Welcome to the
2022 Greenway Current
Dive into our digital review of The Greenway Foundation’s (TGF) year to get a glimpse of the tangible environmental improvements we’ve had through community events and engineering projects, see how we brought students to the river, and discover what hard-fought victories we won when it comes to protecting our rivers statewide. We have a lot to share, and we’re excited for you to see how 2022 was a year for the books.
Our Proudest Moments from 2022
of federal funding, along with local match funding, has created the single largest financial commitment to the South Platte River ever.
of trash collection was completed in riverside parks and green spaces as part of The Greenway Foundation’s stewardship projects.
attended South Platte River Environmental Education (SPREE) camps, excursions, and events to make lasting connections to the river.
attended our summer river festival, CROSSCURRENTS.
chose to support our work through over $700,000 in grants and sponsorships.
gave to our monthly giving program, Friends of Greenway.
We are pleased to present The Greenway Foundation’s 2022 Greenway Current
2022 saw some exciting changes for The Greenway Foundation including a new Executive Director and a new logo! While we may look a little different we are still the same group of passionate stewards that remain dedicated to educating, protecting, improving and celebrating our City, our river and the people who live, work and play along its banks.
We hope that you will take a moment to reflect on the past year with us as we celebrate some amazing accomplishments including:
- $350,000,000 in federal funding for the South Platte River, Weir Gulch and Harvard Gulch
- SPREE field trips returning to our riverside parks
- The return of Denver’s only river festival, now known as CROSSCURRENTS
And many more!
We are proud and honored to champion our rivers, creeks, and streams along with YOU and we look forward to seeing you at the river!
Kip Stastny
Board Chairman
Ryan Aids
Executive Director
The Greenway Team
It takes a village (and then some) to steward the river—but day-to-day, it takes the hard work of a small but mighty team. Meet the talented and passionate people of The Greenway Foundation.
Creating extraordinary experiences for all kids
For over 40 years, The Greenway Foundation has introduced tens of thousands of children to the South Platte River through its SPREE program. SPREE aims to develop a positive relationship between the South Platte River and Denver area youth through school excursions, day camps, weekend events, internships, and summer employment.
Educating students through SPREE
Look at all we’ve accomplished in 2022.
Excursions
Our SPREE excursions finally headed back to the river! These field trips provide invaluable hands-on, experiential learning opportunities for Denver students. Researchers have found a number of trends demonstrating the positive impact environmental education has on learning, motivation, skill-building, and empowerment.
SPREE’s field trip program served nearly 4,000 in 2022, from many different backgrounds. 100% of these students receive scholarship pricing to ensure cost is never a barrier to this place-based learning.
Camps
When Denver Public Schools are out… SPREE is in! SPREE Camps were in full swing in 2022. We served over 400 campers by the river in Johnson Habitat park over 10 weeks of summer camp and 10 days of school break camp. With unique themes like Animal Olympics, Underwater Explorers, and Creepy Crawlers there was no shortage of fun while learning about the environment and campers were sure to have a blast completing our beaver boss, Chompers’ missions.
River Rangers
To start off the year, SPREE hired 6 River Ranger Interns from Kipp Denver Collegiate High School to teach at our in-person field trips- the first time since the pandemic started! Over the summer, we hired 4 high school River Rangers to teach full time at our summer camp! All 4 achieved their Environmental Educator certification through The Colorado Alliance of Env Education! TGF also awarded four $1,000 Joe Shoemaker Memorial scholarships to current and past Summer River Rangers to help with college tuition!
Greenway Leadership Corps
GLC had over 130 high school students from the Denver Metro Area participate in stewardship and outdoor adventures with GLC in 2022! Some of our favorite experiences included white water rafting down the Arkansas River, camping under the stars in Buena Vista, practicing survival skills & nature mindfulness at Cal-wood Education Center, planting trees at the Youth Exploring Stewardship Conference, and picking up over 50 large trash bags of litter from in and along the South Platte River!
Family Events
SPREE led and participated in many community family events this year. These events were free, and all encouraged families to get outside and create connections with nature, whether it be through an arts and crafts project, going fishing, or cleaning up a local park.
SPREE in the Community
SPREE consistently showed up for our community in 2022. A particular focus on historically marginalized-Denver communities led to events like HarvestSHARE in the Cole neighborhood and the Westwood Block Party. We held our annual Family Camp Out in Johnson Habitat Park, where we made dinner – and s’mores – over the fire, and taught families how to set up tents before sleeping under the stars. The Family CookOut was just as successful, with games and crafts and critter crawl – and of course more s’mores!
Stewardship
Taking care of the watershed that takes care of us is not only rewarding, it’s necessary to our future. There are so many ways to be good stewards. Whether you donate money, volunteer time, share your knowledge, or all of the above—the good news is that every effort counts. Take a look at some of our stewardship projects from 2022.
Volunteering
TGF hosts two large volunteer events each year, one in spring and one in fall. During these weekend programs, hundreds of volunteers work in riverside projects to collect trash, spread mulch, protect park fixtures, and more! Between these two events, we donated over 425 volunteer hours in Fishback Park and Globeville Park!
Clean Water Challenge
This year The Greenway Foundation worked with two teams from Colorado School of Mines for the Clean Water Challenge. We tasked the teams with removing three pollutants: phosphorus, nitrogen, and E. coli. Teams spend two semesters researching the problem and coming up with a concept and each presented an innovative solution in April 2022.
Nautilus
Nautilus is an exciting project for Colorado’s waterways. By passively collecting trash during its 10-month pilot, the Nautilus passively collected over 300 items of trash along the north side of the Cherry Creek between Blake Street and Market Street. An engineering team at Stantec is working on the next iteration of Nautilus right now. This next version will be a full-scale installation on the north side of Cherry Creek by the stormwater outfall between Blake Street and Market Street. Stay tuned for updates!
Celebrate the South Platte River
The river is for everyone! From galas and festivals to family fishing and stewardship opportunities. Gather with The Greenway Foundation and enjoy all your river has to offer.
CROSSCURRENTS
TGF was thrilled to bring back our summer river festival with a new name: CROSSCURRENTS. This free community event happens in July in Confluence Park, and features water activities, live music, Kids Zone, beverages and food trucks for fun all day! In 2022, TGF and our partners welcomed over 5,000 attendees to this event, and we cannot wait to host it again in 2023.
Gala on The Bridge
Our Gala on the Bridge happens in the north end of Commons Park and the 19th St. Pedestrian Bridge. This event is our largest fundraising event of the year, and in 2022 we had over 70 sponsors support and attend this event. TGF also honored Ronda Sandquist as the 2022 Hero of the River for her longstanding commitment to water in Denver and the State of Colorado.
Reception on the River
TGF hosts the Mile High Flood District Reception on the River, an annual networking and celebration event for all things water! This outdoor event features heavy hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and live music! In 2022, TGF hosted 300+ attendees from all facets of the local water community, and were honored to have Joshua Laipply, Chief Projects Office for the City and County of Denver, as our featured speaker.
Revitalization Projects
In 2022, Each of The Greenway Foundation’s revitalization projects has, to one extent or another, the four benefit goals of any and all river projects – environmental, recreational, water quality, and flood control.
$350 million of federal funding has been secured for the South Platte River. This, along with local match funding have created the single largest financial commitment to the South Platte River ever! Enjoy learning more about the efforts made in 2022 to return a river to all of its people.
CSU Spur Campus & Water Center
Rino Art Park & Promenade
River Mile
Our Supporters
Thank you so much to our generous sponsors and grant providers.
We couldn’t do what we do without their incredible support and we’re honored to serve our local community and environment with the help of these dedicated entities and individuals.
Individual Donors
Emily A Grant
Thomas Abbott
Liz Adams
Ryan Aids
Ashlie Aids
Brenda Aids
Ruby Aids
Ernie & Rachel Aids
Hilarea Amthauer
Anonymous Anonymous
Elaine Appel
Joe Appel
Alice and Marc Applebaum
Brent Applebaum
Tyler Atkinson
Karen Aviles
Lindsey Ayers
Carlo Balleria
Carrie Baron
Gordon Baron
Wayne Barrett
Gail Barry
Jenny Bassham
Jeff Battiste
Megan Beal
Amy Beatie
David Bennetts
Anne Bensard
Courtney Benson
Lauren Berent
Daniel Bettinger
Corey biddle
Nancy Birge
Autumn Bjugstad
Susan Bjugstad
Councilwoman Kendra Black
Andrea Bobotis
George Roger Bock
Kelly Bossley
Jonathan Bridges
Ryan Brown
Charlie Brown
Collin Burgess
Audra Burkhart
Brannon Burnley
Anna Cafaro
David Carlson
James Carr
Bar Chadwick
Tamar Chang
Will Chesser
Jennifer Chrystal
Kate Cihon
Emily Clark
Joe Clark
Jolon Clark
Kendra Clark
Steve Cohen
Rebecca Colbert
Bruce Colburn
Jennifer Cole
Debra Colias
Gregory Craig
Gina Cristiano
Kristine Csavina
Anthony Curcio
Katie Dake
Margaret Danuser
Cristin Davis
Joyzelle Davis
Chrissy Deal
Eleanor Deaton
Aly Debastiani
Dan DeLaughter
Helena DeMarie
James Richard Devlin
Melissa Dickard
Sarah Dominick
Mary Donachy
Beth Dorsa
Sandy &Tim Drago
Britte E Notzold
Marcia Eldridge
Kitty Elkins
Larry & Barb Elrod
Michelle Elsasser
Jack Fahres
Richard Farley
Ardythe Fasano
JP Fasano
Beth Ferguson
Lorienne Fisher
Simon Foot
Melissa Ford
Joseph Fowler
Elizabeth Fraker
Kristi Franko
Sigrid Freese
Rebecca Fuhrman
Paul & Rose Gagnon
Julianne Gagnon
Joe Gagnon
Kimberly Gagnon
Theodore Gagnon
Declan Galvin
Rachel Gillette
Patrick Gillette
Kate Gillette
Allison Gleichman
Katie Glesne
Hipolita Gomez
Anthony Gonzalez
ANDREA GORDON
Lyndsey Grae
Jeffrey Grana
Bethany Gravell
Julia Gray
Sasha Gubser
Linda Hamlin
Hugh Hanna
Lucy Harrington
Elizabeth Harty
Elisabeth Hawksbee
Laurie Helmick
Lisa Herbert
Laurie Herivel
Kelly Hersh
Brian Hiatt
Cheryl Higashida
Fabby Hillyard
Robert Hodges
Martha Hoffman
Rebecca Holman
Brandon Hunt
Ramsay Huntley
Mai-lan Huynh-Smith
Emily Hypnarowski
Shelley Jewell
Jeffrey Johnsen
Sara Johnson
Jonathan Kahn
Kate Kalstein
Daphna Kapnik
Cassie Kaslon
Rodney Kazenske
Molly Killinger
Mira Killmeyer
Claudia Kim
Michele Kinshella
Oza Klanjsek
Robert Kochevar
Julie Koehler
Christy Koerth
Laura Kroeger
Amy Krosky
R Kent Landmark
Joseph Lara
Tamara Larsen
Jacob Larson
Mark and Betsy Larson
Lauren Laustsen
Rainy Laventure
Deirdre Lee
Zoe Lefkimiotis
Alex Lewis
Linda Lipsius
Michelle Loader
Lester Lockspeiser
James Lovejoy
Larraine Lucero
Grace MacDonald
Megan MacHatton
Christina Mahoney
Evan Makovsky
Donielle Markel
Andrea Martin
Jana Mathieson
Lisa May
Kathleen McGlynn
Peter Merrion
Andrea Michels
Marisa Migliore
Landon Millsap
Gregory Miscikowski
Beth Mongold
Brin Moore
John Moran
Suzanne Morgan
Nathaniel Morrison
Linda Morrison
Lawrence Moskow
Barbara Moskow
Maria Mota-Ramirez
Holly Murtaugh
Jenna Neeley
Joanna Negler
Roseann Niemeyer
Bruce O’Donnell
Amy & Bill O’Connor
Christopher Oneil
Elise Osenga
Sorola Palmer
Trent Peaker
Aviva Pearlman
Rob Pell
Alexander Person
Barbara Peterson
John Pflaum
Brooke Pike
Al Polonsky
Megan Post
Susan Powers
Ronald & Barbara Pred
Emily Ragan
shayne ravin
Randy Ray
Aaron Ray
Judi Recht
Barry Reed
Justine Reed
Don Reichelt
Sara Reynolds
Pamela Ricci
Gregg Rich
Carol Riggs
David Riordon
Jayme Ritchie
Melissa Rodriguez
Jeff Rollins
Lesley Roper
Keir Roper
Joyce Roper
Geoff Roth
Curtis & Ruth Rueter
Ana Ruiz
Phil Russell
Rocio Salazar
Melanie Salniker
Haley Sammen
Paula Sandoval
Gregg Saunders
Joan Schneider
Larry Schoenwald
Brian Schroder
Ira Selkowitz
Rosemary Shanley
Roger Sherman
Mimi Shim
Jeff Shoemaker
Jim Shoemaker
Dana Shriberg
Eliza Slayman
Tracy L Smith
Lauren Snee
Brenda Snider
Kip Stastny
Tiana Stastny
Rachel Steel
Gary & Leslie Stiefler
Cyndi Stovall
Steve Stretz
John Sulak
Grant Swanson
Melinda Teiken
Andrew Thomas
Elana Thomas
David Thorpe
John Tone
Kathleen Travis
Peter Tripp
Molly Trujillo
Jenna Tully
Eric Tupler
Lauralee Veenstra
Carrie Wack
Peter Wall
Tobi Watson
Tanya Weinberg
Bradley Weinig
Eric Weisman
Steve Welchert
Pete West
Annalee White
Ellen Wilensky
Jennifer Williams
Riley Williamson
Stefanie Winfield
Mike Winn
Charlotte winzenburg
donna witonsky
Dita Wohlauer
claire wolcott
Natalie Wood
Ben Woolf
Quinn Yawger
Marykate Zukiewicz
Pinyon Environmental
Richardson Agency
River Collective CO LLC
The MacMeier Foundation
River Mile Foundation
Cherry Creek Shopping Center
The Connolly Family Charitable Fund
Open Flow
KSE Elitch Gardens Revesco Second City, LLLP
Back To Motion Physical Therapy
CRL Associates
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment
DJCA LLC
Turner Construction
AECOM
wenk associates
Grand American, Inc.
Westside Investment Partners
Sewald Hanfling Public Affairs
Shears Adkins Rockmore Architects
Trammell Crow Company
Power Design
Capitol Representatives
Martin/Martin
Stantec
Denver Water
Alpine Bank
HDR, Inc.
Virginia W. Hill Foundation
Amy L Scott Family Foundation
Tributary Real Estate
GSSG Solar
GEI Consultants
Shrewsberry
Crescent Real Estate
Xcel Energy Foundation
The Nature Conservancy
The Beacon Fund
Kroenke Sports Charities
Jacobs
Cypress 16
The Mayor’s Office of National Western Center
Conscience Bay Company
Speedland
Hiratsuka & Associates
Xcel Energy
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
Industry
Piper Sandler
The Kenney Group
ERO Resources Corporation
First American Title Insurance Company
Muller Engineering
University of Colorado at Denver
Metro Water Recovery
GBSM Inc
Life Purpose Shaman
The Thomas Edwin Greenbaum Charitable Foundation, Inc.
Summit Street Group
Mile High Flood District
Sasaki Associates Inc.
NINE dot ARTS
Asana Partners
Collegiate Peaks Bank
Chatfield Reservoir Mitigation Company
Aurora Water
Revesco USA Properties LLLP
DSST: Byers High School
Dominion Water & Sanitation District
Naranjo Civil Constructors
Arbor Force
S2o Design & Engineering
Otak
Westside Investment Partners, Inc.
Otten Johnson Robinson Neff & Ragonetti PC
JE Dunn Construction
Central Colorado Water Conservancy District
Urban Ventures
Banshee House
OZ Architects
Pacifico Preserves
Wenk Associates Inc
Carollo Engineering
Valerian
Stream Landscape Architecture and Planning
M Moser Associates
MyFly
Parkwell LLC
DDPHE – City & County of Denver
Allen Vellone Wolf Helfrich & Factor P.C.
Architerra Group Inc
Molson Coors
CSU Spur
Perkins & Will
Calibre Engineering
Chevron
Iron Woman Construction
ECI Site Construction Management, Inc
Cherry Creek North
Shana Glassman Foundation
HealthONE
The Chotin Foundation
MDC/Richmond American Homes Foundation
Cory Elementary
PCL Construction
JV Denargo LLC
Weifield Group Contracting
RiNo Art District
Janus Henderson
Rocky Mountain Huts LLC
The Children’s Museum of Denver
Olsson
Whiting-Turner
Shaw Construction
East West Partners
Slalom Inc
ZF Capital
Schlessman Family Foundation
Moody Insurance
Colorado Rapids
Livable Cities Studio
The Mahoney Family Foundation
GE Johnson Construction Company
Shears Adkins Rockmore
Regional Air Quality Control
Garden Club of Denver
Platte River Recovery Implementation Program
Riverfront Park Community Foundation
Don Lloyd Financial
REMS
McGlone Elementary
Elitch Gardens
Inspire Elementary
Joe Shoemaker School
The Pedicord Family Fund
Teller Elementary – Denver Public Schools
Leave Your Mark
All of our progress is only possible thanks to the ongoing support, generosity, and belief of people like you. Help build a healthier river, a happier community, and a more sustainable tomorrow.