Barbara Lawlor, Gilpin County.  Their goal was to raise $14,000.

It was the fifth consecutive year that the Gilpin County Education Foundation gathered for a good time, a great dinner and an even better cause: that of raising scholarship money for Gilpin County students.

After the carnival games and the raffles, the speeches from former scholarship recipients and words of encouragement and support from Senator Tim Neville; after the salad and a large, perfectly cooked tender steak, cherry-covered cheesecake and wine, the guests at the Reserve Casino’s restaurant signed their donation cards, waved them in the air and left them at their table.

The final tally was $14,000.

GCEF board member Sarah says, “This year was by far our most successful event. Thanks to the Reserve Casino significantly underwriting the cost of the dinner, we will net $12,707.”

The annual fundraising event is a gala affair and the 90 people attending the event had more than their share of fun and laughter. It was a time to enjoy the company of their neighbors, fellow business owners and friends and parents of former, present and future Gilpin County students. Those applying for the scholarships do not have to attend Gilpin Schools, but they do have to live in Gilpin County.

GCEF board members Sunny Vincent and Sarah Swanson led the festivities thanking the Reserve Casino, the Saratoga, the Isle of Capri, the Clinton Family Fund and United Power. Included in the fundraising total was a $4,000 grant from the Colorado Department of Education for scholarships to Red Rocks Community College.

Before the dinner was served, attendees were invited to play carnival games, involving bean bags and funny hats. Winners earned raffle tickets which were then traded for gifts for the lucky winning ticket holders. Handfuls of handmade wooden chickens, including one in Colorado colors, athletic bobble heads, backpacks filled with cool stuff, bottles of liquor, candle holders and an antique doll were doled out. The big ticket items were two gift certificates for two-nights on the town at the Century Casino.

As the hilarity died down, the audience was introduced to two Gilpin High School graduates who received a GCEF scholarship. The poised students addressed the crowd, relating what the scholarships meant to each of them.

Daniel Madrigal-Garcia, who received a $1,000 scholarship thanked the board for their support, saying it had been a huge help in his pursuit of a college degree. He is currently studying electrical engineering at CSU.

“I have learned a lot in the first few months of college, academically and personally. I have come to notice that the choices I make in school have contributed to my ultimate values in life.”

To help pay for his tuition, Daniel works at the school’s bakeshop where he helps produce the goods which are distributed throughout the dining halls on campus. Through work and scholarships, he has put a sizable dent in one semester’s tuition.

“I hope to make the most out of these opportunities so that your money does not go to waste.”

Sara Osteboe also attends Colorado State University where she studies global and social science and is working toward a graduate degree in International Social Work, studying refugee populations. She says her GCEF scholarship has helped her become one step closer to her dream.

“I lived in Norway in my senior year and seeing the mass movement of Syrian, Afghani, and North African refugees first hand, as well as the intricacies of social and mental welfare.. CSU has an excellent six-year double major in Social Work and Public Health.”

Sara is in a Key Communities program in which students live together and take specialized classes together. She works at the Environmental Learning Center cleaning trails and maintaining 600 acres of conserved land outside of Fort Collins. She says she can invest more time in service hours and focus on school, rather than taking another job.

“Receiving recognition from an organization like the Gilpin County Education Foundation helps students take this step.”

The night’s featured speaker was Senator Tim Neville who represents Gilpin County. Neville said he came from a single parent family and money was tight. He said his father told him he was proud of his decision to go college and wished him luck.

Neville attended a junior college, working at a restaurant to pay his tuition which then was $140 a semester.

It was the 1970’s in Florida and he was thrilled to win a $150 scholarship from Howard Johnson Restaurant.

“No one had ever given me anything before and that is the key…showing young people that you believe in them.”

He advised the GCEF to give the students a starter, helping them in a two-year college, telling them, “We believe in you, take this and then go make something happen.”

Neville told the donors that they were doing it the way they should, getting together, having a good time and giving their kids a head start.

Students who are interested in applying for a scholarship must have graduated from high school and intend to go to college.