NONPROFITS AROUND TOWN: Breakfast for hundreds helps little ones get early education; Hundred Club honors first responders

She has a dream, Noreen Landis-Tyson confided to her 650 breakfast guests: Every child who wants and needs an early childhood education will have one.

Today in Colorado Springs, said the president/CEO of Community Partnership for Child Development, there are 7,000 young children in poverty but only half are being served. CPCD is helping 1,700 of those with early learning and wants to reach more.

"It breaks my heart" when their bus is outside a homeless shelter picking up a 3 year old, she said.

They also try to help the little ones adapt when a parent faces deployment. CPCD serves more than 300 military families.

Donna Garcia took a deep breath and shared with those at the Sept. 24 fundraiser that she and her son, Antonio DeHerrera, had needed CPCD. As a pregnant teen she had been “just another statistic with the odds stacked against me.” But she had a plan — and a supportive mother and friends. And Antonio had Head Start.

Garcia got her education and learned parenting techniques from CPCD while Antonio was learning as well.
“We grew up together,” she said.

Today, he’s a scholarship business major at the University of Colorado at Boulder who pulled a 3.9 GPA in high school and played three sports. She is the family services director for CPCD, with a staff of 65.
“I didn’t crumble,” she said, as her mother, Fern, wiped away tears.

Garcia encouraged the attendees to “Take a Child’s Hand” and they responded with more than $145,000 to support little ones like those who had passed out Elmo juice cartons to those eating breakfast.

Board chair Edna Daniels  said, “Every parent wants the best for their child but not everyone knows where to turn. It’s all about the children.”

The Hundred Club

Since 1994 a group of (now more than 100) local supporters has quietly maintained a fund for first responders, offering emergency financial assistance to families of fallen firefighters or law enforcement officers and awarding grants.

Spearheaded by Bill Hybl and the officers of El Pomar Foundation, The Hundred Club caps each year with an annual meeting and awards ceremony following a day of golf at The Broadmoor where a club member is matched with a first responder.

At the Sept. 28 dinner at Penrose House Pavilion there were three department honorees.

The fire department’s  touched two generations, with Battalion Chief R.C. Smith Jr. sharing the accolades with his father, retired Colorado Springs Fire Chief R.C. Smith Sr. Both had served on the department in the 1970s and 1980s but fellow firefighters recalled that the two professionals never treated each other as family when they were on duty and worked at different stations.

Smith Jr. was applauded for facing the department's budget issues head on and volunteering to serve as a rotating senior officer, working wherever he is needed. Whenever manpower is low, he has asked to once again return to the engines.

Police Sgt. Bill Dehart has gained recognition as head of the Internet Crimes Against Children and other sex-crimes units. He said he has always wanted to "do my best to serve and save people." Dehart thanked The Hundred Club for "what they do for officers," seeing it firsthand when one of his officers, Ken Jordan, was killed on duty.

Deputy Isaac Petterson works high-profile/high-risk prisoner transports, teaches martial arts and raises funds for Special Olympics. His parents, Kathy and Neil Petterson, and his wife applauded his recognition.