Welcome to the Colorado/Nebraska Chapter!
The Colorado/Nebraska Chapter also supports the Beepball group. For information in your area, please feel free to email or call any of the contacts listed on this page.
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Colorado/Nebraska Chapter
Auraria Council
Auraria Council members are current employees in the Denver area. They meet via conference call. Their projects include:
- Backpacks for children.
- Library project.
- Reading programs.
- Book donations.
- Project C.U.R.E
- The Delores Project.
- Colfax Community.
- Food for Thought.
- Life Bridge Food Pantry.
- Metro Caring.
- Christmas Stocking Project.
Blue Spruce Life Member Club
Blue Spruce Life Member Club members are retirees in the Denver Metro area. They meet on the second Tuesday of each month at 9am at the Talking Book Library located at 180 Sheridan Blvd, Denver, CO 80226. Their projects include:
- Food Bank Support – purchase items needed by smaller food banks.
- Colorado Talking Book Library (CTBL) Support – purchase needed items, do mailings, strip cartridges, apply labels and other miscellaneous jobs.
- Making Hug-A-Bears, lap robes, hats and mittens, and craft items for possible sale.
- School Support – Purchasing school supplies and delivering used books to local elementary schools.
Plains & Peak Combined Club
Plains and Peaks Combined Club members are in the Colorado Springs area. They meet monthly. Their projects include:
- Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind support – make baskets for the Easter Egg Hunt.
- Valentine Project – purchase gift cards for moms and candy for children at a shelter.
- Food Bank Support – purchase needed items for Southern Colorado food banks.
News Stories
Auraria Pioneers – Serving the Community is a Priority
2023 Easter Egg Hunt a Resounding Success!
The Legacy West Auraria Council Annual Easter Egg Hunt for the visually impaired was held on Saturday, April 1, 2023 “no fooling“!
The event was a huge success! Over seventy plus attendees were present which included sighted, vision impaired, and blind children and parents as well as siblings, relatives and friends.
Activities included T-ball and beeping baseball, face painting, clown toss and the infamous beeping Easter egg hunt. The team also hosted a hunt for sighted siblings and guests.
We gathered after the festivities to have lunch and talk about ways to increase our outreach for 2024!
Our dedicated team of volunteers included nine members from the Legacy West Pioneers Chapter, Auraria Council and the Blue Spruce Life Member Council. We were supported by nine volunteers from the Colorado center for the Blind.
The beeping eggs and beeping balls were provided by the Denver Beepball Group. Legacy West Pioneers, Colorado Chapter Pioneers members are the only volunteering organization that makes the beeping balls, beeping eggs, and beeping bases.
We had the honor of being joined by Maureen Nietfeld, Student services Director at the Colorado Center for the Blind and Chaz Davis Director of Youth Services at the Colorado Center for the Blind. The Colorado Center for the Blind Co-Hosted the event with Auraria, provided the facilities and the students planned and prepared lunch for the guests.
Jessica Beecham the president of the National Federation of the Blind joined us and shared her excitement. NFBCO provides advocacy and support to blind and visually impaired Coloradans across the state.
We were also joined by Jodie and Sydney, members from the Delta Gamma Sorority chapter of Fort Collins, CO. One of Delta Gamma’s philanthropic focuses is service for sight.
We were extremely excited an honored to host the Auraria Council Annual Easter Egg Hunt post Covid to such a phenomenal turnout! Auraria wold like to extend our sincere thanks to all of the children, parents, volunteers and guests that joined us on Saturday, and we look forward to seeing you next year!
Project C.U.R.E.
Auraria Pioneers continues to support Project C.U.R.E. On June 10, 2023 the Auraria Team volunteered at Project C.U.R.E. sorting medical equipment and supplies. This activity is done in a large warehouse and can be very labor intensive, involving searching product names/types, reaching, walking, and lifting. The team showed up and exhibited extreme energy while working! They successfully cleaned all of the items allocated during their shift and prepped the area for the next shift. Well done team! A big thank-you to Deb for leading this project and our volunteers; Jawada, Sally, Bonnie, Neil, Angi, and Jan for this effort!
About Project C.U.R.E. Since 1987, Project C.U.R.E has been delivering life-saving medical equipment and supplies to hospitals and clinics throughout the under-resourced world. They are the world’s largest distributor of donated medical relief—touching the lives of children and families in more than 135 countries. On average, each week Project C.U.R.E. delivers three to five semi-truck-sized containers packed with the medical equipment and supplies so desperately needed by local hospitals and clinics.
COLORADO ROCKIES VS. Dodgers
In July members of our Auraria council and friends partnered with other council members and volunteers to hand out clear tote bags with MBA and Colorado Rockies logos at the Rockies game.
THE FAMILY TREE – GOALS PROJECT
On September 20, 2022 the Auraria Pioneers delivered 96 blankets to the Goals Program. The GOALS program is a Two-Generation (2Gen) housing program for families experiencing homelessness from Aurora and Arapahoe County. GOALS provides families a private room while they develop long-term goals for stability self-reliance. Families are provided a safe space for four to nine months, and one-year of follow-up support.
More Noteworthy News
- Tabernacle of Grace Food Bank – The new Auraria president, Jawada Frimpong, took the lead on providing food staples to the Tabernacle of Grace (TOG) Food Bank. The TOG community appreciated the Legacy West donation of food and many other much needed supplies. Everyone that visited the food bank that day left with a bag of food and a smile on their face!
- Whale of a Used Book Sale – The Jefferson County Library Foundation and Friends of the Library work to support and enrich the capabilities, resources and services of Jefferson county Public Library through fundraising and advocacy efforts that benefit the community. One of the ways they raise funding for library programs (such as Summer Reading, Early Childhood Literacy, and STEM/STEAM programs) is via the semi-annual Whale of a Used Book Sales. Two events are held, one in the spring and one in fall at the Jeffco fairgrounds in Golden, and the event is open to the public. The Auraria Council of Pioneers volunteered this year with JCLF to keep this tradition going. The volunteers assisted with setting-up for the event and supporting other volunteer opportunities: cashiering, greeting the customers/counting attendance, cart running, table tidying, etc. Great Job Deb Brailler (pictured) and Janet Colberg!!
- Auraria Pioneers are supporting an Afghan family as they adjust to life in the Denver area. Requested kitchen items were purchased and delivered to the group organizing the drive. Donated items included a professional stainless steel box grater with four sides, a nonstick deep frying pan skillet, and a set of 5 mixing bowls with airtight lids.
- Staple food items were delivered to a local food pantry – The Mother Lula Beechum Food Pantry located at 3082 Leyden St., Denver, CO 80207. The delivery included canned vegetables, and canned fruits. These food items will be distributed in a targeted neighborhood to those who have difficulty purchasing enough food to avoid hunber.
- Auraria team members visited St Paul Health Care Center which is a short-term Rehabilitation and Long-Term Care Facility located at 1667 St Paul Street in Denver, CO. Saint Paul provides short-term rehabilitation and long-term care in a gracious environment in the heart of Denver. They are known for their customer service, individualized care and services, and excellence. In 2022 Auraria Pioneers is proud to continue to work with Elsa, the activities director at St Paul’s in identifying the needs of the clients and working to fill the request. This effort began during the pandemic with Auraria providing PPE supplies to the facility staff and we will continue to support this facility as needs are identified. Auraria provided activity books, pens, crayons, balloons and balls to be used by 100 residents at the facility.
- Keeping in step with community engagement for our seniors, the Auraria Team members supported residents at the Berkley Manor Care Center. Berkley is a senior living community offering assisted living, memory care, nursing home support as well as skilled nursing to residents who experience first-class service alongside patients and their families to ensure all their needs and expectations are exceeded during their stay. The Auraria team supplied magazines, puzzle books, and other reading materials delivering a first-hand view of current events to the residents per request.
Help! Donations Needed!
We are looking for donations! Now that spring is on its way, and you are thinking of cleaning house, please send us your extra material, threads, yarns, ribbons and stuffing. We will be running out of these items in the near future, and we use them to make our Hug-A-Bears, lap robes and walker bags. Please contact me at
