PREMIERE EVENTS

Where Non-Profits Get Noticed!TM Experience our $70 million transformation Blacktie photojournalists have professionally covered hundreds of events from benefit runs, walks, and thrift store openings to intimate and enormous fund raisers and of course, blacktie galas. Here you will find the events that our members wanted covered. Many of the over 100,000 pictures from the thousands of covered events from the last seven years are here for all to enjoy and share

End-of-Summer Celebrity Bash hosts Darren Pang of ESPN, Avalanche captain Joe Sakic and wife Debbie and Curtis Leschyshyn View Pictures View Slide Show PROVIDE YOUR EVENT FEEDBACK

It’s always exciting when you have the opportunity to rub elbows with your favorite celebrity or sports star, and over 500 people showed up at the Inverness Hotel for the opportunity to meet some of Colorado’s best athletes and to help out one of Colorado’s best organizations.

The hat-trick combo of Colorado Avalanche superstar Joe Sakic and his wife Debbie, along with ESPN commentator Darren Pang, hosted the 8th annual End-of-Summer Celebrity Bash benefiting the Food Bank of the Rockies.

The Celebrity Bash is the kick-off party for the annual golf tournament held at Sanctuary Golf Course, hosted for the past eight years by hockey great Joe Sakic and his wife Debbie. The event was eagerly anticipated by hockey fans who missed seeing their favorite sport this past year due to a lockout. The supportive fans looked forward to the chance to get up-close and personal with members of the Avalanche hockey team and to help out a great charity that supports children.

Forty-two percent of the Food Bank’s clients are children, with twelve percent of them being five years old or younger. There are few things more unfortunate than a child whose physical, mental and social development has been put at risk due to hunger. Childhood hunger is an epidemic because moderate nutritional vulnerability can impair a child’s cognitive development and result in a lifetime of damage.

The Food Bank of the Rockies and their Children’s Nutrition Network address childhood hunger, which impacts children’s physical, mental, spiritual and social growth. Working with agencies that focus on needy children, such as daycare facilities, camps and programs for at-risk youth, the Network also includes three programs to nourish growing bodies. The Kids Café Program, the After School Snacks for Tutoring Program and Kids Menu help make sure that kids in Colorado get the nutrition their young bodies need.

Providing an assist for the winning event was newly acquired defenseman Curtis Leschyshyn, part of the Avalanche team until 1997, who has made his way back to Colorado hockey club. Fans remember Leschyshyn’s contributions that helped bring the first Stanley Cup to Denver.

Opie Gone Bad, one of Denver’s favorite local bands, entertained the crowd while they enjoyed a buffet dinner and dipped delicious deserts in a chocolate fountain that coincidentally resembles the Stanley Cup trophy.

Darren Pang, a one time NHL goalie, and Sakic provided witty banter for the crowd and set up the winning play by Joe Priddy who helped raise funds by leading the live auction.

Food Bank of the Rockies assists 95,000 children living in poverty and those at risk of living in hunger. The funds raised at the Celebrity Classic will provide essential funding for the Food Bank and its Children’s Nutrition Network.