Staff Reports
Redstone Review

LYONS – In 2008 the Lyons Community Foundation, LFC, awarded 11 grants and two of these grant recipients have made excellent progress toward their goals.

Los niños hablan Español… Kids Speak Spanish started in Lyons when Bevyn Osborne asked her mom, Bronwyn Muldoon about learning Spanish. Muldoon wasted no time in researching opportunities. A grassroots effort was started with parents in cooperation with the Lyons Elementary Schools. Kids Speak Spanish is a program initiated in Boulder over 30 years ago called the Elementary Spanish Program, kidsspeakspanish.org. This is a series of classes that meet twice weekly for K through fifth grades. The purpose of this project is to teach young children Spanish.

The response was tremendous with nearly 50 children participating in this program. This is 20 percent of the school. Lyons has more students registered than any other participating school and this is the first year. One of the reasons for this excellent response was because the organizers decided to make the program more accessible by seeking grant funds to support the costs and lower the registration fee for each child. They wanted to make this program affordable to more families.

The program provides a curriculum and training for the teachers. Anita Rodreguez, one of the instructors, said that they are teaching more than a language, rather a life skill.

Carmen Vasquez, another instructor, added that children who know Spanish are in a position to assist others if language is a barrier to successful communications. Everyone involved in the program commented on how much is being learned and the children, teachers and volunteers are having fun.

The Lyons Kids Speak Spanish Program leverages other funding sources to support the program. Congratulations to the Kids Speak Spanish Program for its success as a start-up project in Lyons. The program would like more volunteers such as serving in the role of teacher assistants. If you are interested in volunteering or for more information please contact Muldoon at 303-823-8813, lyonspt@lbtdsk.com.

Contrasting a program with children, another LCF grant recipient is the Lyons Golden Gang. More seniors are seeking services and the Lyons Golden Gang is positioning itself to serve more people with more programs. The message from the executive director, Lori Bellport, is that the Lyons Golden Gang is more than just serving meals. She stated that with the grant from the Lyons Community Foundation, the Golden Gang is strategically planning its future, reorganizing the board of directors, establishing working committees and increasing involvement of its membership.

This LCF grant is about capacity building. With only two part time staff, Bellport and Mary Lou Wallace, they must rely on the membership to accomplish goals. The strategic plan is for three years and in that time they expect Lyons will have a high-level functioning senior center. Other initiatives include launching a website, increasing membership and conducting outreach.

The Lyons Golden Gang is leveraging other funding sources to support this capacity building effort and to add new programs. Late in 2008, they initiated the Adopt-A-Senior Campaign inviting people to make a tax deductible donation that supports meals for seniors. This includes lunches provided at Walter Self Center and Meals-on- Wheels for seniors in their homes. The range of support is a little as $3.25 for one meal to as high at $756 for 240 meals.

If you are interested in supporting this program please contact Bellport at 303-775-2904 or bellport@comcast.net.

Congratulations to the Lyons Golden Gang for initiating this ambitious strategic effort and for the volunteer support from seniors and others.

Lyons Community Foundation recognizes and thanks Bronwyn Muldoon, owner of Lyons Physical Therapy, and Dan Siddall of RE/Max for providing space for the LCF Advisory Board to conduct business and meet. The support is appreciated.

The LCF Advisory Board announced that Ohm Salon + Gallery is donating all proceeds from haircuts to LCF on Sat. Apr 25. Jul Swan, owner and stylist of Ohm wants to support Lyons. She is planning one Saturday each month to donate to LCF. She is offering specials on her haircuts so please call to make your appointment for a fabulous cut and to support your community. Swan can be reached at 720-220-0311.

Thrift is in, or as a recent article in Fortune magazine stated, “Thrift is cool again.” Lyons ReRuns is our very own thrift shop and is a LCF Founding Contributor. Each month it donates to LCF according to sales so the more you shop the more support for LCF. It was overheard that you don’t thrift in your own town; well Lyons ReRuns, the LCF Advisory Board and the Redstone Review are all out to change that notion – thrifting and shopping local is “cool again.” ReRuns is located just east of downtown, 4091 Ute Hwy. at the corner of Stone Canyon, and is open Wednesday through Sunday. For more information, call 720-427-4769.

Lavern Johnson, another LCF founding contributor, and Christy Crosser, LCF advisory board member, attended the Community Foundation Serving Boulder County’s Community Venture workshop in Longmont. They reported it was an excellent workshop, they learned a lot and they were entertained by a local theater group, Playback Theatre.

Something for everyone – this is the theme for LCF’s two giving campaigns. The Supporting Contributors is a donation in any amount and a pledge for continued support for three years.

Sustaining Contributors is in honor of Lyons’ stone industry and history. LCF has established three levels of
giving recognizing various levels of stone and a pledge for continued support:

• Blue Top: $500 or more annually for three or more years
• Pink Stone: $250 – $499 annually for three or more years
• Red Sandstone: $100 – $249 annually for three or more years

The Lyons Community Foundation is a proud member of the Lyons Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Lyons Community Foundation exists to improve the quality of life, build a culture of giving and encourage positive change for the greater Lyons area. Please visit the LCF website at LyonsCF.com and consider making a donation to support your community.

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