UPDATE: Check out this video of our tree planting in Sunnyside!

Rounding out a week of activities around Earth Day, many of our staff will don T-shirts and old jeans and get their hands dirty Saturday morning at a tree planting in Northwest Denver’s Sunnyside neighborhood. The planting of 400 trees will increase the tree canopy in one of Denver’s most underserved and least shady neighborhoods.

Our participation in the project is part of “DNCC Service Days,” an effort to give back to the community that has been such a gracious host, and reflects our commitment to making this year’s Democratic Convention the most environmentally-sustainable event of its kind.

The project is part of the Mile High Million, Mayor John Hickenlooper’s initiative to plant more than 1 million trees in metro Denver over the next 19 years. In a bit of a warm–up exercise, some of my colleagues participated yesterday in another city-sponsored tree planting on Auraria Parkway, not far from the Pepsi Center, home of our 2008 Convention. You can check out our work – and perhaps catch a bit of shade – when you arrive here in August.

More from Earth Week at the DNCC:

• Green Screen Episode 2: Climate Change
• Earth Day Must Read: DNCC Commitment to Greening Democratic Convention is 'About Stewardship'
• Democratic National Convention Committee Rolls Out Technology Strategies Behind The Most Environmentally Sustainable Democratic Convention To Date
• Speaker Pelosi, DNCC Announce Green Delegate Challenge For 2008 Democratic National Convention
• Greening the 2008 Democratic National Convention 

In February we posted about the great Homes for our Troops project that we have undertaken with the Republican National Convention, the Credit Union National Association and the National Journal Group.  In the months leading up to the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, staff in both Colorado and Minnesota will work to build a house in each Convention host city for severely wounded American troops.

We are now happy to say that we have come one step closer to providing a specially adapted home to Staff Sergeant (SSG) Travis Strong and his family here in Colorado.  On a plot of land in the town of Golden, representatives of the partner organizations, including our own CEO, Leah Daughtry, broke ground with the Strong family during a late-winter Colorado storm yesterday morning.  Despite the cold, there was tremendous excitement in the small tent filled with media, organization members and family supporters.



As part of our DNCC Service Days initiative, our Convention staff is now eager to get involved with the construction of the Strong family household.  As Leah said at yesterday’s event, “We’re looking forward to hammering some nails, hanging some dry wall and laying some sod, as this will be a labor of love for a true American hero.”

Be sure to check back on the blog to find out about our progress with Homes for our Troops.

 Number eight in the DNCC “Service Days” series brought Convention staff to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver’s administrative offices earlier today.  In a warehouse with towers of boxes filled with donations from the Boys and Girls Clubs’ corporate partners, DNCC staff sorted and shelved the items in preparation for their distribution to children across the city.  From backpacks to clothing to sporting equipment, volunteers organized the gifts in order to help make the process of moving everything from the warehouse to children’s hands as quick as possible.  Additionally, volunteers broke down the boxes used to store the donations and packed a large truck full of cardboard to be recycled.

Yesterday we posted here on our service project at Clinica Tepeyac in Denver -- part of the DNCC Service Days series.  For a closer look at our service project and Texas State Senator Van de Putte’s visit, check out our new video chronicling the event below.

In our seventh community service project in the Denver area, DNCC staff spent yesterday at Clinica Tepeyac, a community health center serving uninsured working families in Denver.  Around 20 staffers crammed around a conference table piled high with files and compiled statistical information for the clinic.  The paperwork needed to be prepared for the clinic’s application for State Primary Care Funds, which could provide Clinica Tepeyac with more than $400,000 in funding.

Joining us was Texas State Senator and Co-Chair of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Leticia Van de Putte.  As a pharmacist for more than 28 years, Senator Van de Putte is a strong advocate for children, veterans, improved access to health care, quality education and economic development issues.  The clinic’s executive director, David Lack showed Senator Van de Putte around Clinica Tepeyac, along with DNCC CEO Leah Daughtry and 9th district City Councilwoman Judy H. Montero.  Check out this article by the Associated Press on our day at the clinic.

DNCC Service Days are monthly projects that focus in one of three areas: youth, greening and the combined issues of homelessness and hunger.  To see our previous posts on service events, click here.  Also, check back soon to see video from this event.

Earlier this week, we posted here about our January DNCC Service Days outing at Manual High School with Governor Dean and the DNC Executive Committee. Watch this video to learn more about Manual and see how the DNCC staff worked with the local community to make this school with such a rich history an even brighter place.

As reported on our blog Wednesday, DNCC CEO Leah Daughtry packed an overnight bag this week and headed to Las Vegas for a Convention Conversations forum with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Congresswoman Shelley Berkley. In this video, you’ll see some of the great sites of Las Vegas and meet some of the people who came out to learn more about the Democratic National Convention and how they could get involved in the historic regional opportunities of 2008.

Staff at the Democratic National Convention Committee put on our old jeans and our matching gray DNCC Service Days t-shirts today and headed over to Denver’s Manual High School to paint the teacher’s lounge and help students prepare posters for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Every month, the DNCC staff volunteers time on projects in one of three areas: youth, greening and the combined issues of homelessness and hunger. This month, the DNCC teamed up with the Colorado branch of Volunteers of America to lend a hand at Manual High School.

While in town for the Democratic National Committee’s Executive Committee meeting, DNC Chairman Governor Howard Dean joined the DNCC — even sporting a DNCC t-shirt of his own. Wasting no time, Gov. Dean was given a paint tray, a brush and climbed up a ladder to do some painting. Proving he was well qualified for the job, the Governor’s first question: "Is this paint latex or oil based?"

Leah Daughtry has logged a lot of miles throughout the state of Colorado as she’s teamed up with Democratic leaders to engage Colorado residents and activists in a dialogue about the 2008 Democratic National Convention. On Wednesday, January 9th, the DNCC will take the "Convention Conversations" series over the Colorado state line for the first time. Leah is teaming up with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for a community forum in Las Vegas — and we want you there. 
 

WHERE:

Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 525

760 North Lamb Blvd.

Las Vegas, Nevada 

WHEN:

1:00 p.m., Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Please RSVP to rsvp@demconvention.com or (720) DNC-2008

At the beginning of this week, DNCC CEO Leah Daughtry and the DNCC staff were joined by Colorado First Lady Jeannie Ritter for this months DNCC Service Days project at Denvers Urban Peak — a non-profit shelter and service provider for homeless youth. The DNCC and the First Lady prepared a hot breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns and festive holiday sweet rolls for the youth at Urban Peak. Following the meal, Leah presented the organization with a box filled with clothes and other warm items such as gloves and hats donated by the DNCC staff for the cold weather months. Watch this video to see the event first-hand. And be sure to check out this story from the Rocky Mountain News.