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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.

Learn About Greenway

 Our Proudest Moments from 2022

350

million dollars

of federal funding, along with local match funding, has created the single largest financial commitment to the South Platte River ever.

Projects

1145

hours

of trash collection was completed in riverside parks and green spaces as part of The Greenway Foundation’s stewardship projects.

Stewardship

5000 +

students

attended South Platte River Environmental Education (SPREE) camps, excursions, and events to make lasting connections to the river.   

SPREE

5000 +

people

attended our summer river festival, CROSSCURRENTS.

Celebrate

115

partners

chose to support our work through over $700,000 in grants and sponsorships.

Grants & Partnerships

100 +

supporters

gave to our monthly giving program, Friends of Greenway.

Support

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

Twelve TGF staff members standing together in front of the South Platte River for a team picture

 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.

Learn More About our Team

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.

Learn More About SPREE

Educating students through SPREE

Look at all we’ve accomplished in 2022.

700 +

community members participated in free family-focused events

Community

20

need-based scholarships awarded to attend SPREE Camps

Camps

100 %

of summer River Rangers awarded Environmental Educator certification

River Ranger

3943

students attended a SPREE field trip

Excursions

28 %

increase in participants from prior year

GLC

10

family-specific events held & supported

Family Events
SPREE Staff leads students on an excursion.

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.

Learn more about our Excursions

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.

Learn more about our Camps

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!

Learn more about our River Ranger program
GLC members on a snowshoeing excursion.

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!

Learn more about the Greenway Leadership Corps
Child paints a river scene a SPREE family event.

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.

Learn more about our Spring Events

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!

Read more about our Westwood & Cole Family Camp Out

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.

Get Involved!
Stewardship along the river means keeping our waterways clean with the help of volunteers.

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!

Learn More

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.

Learn More
Nautilus installation by The Greenway Foundation along the Cherry Creek

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! 

Learn More

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.

Learn More About TGF Events
CROSSCURRENTS 2022
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. 
Learn More
Gala on the Bridge 2022
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. 
Learn More
Reception on the River 2022
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.
Learn More

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.

Hydro - The CSU SPUR Campus/Water Center
CSU Spur Campus & Water Center
Learn More
RiNo Art Park & RiNo Promenade
Rino Art Park & Promenade
Learn More
The River Mile
River Mile
Learn More

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.

 
Piper Sandler
Chevron
Denver Department of Parks and Recreation
Elitch Gardens
Revesco Properties
Anonymous Fund
Mile High Flood District
River Mile
Xcel Energy
 
 
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Shreck
Colorado Water Conservation Board
Great Outdoors Colorado
Pacifico Preserves
Riverfront Park Community Foundation
Shears Adkins & Rockmore
The Thomas Edwin Greenbaum Charitable Foundation, Inc.
 
 
Q Factor
Denver Children’s Foundation
Virginia W. Hill Foundation
Calibre Engineering
Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure
Formativ
GE Johnson
Grand American
Iron Woman Construction
JE Dunn Construction
Livable Cities Studio
Metro Water Recovery
Molson Coors
MSH & Associates
Olsson Group
PCL Construction
Stantec
Turner Construction
Xcel Energy Foundation
 
 
Allen-Vellone Wolf Helfrich and Factor
AECOM
Central Colorado Water Conservancy District
City and County of Denver
CSU Spur
Denver Business Journal
East West Partners
gssg Solar
HDR
Industry
Otten Johnson Robinson Neff + Ragonetti PC
Platte River Recovery Implementation Program
Power Design
Sasaki
Shaw Construction
Stream Landscape Architecture and Planning
The Nature Conservancy
Urban Ventures
Wenk Associates
 
 
Laurie Helmick
Bar Chadwick
Roxborough Water & Sanitation District
Dig Studio
Mortenson
Alpine Bank
Architerra Group
Asana Partners
Chatfield Reservoir Mitigation Company
Cherry Creek North
Collegiate Peaks Bank
Conscience Bay Company
Crescent Real Estate
Curt LeRossignol
Cypress 16
ECI Site Construction
ERO Resources
First American Title
FirstBank
GBSM
GEI Consultants
Hiratsuka & Associates
Jacobs Engineering
JMT
Life Purpose Shaman
M Moser
Martin/Martin Consulting Engineers
Moody Insurance
Muller Engineering
Naranjo Civil Constructors
NINE dot ARTS
OZ Architecture
Perkins and Will
Shrewsberry
Summit Street Group
Trammel Crow
Tributary Real Estate
Tryba Architects
Valerian LLC
Weifield Group
Westside Investment Partners
Whiting-Turner
ZF Capital
 
 
ArborForce
Aurora Water
Capitol Representatives
Carollo Engineers
Colorado Water Trust
Denver Water
Department of Public Health and the Environment
Dominion Water and Sanitation District
National Western Center
Otak
Pinyon Environmental, Inc.
 

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 

SPREE Students Rafting on the South Platte River.

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.

Join Us Today

The Greenway Foundation

1820 Platte Street, Denver, CO 80202

info@greenwayfoundation.org

303.481.1974

FEIN: 51-0193575

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