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SOS Outreach celebrates 20 years of serving Colorado youth

Daily News staff report

SOS launches 20th anniversary winter season

As SOS Outreach launches winter programs this season, the organization is proud to celebrate 20 years of serving Colorado youths. Founded in 1993, SOS has over the years served more than 36,000 young people, introducing them to snowsports as well as the core values of courage, discipline, integrity, wisdom, compassion and humility.

During the upcoming season, SOS will serve 330 participants in Summit County, 145 of them in the long-term, year-round university curriculum. Summit County will also have over 30 adult mentors, or “Sherpas,” who will lead students through the curriculum, encouraging goal setting, modeling the core values and having fun in the snow.



In conjunction with the 20th anniversary, SOS is launching a new high-intensity leadership development curriculum for long-term participants. The new “Masters” program is designed for participants who have completed five years of SOS programming and are looking for ways to further develop themselves as leaders in the community. Twenty Summit students have already started Masters program requirements this year. Throughout the season they will practice mentor-based leadership capabilities, communication skills, self-directed goal-setting and strategies for creating change in our community.

Also new this year, SOS has added humility to the core values students learn on the hill. The core values provide direction to SOS’s curriculum, giving students the tools to make positive life choices. Participants come from a variety of backgrounds, including failing grades, low-income households and single-parent families. Along with the opportunity to teach mountain sports, SOS mentors provide positive role models and encouragement these kids might not get anywhere else.



All of this positive change is made possible through the support of community members who step up to be mentors and through the generosity of mountain partnerships. Program director Rob Rumrill explained that, “without the support we receive from the community and Vail Resorts Echo, Arapahoe Basin and Loveland, this level of impact wouldn’t happen.”

Reach for the Summit conference focuses on rural philanthropy

On Nov. 18, nonprofit professionals working in Colorado’s Central Mountains are invited to attend the Reach for the Summit conference to elevate their fundraising potential to the next level.

The Reach for the Summit conference is designed for executive and development directors, board and staff members, and volunteers of nonprofit organizations. It includes professional development courses focused on grant writing, capital campaigns, budget management and fund development. An extended networking lunch will include a funder panel sharing insider grant writing strategies. Learn how to refine your grant writing approach with guidance from Xcel Energy, Anschutz Family Foundation, El Pomar Foundation and a local community foundation. Don’t miss this unique and affordable opportunity to spend the day learning from fundraising professionals and local and state foundations looking to provide funding for local community needs.

The conference is centrally located at Copper Mountain Resort. It will be held on Monday, November 18. Conference activities are scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Registration fees include breakfast and lunch. The Reach for the Summit conference is sponsored by the Community Resource Center and the Mountain Rural Philanthropy Day program. Registration is open.

Visit http://www.crcamerica.org/ruraltraining to register.

Dillon opens collection site for global Christmas project

With holiday supplies already covering the store shelves, Dillon individuals, families, churches and groups are working to make Christmas a reality for needy kids around the world by filling shoeboxes with toys, school supplies, hygiene items and notes of encouragement. Operation Christmas Child, the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind, is ramping up as Dillon residents prepare to collect 375 gift-filled shoeboxes during National Collection Week (Nov. 18–25).

At this local collection site in the Dillon area, anyone can drop off a gift-filled shoebox to send to a child overseas. Then using whatever means necessary — trucks, trains, boats, bikes and even elephants — the shoebox gifts will be delivered to children worldwide. For many children, the shoebox gift will be the first gift they have ever received.

The Dillon collection site is at the Dillon Community Church, 371 E. LaBonte St.

Operating Hours: Mon – Nov 18: 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. Tues – Nov 19: 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. Wed – Nov 20: 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. Thurs – Nov 21: 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. Fri – Nov 22: 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. Sat – Nov 23: 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Sun – Nov 24: 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. Mon – Nov 25: 8 a.m. – 10 a.m.

Though the shoebox gifts will often travel thousands of miles, Operation Christmas Child offers a way for participants to follow their box, by using the donation form found at samaritanspurse.org. Donors will receive an email telling the country where their shoeboxes are delivered.

For more information on how to participate in Operation Christmas Child, call 303-745-9179 or visit samaritanspurse.org. National Collection Week for gift-filled shoeboxes is Nov. 18-25.

Fill the Van project this Saturday

Bring your non-perishable food donations from the following list to your local grocery store (City Market in Dillon and Breckenridge, Walmart in Frisco) on Nov. 16 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. When the Colorado Mountain Express van is full, food will be distributed to groups who help those in need in Summit County. Priority food items include dried beans, canned tuna fish, spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, peanut butter and rice. Other acceptable items include canned vegetables, chili, canned cranberry sauce, chicken broth, macaroni and cheese, canned yams, cream of mushroom soup, gift cards, canned soups, stuffing, jelly, refried beans, tortillas, canned fruit, dried milk, baby food, oatmeal, canned ravioli, instant potatoes, crackers, cereal, cookies and top ramen.


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