Captured Event

January, 12 2010 - Denver Honors Its Most Passionate Humanitarians

What: 2010 MLK Humanitarian Awards

Where: Boettcher Concert Hall

When: Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Time: 5:00 p.m. -8:30 p.m.

Mistress of Ceremonies: broadcast journalist Tamara Banks

Co-Chair(s): Terry Nelson and Joe Mauro

Committee Members: Dr. Joyce Marie Davis, Elma Hairston, Vern Howard, Lynne Lombard-Hunt, Priscilla Linsley, Sandra Mann, Joe Mauro, Francie McDonald, Terry Nelson, Toya M. Nelson, Claudette Sweet, Landri Taylor, Menola Upshaw, Darrell Watson, Beth Yohe

Introductions: Terry Nelson, Joe Mauro, Vern Howard

Catering: Elegant Catering

Entertainment: Black Hands Drum Ensemble

Music: Denver Symphony Orchestra, East High School Honors Choir, EdKelly Sanford solo violinist

Sponsors: Colorado Symphony Association, Kaiser Permanente, Mayor John Hickenlooper and Helen Thorpe, Empire Construction Services, City and County of Denver, Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Black Hands Drum Ensemble, Denver Police Department, Farmer's Trophies and Engraving, State Farm, Governors Commission on Community Service, Kolorgraphics, OrganoGold

Menu: East African-Doro chicken stew, southern meatballs, shrimp and crabcakes, fruit and cheese plate

Attendance: 700

Attire: evening, cocktail, business

Blacktie Photos by: M. Darcy

Rhonda Fields accepts this year's award; she stands with Governor Ritter and Committee Chair, Joe Mauro
View all photos

Denver Honors Its Most Passionate Humanitarians

story by M. Darcy

Passion and compassion are sometimes so fervently joined that the term "humanitarian" applies. In a state with the highest per capita of non-profit organizations and one of the highest Peace Corps Volunteers populations, you probably know a few people worthy of the term.  But there are only a handful who are worthy to stand beside one of the most famous humanitarians, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and this year, the award went to several of Denver's most compassionate faces.

On Tuesday, January 12 at the Boettcher Concert Hall, Denver celebrated three organizations and five of its citizens for their humanitarian efforts:  La Clinica Tepeyac, Rhonda Fields, La Acedemia at the Denver Inner City Parish, the League of Women Voters of Denver Education Fund, Pastor Heidi McGinness, Alyssa Allende Motz, and Lifetime Achievement Winners, Dorothy Rupert and Cleo Parker Robinson.

Clinica Tepeyac is a small clinic with a grand heart that embraces communities here to provide healthcare to the uninsured.  Its bilingual services are critical to working Latinos who would otherwise lack access to either medical services of even the most basic kind or simple health education. Theirs is a model already being replicated in other communities, driven by the volunteer compassion of medical professionals who believe in quality care for all.

Rhonda Fields has freed communities from the silent terror of gang intimidation.  She turned the grief and rage of her son's murder into a legislative force that ramped up the Witness Protection Program.  Her dedication to Voices of Victims and Safe2Tell is creating safer neighborhoods and building faith in our justice system.

La Academia is a private high school that serves families living in poverty throughout Denver.  The goals of La Academia is to keep these kids in school, in spite of generational trends, and help many of them become the first in their families to complete college.  The support these students receive, the civic projects and the focus on core studies turns their lives around, gives them hope and makes them feel a responsible part of their community.

The League of Women Voters of Denver Education Fund was started in 1983 to support citizen government through nonpartisan discussion of political issues.  The volunteers are available to schools and community organizations to help set up an exchange of ideas.  They engage those who have had little opportunity participate in public debate and promote participatory government.

Pastor Heidi McGinness is a modern-day abolitionist.  Her work with government leaders through Christian Solidarity International freed thousands of slaves in Southern Sudan and ultimately abolished it altogether there.  She has risked her life to cross into Sudan to deliver medicine, food and negotiate the release of slaves.  As the war in Darfu continues, Pastor Heidi's work is not yet finished, and she endeavors to bring the basic rights of justice and freedom to everyone.

Alyssa Allende Motz was the youth recipient of this year's awards.  She has been volunteering since she was eight years old, and has helped with Project Angel Heart for the last ten years, winning many youth awards along the way. She's a role model to girls wanting to persue a career in science.  She's earning a degree in Engineering Physics at the School of Mines and currently tutors other students.  She intends to always be engaged in some kind of community service throughout her life. 

Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, Dorothy Rupert is a former Senator who has spent nearly 83 years ensuring that youth and minorities were given equal opportunities.  While in office she worked on prison reform, healthcare and education access, civil rights, crisis intervention and youth support services.  She created legislation to outlaw female genital mutilation in Colorado.  Her career and her free time have been centered on developing a legal playing field that all can stand on and enjoy the freedoms of an equal world.

Another Lifetime Achievement Award Winner is Cleo Parker Robinson.  She is known and loved in Denver for bringing arts education to all communities.  Cleo brings an uplifting energy wherever she goes and infuses her programs with that same sense - that anything is possible.  She uses dance as a "tool for healing, empowerment and racial reconciliation."

The Colorado Symphony Orchestra has long partnered with the MLK Awards Ceremony.  This year Scott O'Neil conducted and violin soloist, EdKelly Sanford perfomed.

Also of note, Governor Bill Ritter, who presented the awards on Tuesday, has worked with many of the recipients in obtaining legislation for peace, justice and human rights bills.