Anchor Center’s Sunset in the Country fundraiser
There are barns, and then there is the J-5 Equestrian Center in Littleton.
It’s a magnificent facility owned by Louisa and Robert Jornayvaz, the No. 1 amateur polo player in the U.S., and has been a venue for such popular events as a lively dress-Western prelude to the Denver Active 20-30 Children’s Foundation’s annual polo match.
Most recently it was the setting for Sunset in the Country, which for 21 years has been the signature fundraiser for Anchor Center for Blind Children.
Six hundred friends of Anchor Center attended this $150-a-ticket cocktail party, auction, dinner and dance chaired by Claudia Beauprez and Frances Owens. The Jornayvazes were the honorary chairmen.
Louisa Jornayvaz is the former Louisa Craft, who was a 9News anchor/reporter in the late 1990searly 2000s. Among other things, she had hosted “Good Afternoon, Colorado” with longtime 9News anchor Mark Koebrich, who was master of ceremonies for Sunset in the Country.
As is tradition, table hosts are responsible for providing the décor for their tables. Themes this year ranged from Dia de los Muertos to Albinism is Beautiful. Children with albinism often have issues with their vision, and in the 35 years since its founding by a librarian for the Colorado Library for the Blind and members of the Denver alumnae chapter of Delta Gamma sorority, Anchor Center has become a national model for giving children with vision impairments the best possible head start.
“Ninety percent of learning involves vision,” noted executive director Heather Cameron. “Our team of teachers and therapists provide the love, encouragement, compassion and kindness that lets children progress far beyond what families may have feared that their child could do. In the end, our kids are able to ‘see’ in all different kinds of ways and have grown up to become teachers, artists, athletes and more.”
This year’s table hosts included Murri and Andy Bishop, Wendy and John Clayton, Carla and Bob King, Tami and Michael Perez-Mesa, Mary and Tom Rogers, Sherri Thorn and the Four Seasons Hotel Denver.
Committees were headed by Cheryl Blankenship, Kay Ray, Meg VanderLaan and Nancy Yaron; Tanya and Jeff Watkins, Michelle and Doug Reeb, Maria and Lee Kunz and EKS&H were Visionary Sponsors; Sage Scheer was the Hero Sponsor.
Pam Crowe, who with her husband, Jim, had opened their home for the event in years past, was among the guests, joining a group that also included Jamie and Al Angelich; Mary Spillane and Travis Webb, who were there with her Comcast colleague and Anchor Center board member Tiffany Payne; Margie and Dave Hunter; Jan Hammond, one of those at a table hosted by Donnis and Dr. Michael Moore; Dayle Cedars, who conducted the live auction; Kyle Dyer, whose Kyle Dyer Storytelling did the video that helped introduce the evening’s special appeal; and Jessica Johnson, the parent speaker.
Johnson related how her daughter, Avery, has “blossomed into a social and happy little girl,” thanks to her time at Anchor. “There is hardly ever a moment now that she is not smiling and laughing. It has not always been this way. We are endlessly and wholeheartedly grateful to all of the staff, teachers, therapists, volunteers and administrators … whose services, teachings, aid and steadfast dedication have cultivated and nurtured my daughter’s skills.”