the beginning of the school year, participants in the program selected six organizations, including Imagine!, to receive funds from the program. Through the generosity of the Community First Foundation, hard earned AmeriTowne dollars donated by the fifth graders are converted to real donations, matching the children’s gifts at ten cents per dollar.

In the picture above, you can see Imagine!’s Director of Public Relations Fred Hobbs receiving a check in the amount of $368 from the AmeriTowne Mayor at Monday’s inspiring check presentation ceremony.

Our thanks to the Young Americans Center for Financial Education, the Community First Foundation, and most importantly, to the many kind and giving children who donated!

Thank You, Louis and Harold Price Foundation!

Today, we’d like to say “thank you” to the Louis and Harold Price Foundation for their recent grant of $5,000 to Imagine! to be used for Family Support Grants.

The Louis and Harold Price Foundation is a private charitable foundation dedicated to communities by supporting organizations in Southern California and Colorado as well as national organizations.

In addition to their support of Imagine!, here’s another thing that’s “cool” about the Price Foundation:

The Price Foundation was established in 1951 through the generosity of Mr. Louis Price and his son, Mr. Harold Price. Louis was a founding partner of the Joe Lowe Corporation, a bakery and ice cream supply business famous for the promotion of the Popsicle. Harold followed his father's footsteps by joining the Joe Lowe Corporation in 1928 upon graduation from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business where he obtained a B.S. degree in Economics. From his original position of purchasing agent at the Joe Lowe Corporation, Harold rose through the ranks to the position of Executive Vice President. As Executive Vice President, Harold was responsible for the successful merger in 1965 of the Joe Lowe Corporation with Consolidated Foods Corporation, now known as Sara Lee Corporation.

Through shareholdings in Sara Lee Corporation, Louis and Harold generously funded their foundation and guided its existence for many years as respective Presidents. Since its inception, The Louis and Harold Price Foundation has distributed millions of dollars to U.S. based charities in the areas of community welfare, health, and education, as well as support of programs in Israel.

Imagine! Family Support Grants help pay for the extraordinary costs of caring for a family member who has a developmental disability. Funds may be used to help pay for respite care, professional services, medical and dental senses, transportation, assistive technology, home modifications, and parent and sibling support.

Anyone who has a family member with a developmental disability knows how difficult it can be to pay for some of these expenses, and these grants can make a huge difference.

As one family told us:

“This grant will help ease the financial stress and burden that comes with having a special needs child. It helps offset costs that insurance does not cover. Each year it seems that insurance covers less to help our child function in the world. We have dealt with that by cutting down on therapies, respite, and recreation activities. This grant helps us keep some of those things in place.”

Thank you, Louis and Harold Price Foundation, for your support of families in Boulder and Broomfield counties!

Thank You Thursday

This week’s roundup of generous donors to the Imagine! Foundation includes:

Cash Donations This Week

Gold ($5,000-$9,999)

Kenneth King Foundation – $5,000 grant for the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome

J. M. McDonald Foundation Inc. - $5,000 grant for Imagine!'s Assistive Technology Lab

Bronze ($1,000-$2,499)

Sue Deans

Supporter ($250-$499)

Mutual of America Foundation – Matches for employee donations at Imagine! Celebration

Friend ($1-$249)

Daniel & Sandra Stevens

In-Kind Donations This Week

In-Kind Friend ($1-$249)

Linda Gore – Ostomy Supplies

Thank You, Kenneth King Foundation

Kenneth King

Today, we’d like to offer our thanks to the Kenneth King Foundation for its recent grant of $5,000 in support of the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome.

The Kenneth King Foundation is a private foundation founded by Kenneth Kendal King in 1990. The King Foundation, located in Denver, Colorado, was established to perpetuate and expand the eleemosynary principles that Kenneth King developed in his lifetime of helping those less fortunate than himself. Today, the King Foundation continues to focus on helping those in need by doing the common thing in an uncommon way.

The King Foundation’s donation will support one of Imagine!’s most ambitious projects. Over the past five years, Imagine! has built, and is currently operating, two SmartHomes. Imagine!’s SmartHomes provide permanent affordable housing for individuals with physical and developmental disabilities, and they incorporate cutting edge technologies to improve the quality and efficiency of services and supports for the residents.

As the first such homes in the nation, Imagine!’s SmartHomes are serving as a model for the future of residential care for people with developmental disabilities. They enhance the lives and independence of residents, augment the effectiveness of staff as caregivers, and provide cost and energy savings to Imagine!.

In addition, the SmartHome model has enormous potential to impact groups of people with related concerns (dementia, autism, chronic mental illness, and Alzheimer’s), as the homes are serving as living laboratories to create and test “SmartSupports” – assistive technologies that can be used in family homes to keep individuals with any kind of cognitive impairment living in their own homes for as long as possible.

This is not the first time the Kenneth King Foundation has supported Imagine!’s SmartHomes project. In 2011, they also provided a $5,000 grant for the SmartHomes.

Thank you, Kenneth King Foundation, for your support of some of our community’s most vulnerable citizens.

Thank You Thursday!

This week’s roundup of generous donations to the Imagine! Foundation includes:

Cash Donations This Week

Bronze ($1,000-$2,499)
Energy Outreach Colorado (EOC) – $1500 grant for energy upgrades to an Imagine! home through EOC’s Nonprofit Energy Efficiency Program (NEEP)

Friend ($1-$249)
Robert Kretsch
Rick & Jackie Nelson
Screen Actors Guild - Foreign Royalties -- Residuals from Jay Montgomery’s brother Billy’s role in “Rain Man”

In-Kind Donations This Week

In-Kind Silver ($2500-$4,999)
Energy Outreach Colorado – grant for in-kind energy upgrades to an Imaigne! home through EOC’s Nonprofit Energy Efficiency Program (NEEP)

In-Kind Supporter ($250-$499)
Xcel Energy – grant for in-kind energy upgrades to an Imagine! home through EOC’s Nonprofit Energy Efficiency Program (NEEP)

In-Kind Friend ($1-$249)
Anonymous – children’s books and toys
Kate Christensen – therapeutic toys
Lafayette Florist – four flower arrangements for Donor Recognition Reception
Liquor Mart – Beer, water, glasses for Donor Recognition Reception
Sage and Savory Catering – discount on gratuity for Donor Recognition Reception

As always, we thank all of our generous donors.

Pictured are residents of Imagine!’s Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome saying “thank you” in sign language.

Thank You, Western Digital and WD Foundation

Today we’d like to thank the WD Foundation for its recent grant of $3,000 to Imagine! for Family Support Grants in Boulder County.

The Western Digital Charitable Foundation, or the “WD Foundation”, a California nonprofit benefit corporation, was created in 1997 to support Western Digital’s philanthropic activities that support economic, social, educational, and health needs in their regional business communities within the United States. As such, WD Foundation grants are directed toward nonprofit organizations in Orange, Santa Clara and Alameda Counties in California, and Boulder County, Colorado.

Family Support Grants help pay for the extraordinary costs of caring for a family member who has a developmental disability. Funds may be used to help pay for respite care, professional services, medical and dental senses, transportation, assistive technology, home modifications, and parent and sibling support.

Anyone who has a family member with a developmental disability knows how difficult it can be to pay for some of these expenses, and these grants can make a huge difference.

As one family told us:

“This grant will help ease the financial stress and burden that comes with having a special needs child. It helps offset costs that insurance does not cover. Each year it seems that insurance covers less to help our child function in the world. We have dealt with that by cutting down on therapies, respite, and recreation activities. This grant helps us keep some of those things in place.”

This is not the first time Western Digital has provided generous support to families in Boulder County who have children with developmental disabilities. Last year, they provided a $10,000 grant toward Family Support Grants, and before that, they donated six hard drives to Imagine!’s SmartHomes.

Thank you, Western Digital and the WD Foundation, for your support of families and their children with intellectual disabilities.

Thank You Thursday!

This week’s roundup of generous donors to the Imagine! Foundation includes:

Gold ($5,000 - $9,999)
The Louis and Harold Price Foundation ($5,000 grant for Family Support Grants)

Associate ($500-$999)

Motorola Solutions Foundation 

Friend ($1-$249)
MGM & United Artists Services Company  (Residuals from Jay Montgomery’s brother Billy’s role in “Rain Man”)


In-Kind Donations

In-Kind Friend ($1-$249)
Greg & Pam Felderman – children’s clothing
Jonathan & Shannon Gray – children’s toys

As always, we say “thank you” to all of our generous donors.

Thank You, Tracy Family Foundation

Today we’d like to say “thanks” to the Tracy Family Foundation for its recent $1,000.00 “Next Generation” Grant to Imagine! for operational support.

The Tracy Family Foundation was incorporated in December 1997, by the Robert and Dorothy Tracy Family. The 60-plus members of the Tracy Family created the Foundation as a means to share their many blessings and to live out the values instilled in them by Robert and Dorothy Tracy.

Thank you for supporting some of our most vulnerable citizens, Tracy Family Foundation!

Appreciation Shared At Donor Recognition Reception

The Imagine! Foundation’s second Donor Recognition Reception, held this past April, brought together supporters of Imagine! and the Foundation for an evening of beverages, hors d’oeuvres, updates, and appreciation. All donors of a cumulative $1,000 or more since the Foundation began in 2001 were invited to the event. Alexander (Sandy) Bracken, President of the Board of Directors of the Imagine! Foundation, brought donors up to date on the Foundation’s progress since the previous Recognition Reception in 2008. At that time, the Foundation had raised $2,257,026. In the past four years, total revenue has more than doubled to $4,842,964.

Sandy also recognized the 156 donors whose names occupy the Donor Wall sculpture in the John Taylor Conference Center in Lafayette where the reception was held. These donors have given cumulative gifts to Imagine! of $5,000 or more. Sandy also honored those who have joined the Imagine! Promise by putting Imagine! in their wills.

The evening was capped by presentations by Imagine! CEO Mark Emery, who talked about Imagine!’s leadership role in the state and throughout the nation in the field of developmental disabilities, and Greg Wellems, Director of Business Services, who told stories of the successes of residents of the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome and the Charles Family SmartHome, which have been nearly completely paid for by Foundation donors.

Enjoy some photos of attendees below.

Sally Bracken and Foundation President Alexander (Sandy) Bracken

Arlene and Peter Heinz (left) with Lafayette Mayor Carolyn Cutler

Foundation Founder Bob Charles and his wife Judy

Carol Ann Mehaffy

Foundation grantwriter Christina Craigo

New Foundation Board Member Chuck Sisk

Foundation Board member David Edwards (left) and
 former Foundation Board Member Stephen Tebo

Don and Kathy Weibel

Imagine!'s Director of Business Services Greg Wellems
 with Dick and Linda Livingston

Imagine! Board Member Joe Hansen and his mother Jeanette Hansen

Foundation Board Member Emeritus John Mehaffy 
withFoundation Past President Leona Stoecker

Imagine! CEO Mark Emery, Rose Weyman, Barbara Regan

Foundation Board Member Rick Nelson (left) with Riki Frea and
new Foundation Board Member Bill Frea

Foundation Vice President Walt Pounds
and Foundation Executive Director Susan LaHoda

Imagine! Board of Directors President-Elect Whitney Blair

Thank You Thursday!

This week’s roundup of donations to the Imagine! Foundation include:

Silver ($2,500-$4,999)
Faith Community Lutheran Church Outreach Grant – Grant of $3,000 for Imagine!’s Emergency Fund

Supporter ($250-$499)

Thelma Haydon

Friend ($1-$249)

Mary Addison Muriel Raines

ATG-Colorado

In-Kind Donations

In Kind Platinum ($10,000 +) 

Microsoft Corporation - $346,649 in Microsoft software in support of staff efficiency!! 

In-Kind Associate ($500-$999)

Ron & Carolyn Hughes – sectional couch and loveseat and two chairs

In-Kind Friend

Denver Boulder Couriers – three courier trips

As always, we are most thankful to all of our generous donors.

Thank You, Virginia W. Hill Foundation

Today we’d like to say “thanks” to The Virginia W. Hill Foundation for its recent grant of $3,000 to support the Imagine!'s Dayspring Community Calendar Activities program.

The Virginia W. Hill Foundation was established by the late Virginia Hill, a noted Denver philanthropist. Mrs. Hill was known in her lifetime for her charitable giving to better the lives of people living in the American West. She was, for example, a major donor in the early 1960's to the restoration of Ft. Laramie. In recent years, Mrs. Hill's Foundation has contributed significantly to improving the health—especially the mental health—of people living in the Denver Metropolitan area.

Dayspring’s Community Calendar activities introduce families with children who have developmental disabilities or delays to places in our community that offer great activities and opportunities for children to meet their goals through fun and play. All activities encourage motor, sensory, social-emotional, cognitive and speech-language development.

Each location has activities that are age and developmentally appropriate. Activities are centered around play, because play is the primary vehicle for a child’s mental and physical growth. Play has a vital role in cognitive, speech-language, physical, emotional and social development. Much of young children’s learning takes place when they direct their own play. Learning occurs as children touch, manipulate, experiment and talk about things, while interacting with people who facilitate without directing. During play, children are provided with sensory experiences and opportunities to move. Young children need to climb, run, jump and challenge themselves motorically. Children are natural explorers and instinctively touch, taste, hear and observe the world around them.

Thank you, Virginia W. Hill Foundation, for your support of some of the youngest people served by Imagine!.

Thank You, Microsoft

Today, we am pleased to announce that Microsoft has made a donation of $346,649.00 worth of Microsoft software to Imagine!. Wow!

Here’s some background and detail:

In recent years, the need for Imagine!’s services has been increasing while government funding for those services has been steadily withdrawn. Colorado is currently 47th on the list of the 50 states (plus the District of Columbia) in per capita funding for services for people with developmental disabilities. Imagine!’s visionary staff is working on a variety of strategies for improving the funding and service delivery models for this population throughout Colorado.

Even under the most optimistic scenarios, however, it is essential that Imagine! seize every opportunity to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of its staff in order to serve more clients as financial resources dwindle. Imagine!’s staff consists of approximately 600 employees working throughout the service area. While many of these employees share a computer with other staff members, nearly all require individual email accounts and file-sharing capabilities.

This software donation will increase Imagine!’s employees’ capacity to update electronic documents relating to service delivery quickly and accurately, and share documents while ensuring confidentiality. In addition, the software will bring Imagine!’s technology infrastructure up to current releases and allow all employees to use the same version of Microsoft Office.

The upgrades to Imagine!’s servers, email system, and core software donated by Microsoft will free up significant resources that can be invested in direct care of the individuals we serve, or other valuable activities such as staff development or cultivating relationships with community partners.

We cannot thank Microsoft enough for this generous donation. The impact it will have on our organization and, more importantly, the people we serve, will be tremendous. We are deeply grateful.

Thank You Thursday!

Generous donors to the Imagine! Foundation this week include:

Friend ($1-$249)
Kathy Coyne
Daniel & Sandra Stevens

In-Kind Donations

In-Kind Friend

Adam & Erin Fahrenbruch – Children’s Toys
Phil & Patricia Pratt – Children’s Clothing

As always, we thank all of our generous donors.