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Kudos and Kindness

Buddy Program thankful for support

On Nov. 16, while many in Aspen basked in their first turns of the season on Aspen Mountain, 18 middle and high school students in the Buddy Program’s Experiential Group Mentoring program refined their culinary skills through a four-hour cooking and nutrition workshop.

The day’s menu was Thanksgiving-inspired and included cornbread stuffed chicken, kale with candied walnuts, spiced roasted pumpkin, gravy and Mexican hot chocolate cookies for dessert. Students enjoyed dining on their creations together while discussing their families’ Thanksgiving traditions.



A huge thanks to Carbondale nonprofit YouthEntity for sharing its kitchen space, chef Paul Rose, of Plato’s Restaurant at the Aspen Meadows, for teaching and chef Kristin Boland and chef sssistants Cynthia Ayala (Roaring Fork High School) and Shion Reilly (Basalt High School) for volunteering.

As we head into Thanksgiving season, we at the Buddy Program continue to be thankful for our community’s generosity, which provides so much opportunity for our youth.




Brooke Tuveson

Experiential programs manager, the Buddy Program

Aspen supports its vets

Veterans Day 2013 was our day as veterans, and it was also your day in Aspen. It was a truly beautiful Colorado blue-bird day and a wonderful gathering of veterans.

When I speak of veterans, I include all those family members and friends, because you have been touched by a veteran somewhere, sometime in your life. All of us are veterans. Thank you for your service and support.

Flags on Main Street, nice! Thanks, Streets Department.

No traffic on Main Street. Thanks, community safety officers.

Pitkin County Courthouse crew: You guys are the best!

Rev. Brice, you are one of us!

Jeannie and Richard, perfect!

Roxanne Bank, thank you for sharing your stories.

Darryl Grob, thanks for remembering our fallen.

Paul Andersen, we welcome you and Huts for Vets into our family.

Matt Hazlett, sweet song and sweet music. Thank you.

Remembering the fallen — a heartfelt thanks to those guests who shared with us.

Adam McCabe, your heart is in the right place!

The fifth-grade class, simply wonderful. Thanks for the beautiful songs and the wreath ceremonies; Amy Grey and Debbie Kreutzer, you gals rock!

Elks Lodge No. 224, thank you for your unwavering support for veterans and to our community. A special thanks for a lovely meal.

Aspen, you did the veterans proud, and you did Aspen proud. Thanks to all the veterans and guest who attended our day. You made it a special day.

Dan Glidden

Basalt

A caring community

Friends of the Aspen Animal Shelter would like to extend our deepest appreciation to Mike Goldman, Jesse Wey, Tom Slanga, Rob Leventhal, Cru Vin Dog Wines and the wonderful staff at Square Grouper for hosting a fun-filled evening benefit for our nonprofit’s spay-neuter and rescue campaign.

We also would like to thank our wonderful community for coming out on a snowy night to sit outside under heat lamps and visit with the animal-shelter dogs. Everyone there enjoyed the delicious food served at Square Grouper, which was paired with wonderful Cru Vin Loyal Companion wines, while offering heartfelt support for the homeless animals of Aspen and Pitkin County.

Special recognition to Mike Goldman, who not only hosted the event but adopted his beloved pup, Bogie, from the Aspen Animal Shelter.

We are so fortunate to live in a community filled with caring, generous and compassionate people. Thank you for your support!

Seth Sachson, Anne Gurchick, Bland Nesbit and friends of the Aspen Animal Shelter board

Quite the production

Scientist and doctors tell us that laughter is a concrete and valid healing agent. Since that is true, the Roaring Fork Valley is healthier today than it was two weeks ago, before Aspen Community Theater’s performance of “The Producers” rocked the halls with laughter. It’s a struggle to find words — there are several points to make, and they don’t even fall in any order. They are all first and most important.

The talent. Simply amazing. Residents of our valley are unique in many ways — that’s one of the reasons it’s so easy to love life here. The depth of talent found in our schools, offices, restaurants and shops continues to stagger the imagination. We are blessed by gifted and enormously talented bosses, co-workers and friends.

The support. It’s inspiring. The Roaring Fork Valley has a huge heart. Individuals, programs and nonprofit agencies serve our population on every level.

The dedication of volunteers. As a Thrift Shop volunteer, I learned about hundreds of volunteer not-for-profit agencies that serve this valley and its residents. Thousands of volunteer hours are the infrastructure of our community, and here, Aspen Community Theater wins an Oscar. Unimaginable and untold hours/days/weeks/months of volunteer time go into creating the gift we, as the public, receive.

The directors and producers (thank you, Ritie!), the musicians, choreographers, set-costume-lighting-sound designers, prop crew, stage managers, and — ta-da! — the actors pour their hearts, souls and oh-so-much time into each Aspen Community Theatre performance. And, impossible as it seams, the bar seems to rise each year.

We thank you, and the community thanks you — each of you. We are all happier, lighter and deeply moved by the gift you give.

Nancy and Wolf Gensch

Snowmass Village

Great season on the gridiron

I’m Axel Quintanilla, a sixth-grade student at Aspen Middle School. This was my first year in football — I played for Aspen #1.

I would like to thank many people: the Aspen Elks Lodge No.224 for being our sponsor, Ron Morehead for organizing our teams and Carol Sams at Aspen High School for letting us use the fields. I would also like to thank our coaches. I hope I get to play football again next year. I had a great season.

Axel Quintanilla

Aspen Middle School