Benefiting Samaritan House & Shelter Services
Evening's Emcee: Kyle Dyer
Kyle Dyer Storytelling and former 9News anchor
Saturday, September 11, 2021
6:00 p.m.
Spirits, Snacks, Sounds and Sam's Art Walk
7:30 p.m.
Dinner & Show
6 p.m.
Spirits, Snacks, Sounds and Sam's Art Walk
7:30 p.m.
Supper & Show
Mile High Station
2027 Old West Colfax Ave.
Denver, CO 80204
For donations and additional information please contact
Shelly Saeman at ssaeman@ccdenver.org or 720-799-9289
As a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, Catholic Charities thrives on donations made by individuals like you, corporations like yours, and foundations that have a heart for those in need.
"He Comes to Serve" Award Recipient
THE DANIELS FUND
Private Charitable Foundation
The Daniels Fund
The Daniels Fund is a private charitable foundation based in Denver, Colorado. It was founded by Bill Daniels, a decorated fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War, who went on to become one of the early pioneers of the cable television industry. Throughout his lifetime, Daniels gave generously to people in need and the organizations that serve them. Before his death in 2000, Daniels spent his final years carefully defining the specific funding areas he wished to support through his foundation, the geographic regions that would benefit from that support, and the percentage of funding allocated for each region. Following Bill Daniels' direction, the Daniels Fund provides grants to nonprofit organizations, awards college scholarships through two distinct programs, and operates an ethics initiative to promote principle-based ethics. The Daniels Fund provides grants and scholarships in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, with limited funding directed to programs of national impact that fall within the foundation's charitable mission.
Courteney Saeman Volunteer of the Year Award Recipient
Tom Schwein
Tom Schwein
Being a Colorado native, Tom loves the outdoors, especially hunting, fishing, and cycling. He attended Regis University on a baseball scholarship, and played semi-professional baseball in Europe before beginning his career in finance and accounting. He went on to obtain his MBA and CPA license. After nearly 20 years at Coors Industries, Tom ventured out to help companies develop and implement strategies to improve their financial and operating performance, and has been involved in a number of successful private equity backed turn-arounds.
Tom met his wife Susan while at Regis. They have been happily married for 34 years, and are the proud parents of four adult children, Tara (& Lyle), Tyler (& Rachel), Kendra, and Kirby (& Caitie). They also have five wonderful grandchildren.
Nine years ago when Tara became engaged to be married, Tom realized he needed to lose some weight for her wedding. Together, with five friends, he decided to participate in Ride the Rockies, the marque cycling event in Colorado. While on one of his very first training rides, Tom asked himself “If we are going to be working so hard on these rides, we might as well try to raise money for a charity.” After some deliberation, Tom chose the Samaritan House, which is how Team Samaritan House came to be.
The original six riders were happy to have raised $12,000 for the Samaritan House in 2011. Now, in their tenth year, the team has grown to nearly 100 riders; all raising awareness and money for the homeless of Denver. This spring, the team reached a monumental milestone – raising its first $1.0 million for the homeless. Tom looks forward to continuing his ministry of raising awareness and money for the homeless, both in Colorado and through expansion nationally.
Courteney Saeman Volunteer of the Year Award Recipient
Tom Dea
Tom Dea
I have worked in water my entire career and I am proud to be Co-Captain. I am also self-appointed captain of a subset of Team Samaritan House (TSH), that is known as “Team Fluidity”. Team Fluidity flows like water and the plan is always fluid. We contact good people, organizations, and churches wherever we travel, and we basically beg for lodging. We have been blessed by so many sponsors who have opened their homes and their hearts to TSH and we have made lifelong friendships.
I feel very lucky to have met great parents at All Souls School (including Tom Schwein and Mike Marion) when our kids attended grade school and we coached them in their formative years. Tom, Mike and I started TSH, like many good things start, late at night in a garage. I am grateful to be one of the initial 6 riders who founded TSH and I pride myself on being able to ride as slow or slower than anyone on the team. TSH would not be where we are today without Tom Schwein and his long-standing faith and commitment to success. I am thankfully pulled into orbit by Tom’s love and passion.
Being part of TSH for these past 10 years has been a blessing for my health (physical, mental and spiritual). I have been very, very lucky to ride with my son Matt, brother Tim, nephew Adam Dawkins, and many friends who are now like family – Young and Old! The past four years I have been the luckiest tandem Captain riding with Andre Van Hall as my “Blind Stoker”. Andre and I are super slow on the ups, but if anyone wants to race, just wait for us at the top.
I’ve had college friends and work colleagues from near and far join TSH and everyone has had a grand time. Riding a bike is easy… Riding a bike 100 miles in one day with 6,000’ of vertical climbing is not easy, but with friends and purpose it is rewarding.
Riding bikes with friends with the purpose of helping others less fortunate is Pure Elation. When you are with your friends it’s the best place to be. When you find a friend and both are giving to a greater cause, they are a blessing. To have my friends always be by my side makes me Grateful!
I could not do any of this without the unending love and support from my family, especially my wife Anne, who lets me play on my bike every weekend from April through June, while she does yard work and supports us all with prayers and yes - cookies!
Why do we ride? We ride for many things, but first and foremost is for the homeless. “There By The Grace Of God Go I”. I have found it easier for me to raise money than it is to engage with the homeless, but thanks to one of my spiritual guides who asked me “do you touch them?” and many follow up conversations, I have begun to be comfortable meeting the homeless at their level and accept them where they are. I challenge everyone on our team to take time and meet them. Ask them their name, and visit with them. Finally, say a prayer for them. The real heroes are the people at The Samaritan House and the multitudes of people throughout the world who help the homeless daily!
TSH is just here doing small deeds, but as Mother Theresa and Tom Schwein say:
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
I have been blessed and I am happy to be able to pass some love forward.
We Move Water
A PLACE FOR NEW BEGINNINGS:
Amber’s Story:
Coming out on top of difficult circumstances
Amber at Samaritan House
Amber stirred soup in the kitchen of Samaritan House in Downtown Denver, while her 12-year-old daughter, Andelina cleaned off tables in the dining area. Many years ago, when Amber was a child, she, her mother and sisters had been residents at the homeless shelter operated by Catholic Charities. Amber wanted to give back to the place that helped her through a scary time.
Currently, Amber is in her third year at Metro State in a work study program. She is studying human services because she would like to help others to stay on the right path. Top of her class, she values setting a good example for her daughter. Now Amber is happily married and expecting her second child. She, her husband and Andelina all were baptized in the Catholic Church two years ago and received First Holy Communion as a family.
Amber grew up in difficult circumstances.
“When I was about six or seven years old. My mom was incarcerated,” she recalled. While her mom served time, her grandparents took care of her and her older sister. When she moved back with her mother, it quickly became apparent to Amber that her mother could not provide for them and they ended up at Samaritan House.
Amber & Andelina
When they got back on her feet, they moved out, but the struggle continued. Often time, her grandparents would retrieve her from the living situation. Because of the lessons taught by her grandparents, she realized that there were two paths her life could take: The one chosen by her mother and sister which included drinking and partying, or the path encouraged by her grandparents which included staying in school.
The pattern of moving back and forth between her mother’s apartment and her grandparents’ house continued. During that time, she stayed determined to do well in school. It was hard work because she became a mother to Adelina at a young age, but she graduated top of her class. As she remembered her grandfather’s words to stay in school, she taught her daughter the importance of school.
“ I'm just trying to have her sow seeds that are definitely a learning experience for her so she doesn't have to deal with the things that I had to deal with,” said Amber of Andelina. ""I told her that we live in a crazy world. And I just want Adelina to know that she is loved, and that God loves her and that she can make it. I tell her all the time you know there's a good path. And there's a bad path, you can't have both. So you get to choose to do right, or we choose to do wrong and end up to places where you don't want to be, like prison.”