November Peak News
Youth Spotlight
Meet Ella, a vibrant and uplifting young woman with a contagious smile. Since coming to The Spot in May, she has been working with her case manager to secure her vital documents, apply to college and get a job. She was relentless in her job search, going to interview after interview, and it finally paid off as she was recently hired on the spot at Regal Cinemas!
Ella is positive and honest, with a big heart and fun new hairstyles on the regular. She’s the kind of person who will go out of her way to seek out new youth at The Spot and make them feel welcome. In her free time, Ella enjoys taking long walks and listening to music, drawing, cleaning and studying new, interesting topics.
She’s interested in becoming a real estate agent, or maybe a veterinarian! Maybe even doing some modeling on the side. No matter where she ends up, she’ll be ready for it. Despite all the challenges she has faced, Ella feels that her experience with homelessness has made her into a strong and independent young woman, ready to take on the world.
You’re a boss, Ella!
Peak Spotlight
As the holidays are approaching, you have an opportunity to make a direct impact in the lives of the most vulnerable in our community: youth experiencing homelessness.
Colorado Gives Day, Urban Peak’s most important fundraising day of the year, is on Tuesday, December 5th, and we need your help! Make a difference in the life of a young person in need and donate to Urban Peak today. Your gift will support our outreach team on the street, provide meals for youth at our drop-in center, offer clean clothes for those staying at our shelter and allow us to continue operating housing and programs for our youth.
Thank you for being the spark that ignites the potential in youth to exit homelessness and live self-determined, fulfilled lives. We are changing lives every day with your help.
Partner Highlight
This Thanksgiving, Chef Tajahi Cooke and his wife Danielle will be out on the streets of Denver serving hot meals to those in need, many of whom are people experiencing homelessness.
Organized through their business Ms. Betty’s Cooking (named for Chef Taj’s grandmother), this year marks the fifth annual Ms. Betty’s Harvest Madsgiving and their third year working directly with Urban Peak to ensure that our youth can enjoy delicious food prepared with love by caring members of the community.
It started in 2018 with a simple desire: to serve warm meals that they’d made in their studio apartment to their older neighbors and friends who could not cook. Then they boxed up the leftovers to hand out around downtown to those who could use a warm meal.
Ms. Betty’s Harvest Madsgiving has exponentially grown since then. Last year, they served 8,693 meals across metro Denver with the help of 175 volunteers. This year, they’re aiming to double that number! That’s more than 15,000 hot Thanksgiving meals, prepped and ready to serve to Denver’s unhoused community.
“We have some amazing volunteers and chefs behind this project,” Chef Taj shared. “There’s a need within our community that must be filled.” He continued, “with you all at Urban Peak doing it every single day, I’m just honored to come in with our crew and rocket out on Thanksgiving Day.”
To Chef Taj, Danielle and the amazing Madsgiving community they’ve built, thank you. We are just as honored to be a part of your generosity and care for the least fortunate.
If you’re interested in learning more, visit their website (linked above) and check them out on Instagram at @msbettysgrandson!
First ESL Class at The Spot!
Urban Peak recently hosted its first ESL (English as a Second Language) class at The Spot to help ease the transition for our Spanish-speaking youth, and it was fantastic!
These young people are such quick learners and they picked up the new vocabulary in no time at all. Once they’ve mastered the basics, we'll be expanding into grammar and conversation.
Keep up the hard work, everyone!
Left to right: Antoni, Jesus, Yonglis, Anderson, Jose, Eduiyn and Estéfany
From all of us at Urban Peak, Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃🍂
