• March 29th, 2024
  • Friday, 12:02:03 PM

Clínica Tepeyac Celebrates 25th Annual Fiesta on the Plaza


Photo: Chanel Ward/ ©The Weekly Issue/El Semanario Cathy Schuster received the Jim García & Gloria Padilla de García Foundation Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service.

by Chanel Ward

 

Denver’s Clínica Tepeyac Celebrated its 25th Annual Fiesta on the Plaza Saturday evening at Infinty Park Events Center in Glendale, CO, where over 300 people were in attendance, dressed in their best and ready to enjoy a night of great food, company, entertainment and an exciting auction that raised roughly $200,000.

The evening was as exciting as it was successful, with a wide array of auction items to be won and entertainment to behold, with music by Westminster High School Mariachi de la Luna, a procession by María Vasquez and Flamenco Denver, followed by a warm and familiar welcome with Anne Trujillo, Denver 7, who continued to emcee the event throughout the evening.

Photo: Chanel Ward/ ©The Weekly Issue/El Semanario Globeville, Elyria-Swansea (GES) Coalition received the Clínica Tepeyac Outstanding Community Partner Award.

A delicious three coursed meal, catered by Occasions Catering, accompanied by beautiful music from Lone Piñon out of Santa Fe, NM flowed throughout the room, while familiar chatter and smiling faces filled in the spaces, working together to create La Fiesta as it is known.

Founder and CEO of Clínica, Jim García thanked his sponsors, committee and attendees humbly and gratefully before giving an update on their new location.

“We started on the corner of 36th and Kalamath, in this little renovated 350 square foot house in North Denver, it wasn’t Highland or Lowland or whatever they call it now, it was North Denver.”

García continued, “We have found the site for our new location, not far from our administrative building in the Elyria neighborhood, just North of downtown at 48th and Race. That is a 6-acre parcel that will be the future home of Clínica Tepeyac.”

Their current facility is 6,000 sq. ft. to which they’ll be upgrading close to 25,000 sq. ft., a nearly 19,000 sq. ft. upgrade to go with their vastly expanding cliental.

Photo: Chanel Ward/ ©The Weekly Issue/El Semanario Lorenzo Trujillo and Ellen Alires-Trujillo were presented with the Clínica Tepeyac Corazón y Alma Award.

“What’s great, is that at this new site we’re going to be able to have a ground floor and above us are going to be three floors of affordable housing. These are going to be homes for people who have been displaced or lack a home to live,” explained García.

Jim García and his wife Gloria Padilla de García announced the Founders Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service to Cathy Schuster, for her longstanding partnership with Clínica, which began in the late 1980’s. Schuster is the Program Officer for Colorado Action for Healthy People (CAHP) and has contributed to procuring auction items for the annual Fiesta over the past twenty-five years.

Some of the auction items included a signed Terrell Davis football, a trip to the Virgin Islands and an original painting entitled, “The Dream Continues” by noted artist Daniel Luna, which also sold thousands in limited edition replicas.

However, it was before the auction where the real generosity poured in from Max and Elaine Appel, the Denver family that co-founded the successful company Orange Glo decades ago.

The Appels donated $100,000 to Clínica for their work and mission. Max Appel, a West Denver native, said about his generous donation, “I’m not trying to get political, but when I see the people moving up from El Salvador, I cry, and I think you cry too.

“When you come to Clínica [Tepeyac], you see people, you say I am helping my fellow man. You’re empathetic and you’re thinking. Please join us,” Appel ended, before donating $100,000.

Photo: Chanel Ward/ ©The Weekly Issue/El Semanario Max and Elaine Appel generously donated to Clínica Tepeyac at this year’s Annual Fiesta on the Plaza fundraiser.

He initially agreed to match up to $50,000, before he and his wife raised their auction paddle to match their own donation challenge.

Additional honors were presented to the Globeville, Elyria-Swansea (GES) Coalition with the Clínica Tepeyac Outstanding Community Partner Award, and Lorenzo Trujillo and Ellen Alires-Trujillo were given the Clínica Tepeyac Corazón y Alma Award.

To learn more about Clínica Tepeyac and their services, you can visit their website at ClinicaTepeyac.org or to reach their Clinic directly call (303) 458-5302.

 

Chanel Ward is an Independent Reporter for The Weekly Issue/El Semanario.

 

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Photo: Chanel Ward/ ©The Weekly Issue/El Semanario Clínica Tepeyac, CEO, Jim García expressed notable gratitude for his wife, Gloria Padilla de García, and her support in developing the Clínica Tepeyac over the past 25 years.