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November 20, 2014 VOLU M E 6 | I SS UE 47 | 5 0 ¢
BrightonBanner.com A D A M S C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
A publication of
‘L i ve i n B r i g ht o n’ Banquet celebrates the best of city
By Lou Ellen Bromley
bromleyclan@hotmail.com Brighton Chamber of Commerce celebrated some outstanding people and businesses that have contributed to the Brighton community over the last year, by honoring them at the annual Brighton Chamber of Commerce banquet at the Adams County fairgrounds Saturday. Announcing the winners for the Small Business of the Year award and the Business of the Year award were last year’s winners, DeDee Harris, owner of the Pink Door Boutique and Nail Salon, and winner of the Business of the Year award for 2013, and Rick Elio, owner of Front Range Auto, and winner of the 2013 Small Business of the Year award. The winner of the Small Business of the Year Award for 2014 is, Brighton Eye Associates with Dr. Rodney Fair and Dr. Cheryl Baker. The Brighton Eye Associates opened for business in Brighton in 1959 and has been a member of the Brighton Chamber of Commerce since then. Fair and Baker are recognized for their efforts to support the eye health and eye needs of Brighton residents. The Brighton Eye Associates office currently has a five star
Melissa Rippy with the All State Insurance team, winners of the Business of the Year Award
Dr. Rodney Fair excepting the Small Business of the Year Award Photos by Lou Ellen Bromley
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online rating from over 400 patients. The winner of the Business of the Year award is Allstate Insurance Agency, located at the Brighton Pavilions and operated by Melissa Rippy. Melissa and her team have been involved in giving back to the community from the time they opened, just over a year ago. The Melissa Rippy Agency has been instrumental in working with the Brighton High School to provide safe driving education to teens, and challenging them to take the “X the Text” pledge. The “X the Text” program encourages teenage drivers to not text and drive. The agency is also actively involved in Brighton High School Athletics, Brighton DECA and several other school activities. Rippy and her team are also giving back to the community by continually holding a toiletry and clothing
drive, and have partnered in a food drive to help provide healthy foods for Brighton residents in need. The Community Organization of the Year Award is given to a Brighton organization that has always maintained a strong effort to help better the Brighton community with outreach programs and inspired strategies and marketing skills. The winner of this award for 2014 is the Brighton Kiwanis Club. The Kiwanis of Brighton have been active in the community for nearly 50 years and has helped the children of Brighton with a variety of programs and projects, and supported other nonprofits. Kiwanis was involved in two outstanding programs in Brighton this year. The first was the Predator AWARE fair, that brought nationally recognized experts in child and youth
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P L EA SE R ECYC L E T H I S C OPY
Citizen of the Year winner, Patricia Murray
safety to Brighton to provide information and helpful techniques to learn about how to protect against online predators, identity theft and other kinds of potential danger to the children and youth. The second program Kiwanis supported in 2014 was to join the 27J school district in a partnership to supply 14 Buddy Benches to each one of the elementary schools in the school district. The Buddy Bench program helps the children in each school by providing a place to go to connect with another child, so no one is left out of play. The Citizen of the Year Award for 2014 was won by Patricia Murray. Patricia has been an important part of the Brighton community for many years and has always given of her time and talents to help others. She has volunteered to serve on many boards and committees in Brighton, including the Platte Valley Medical Center Foundation, the Brighton Economic Development Corporation, the Metro North Chamber and the Colorado State Fair Board, and has been a major supporter of the Brighton Chamber of Commerce for several years. Patricia is a key member of Auer Woodly Murray Inc, where she works with other businesses providing help with their accounting and bookkeeping needs. Fundraising is one of Patricia’s passions; she has spearheaded several capitol campaigns for the Platte Valley Medical Center, which has raised nearly $10 million dollars. Patricia and her husband Glenn are still actively involved in the farming community in Brighton and continue to raise corn, wheat and alfalfa hay. Patricia is also an avid NASCAR fan, having been to several racing events all over the country. She also enjoys playing golf, and is the very proud of the “Ugliest Moustache” award she received at
this year’s Chamber of Commerce golf tournament. Patricia won this award by designing and wearing a moustache she created from her own hair. The last award for the evening was the Ambassador of the Year award, presented to Kim Smith, with Central Payment. Kim was honored for her work with Brighton Chamber president and CEO Holly Hansen during her first year by keeping communication open between the Chamber of Commerce and Brighton business leaders, without expecting praise or rewards for her efforts. The evening’s music and entertainment was provided by Joyful Noise Music School rock band and their director Rich Germaine, and the Impulse Theater Company, who performed a live improvisational comedy show before the awards ceremony began. There was also a silent auction and live auction, with items donated for the event. The money raised by both auctions will be used to support the Brighton Chamber of Commerce in the ongoing services they provide. Companies that helped sponsor the banquet for the Chamber of Commerce included; United Power, The City of Brighton, Wells Fargo Bank, Platte Valley Medical Center, Adams County Government, Valley Bank and Trust and Firefly Event Services. The Brighton Chamber of Commerce was incorporated on Oct. 15, 1955, and now has close to 350 members, who will be helping to celebrating their 60th Anniversary in 2015. The Chamber of Commerce will be kicking off their “honoring the Past/Building the Future” campaign. This campaign will focus on expanding our community resources, building a visitors center and providing new and innovative programs and services for Brighton.
Helping in the name of Thanksgiving By Michelle Boyer
Mkboyer8@gmail.com The Brighton community comes together this weekend for the 12th Annual Almost Home Thanksgiving Box Program. Last year 300 boxes were distributed, helping 1,221 family members of the community. Each box includes; a turkey gift card for a 14 pounds of turkey from King Soopers, 5 pounds of potatoes, 3 pounds of onions (donated by Sakata Farms), carrots, bread (donated by Gordon Bacon), gravy and stuffing, two cans of fruit and two cans of veg-
etables, pinto beans (donated by the Elevator in Roggen, and packaged up by Cub Scouts Pack No. 61), a 1 pound bag of rice and a chocolate cake mix. “It’s a very fun event, in which we get amazing community support and that we certainly get to touch 300 families to have a Thanksgiving that we would like to all have,” Executive Director of Almost Home, Terry Moore said. “It’s a warm feel, and Brighton is very fortunate to have several food pantries who help us supplement what is needed to do a traditional Thanksgiving feast.” This year’s event will have 25
community members helping during the two day event. On Friday volunteers will help assemble each box and on Saturday the boxes will be distributed to the families in need. This year a group from Kaiser, along with the Brighton Youth Commission will also help with the event. “This is the one time of the year we get involved in providing food donations to help families we get to help that we’ve helped the year before,” Moore said. This year’s big three sponsors are Platte Valley Medical Center, United Power and Kaiser. “Turkeys have gotten more
expensive this year,” Moore said. “The cost has gone from $5 for a certificate to $10.50. This year, a turkey is .69 cents a pound. We certainly couldn’t continue without these three organizations. Platte Valley Medical Center does their part all through staff donations alone, and isn’t funded by the organization at all.” Individuals who want to help can still help by donating funds. Also if a family is in need of a box, it is recommended to call Almost Home at 303-659-6199 and confirm that boxes are still available.