Colorado Christian University is a century old private liberal arts University in Lakewood, Colorado. Each year, 1,500 students from all over the country and world study there. Community service is a CCU priority at the school and giving back is a core component of the culture there. However, it isn’t as easy as you would think to find local, effective service opportunities that offer real help to people for almost 2,000 students and staff every year.  

In 2017 student government leaders reached out to Lakewood Connects Director, Reg Cox to brainstorm the development of a new program for student community service. “CCU 4 Lakewood” was initiated and over fifty students served food at a church at a program for the community, led activities and programs for older adults at a senior living center, met with our unhoused neighbors at a local shelter and served children at a local underserved elementary school. The program has since continued and expanded! 

Philosophically you create future community servants by mentoring and modeling. Lakewood Connects supported campus student government leaders who then planned service opportunities, recruited other students and then led their projects. If we want a new generation of servant leaders we build them! 

On Valentine’s Day, 2013, Lakewood Mayor Adam Paul joined Reg at Chapel at CCU to invite students to participate in; “CCU Loves Lakewood” day! The invitation for students that day was to step out of their “comfort zone” and into the “compassion zone!” At the end of the talk Reg invited students to join Lakewood Connects in ongoing service, and students responded! 

Why is this story and effort important? Three reasons: 

1) We don’t just encourage a culture of service, we must model it!

2) If we want healthy partnerships between Faith and Government, we need to build it! 

3) Our next generation’s leaders are open and accepting of older mentors and meaning-making models! Become that mentor! Initiate that partnership opportunity! We can change the future by investing in the life of a young adult today! 

Thanks to your support this kind of effort is what Lakewood Connects is leading in our city and inspiring others to copy nationally.  Help us create a future of community servant leaders through your mentoring and modeling! Together we change the culture of tomorrow!  

Lakewood Connects establishes strategies and programs for supporting Faith, Government, Education and Business leaders because strong cities require strong leaders! Philosophies influencing our Lakewood Connects leadership health support efforts include: 

• The health of a community depends on the health of its leaders! 
• Mental, physical, social and spiritual health is learned, grown and nurtured through relationship. 
• You don’t become a healthier leader by reading a book! Leadership health comes from being mentored and challenged by healthy leaders! 

Relationship building is a key to what Lakewood Connects is all about, so it’s no surprise that a significant portion of each week is invested in this core effort. We encourage everyone to grow their relationship pool, because the person you don’t know right now may lead you to transformational insight, conviction or understanding!  Each week, Lakewood Connects executive director Reg Cox meets with someone he doesn’t know! Our community has experienced numerous strategic breakthroughs across the past eighteen years; nearly every one of them has begun at a coffee shop across from an unfamiliar face.

This year, a new opportunity for positive influence was facilitated by a new relationship! A key community and business leader in Lakewood is LaDawn Sperling.  Reg met her for coffee a couple of times in 2022, and at one meeting, LaDawn proposed her idea of a business leaders Bible Study. She envisioned an experience where she would feel comfortable learning, sharing and growing with others. 

The pandemic has broken down connections between us all, and LaDawn was interested in finding new relationships, knowledge and leadership health through this study. She resonated with the idea that we learn and grow best when we are sharpened by the thoughts, reflections and insight of other leaders! 

This past spring, Reg led the study at the Union Business Centre where local partner; Clarity Wealth Group Thrivent, offices. Thrivent has supported several community service programs; when leaders like this converge, transformational energy abounds! 

Leadership requires thriving through challenge. The eight week Bible study series studied the leadership challenges Moses faced. Topics such as the “danger of pride and impulsiveness”, the “strengths and weaknesses of humility”, the “crucible of staying the course through criticism”, “leaders advance through setbacks and struggles” and “convictions and non-negotiable principles” were processed by the group. Another philosophy held by Lakewood Connects is that leadership health is a “team sport.” This means that you become a healthy leader by surrounding yourself and learning from other leaders! 

Challenge: If you’re a leader, who can you connect to in order to improve your leadership strengths? What you learn from another leader is often unattainable from a book or podcast! Healthy leadership is usually built through establishing and nurturing relationship connections with healthy leaders! 

Lakewood Connects is invested in leadership development because we believe a strong community is forged from leader to leader relationships and connections! A healthy community is born out of the health of its leaders! You can’t lead and influence positive change in a community until you lead and influence positive growth in that community’s leaders! Thank you for investing in leaders with us.

The Bridge Church at Bear Creek is located in south Lakewood next door to Bear Creek High School and across the sports field from Bear Creek K-8. The church was born out of a merging of an older Presbyterian church and a young Evangelical church plant. Together their unifying aim was to “make much of Jesus and grow disciples!” How this mission was activated in the new church is seen through their efforts to equip their members for connection, friendship and community service. 

Most churches have a mission statement that says something like the Bridge so what makes them special? From the get-go church leaders rethought how their building could be used. If they were going to “make much of Jesus” surely that meant that their facility should be used daily! They asked; “how could their facility and programs really serve their neighbors everyday year round?” These dreams and discussions led to a “Community First Focused” approach to facility and ministry use. 

The Front Porch Coffee Shop is how most people in the neighborhood get to know the church. The old sanctuary was converted into a community space with tables, soft chairs and art. Baristas work with professional equipment to offer coffee, tea and food to over 100 patrons daily! Outside, the lawn was converted into a patio with tables and chairs and it has become THE community meeting place! “Church” can be intimidating, but it’s not off-putting to walk into a coffee shop! 

As students from local schools started spending time at the Front Porch, church staff and ministry leaders thought through ways to make connections with them. This led to the transformation of the church basement into the Underground Teen Center! The center offers a supervised safe place for teens to hang out and connect, and hundreds spend time there daily during the school year! 

When a church focuses on serving and loving their local neighborhood, every ministry, program and message will be filtered through the lens of this goal! This summer, Bridge youth Minister Scott Hunter developed a neighborhood soccer camp for 75 students ranging from K – 8^th grade. The goal of the camp (pun intended) was to serve and connect to their community and the Bridge used their staff, facility and expertise to accomplish this in the soccer camp! 

Community First Focus is the aim of influence for Lakewood Connects and the Bridge at Bear Creek is making this dream a reality in Lakewood, Colorado! This is what the goal of the church should be and we are excited to partner with faith leaders like those at the Bridge to make much of Jesus!

In the book Seven Habits Stephen Covey, the author encourages us to set our aim in everything from big to small projects with the “end in mind”. He teaches that by focusing on a clear end-definition we ensure that each step we take stays on the right path. Emotionally, there’s an additional benefit to this “end in mind” strategy as it creates a sense of meaning and value in our work and effort! It feels good to see that we’re progressing forward towards a meaningful end!  

Spiritually, what’s the “end goal” of faith? If faith were to be expressed in the best possible way, what will the end result look like? How do we describe the “ultimate faith end goal” so we can aim our daily steps? 

I think our faith end goal is to make a positive impact on others. Until faith affects someone else in a positive way, it is not being used as God intends it to be used. This “impact philosophy” defines faith’s ultimate goal as living to make a positive difference in the lives of our neighbors! 

In Matthew 28, Jesus commands his followers to seek and save others. Jesus’ faith end goal is relationship focused. It’s achieved as faith changes us and then we take on the mission to engage the world proactively. How exactly should faith change us? Jesus answers this in chapters 22 and 25. 

In Matthew 22:36-40 Jesus is questioned about the “Greatest Command” and invites us to love God and our neighbor. This love aim teaching is then repeated 6 times: Matt 19, Mark 12, Luke 10, Rom.13, James 2 and Galatians 5. This greatest command is obviously central to Jesus’ end goal of faith! 

In the following chapters Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus describes mankind being judged at the end-of-time by how well we loved the “least of these.” If there is any confusion about the importance of a loving lifestyle, this clears it up!

These two central ideas- “loving your neighbor” and “serving the least of these”- can be combined into what we might call “Kingdom of God Math”. In Kingdom of God math, 22 + 25 = 28! “Love your neighbor” Matthew 22 + “serve the least of these” Matthew 25 realizes Matthew 28! This equation is the end goal for Lakewood Connects. We support the Impact Philosophy for positive community transformation as the core purpose for church. This shapes our coaching, partnership and collaborative efforts in Lakewood, Colorado! 

A stand out example of this impact philosophy in Lakewood is Mountair Christian Church. Pastor Ruben Rodriguez, his leadership team and members live as beacons of hope, support and hands-on care for the underserved of their neighborhood in North Lakewood. For Mountair, the “love your neighbor” and “least of these” love lifestyle commands of Christ guide how they shape programs, messages and interactions with their community. Although small in number, the impact they have had in the community has been enormous!

At Lakewood Connects we’re encouraging the impact philosophy as the end goal for churches. Why is this important? We believe that impact philosophy is the key to obeying the greatest command and the key to the future success of church. Like Mountair, your church may not have tremendous resources, but armed with lifestyle-love and a goal to serve your neighbors, you can make a world changing difference! 

Twelve weeks ago Lakewood Connects Executive Director, Reg Cox, was involved in a cycling crash that broke dozens of bones, laid him up in the hospital for a week and dramatically altered summer plans! Immediately people showed up! Pastor James Hoxworth and Mayor Adam Paul walked in Reg’s Intensive Care room that first morning. So many showed up, 50 visitors in five days, that Amy cut off the open-door policy! When things are tough in our lives there’s no substitute for being present to show love and bring encouragement!

As Reg returned home, longtime friend Dr. Glen Villanueva flew in to help with the transition. Can’t have better care than a doctor in the house! As Reg continues to advance through stages of healing and is now back to work it is all of your relationship connections that have become the key to his healing.

Reg’s first in-person meeting was with a group of government and nonprofit leaders in June. As things started several asked if he would share the bike crash story. Reg has worked with these leaders for years on various programs and projects and the relationship has always felt warm but professional. Mid-story several folks at the table began to cry. It was then Reg realized that his relationships had long surpassed mere project management and had become something personal. Real. Deep. Meaningful.

That kind of human connection is the essence of what Lakewood Connects is all about! We create partnerships that become the foundation for creating solutions where once there were only challenges, suffering, and heartbreak! We can bring healing to a broken world the same way Reg has experienced healing in his body and mind… relationship connections and love make broken things whole again! 

Fall opportunities: For our Lakewood area partners several volunteer and service opportunities exist this fall that we invite you to join us in: 

1. Whiz Kids after-school tutoring is entering its 10^th year in Lakewood and we have never needed to find tutors as much as we need to this year! Enrollments are falling across the country and raising academic scores is at the heart of what helps a school, students and families thrive. Please contact: Janeal Doctolero for more info about Whiz Kids. 

2. Finally, we are partnering with several nonprofits and coalitions that have established and resourced Family Centers at five Lakewood elementary schools. Family Centers offer food, clothing, and support services at underserved schools to families in the school and community. This is a partnership with food organizations, the school and community partners including churches to deliver the exact items each Family Center needs to serve their families. We could use your help! Please Contact: Miriam Richards 

3. Along with tutoring Lakewood Connects is partnering with several organizations and individuals to support Teacher Appreciation at underserved schools. The effects of the pandemic are showing up in dwindling teacher numbers. An encouraged and appreciated educator is a more resilient educator! Please help us bless our educators! 

• For Molholm Elementary, contact Principal Jim McKenney
• For Foothills Elementary, contact Family Engagement Liaison Bernadette Marquez
• For Lasley Elementary, contact Principal Lauren LeMarinel
• For other schools in Jeffco or for info on the teacher appreciation program, contact Lakewood Connects – Amy Cox

Click here to view a PDF of current volunteer opportunities in Lakewood!

Our world has changed over the past eight months in dramatic and challenging ways. The pandemic split us physically and ideologically and made election year tensions more divisive. The danger in retreating from society is that we can miss noticing the challenges of our neighbors and when we do see them, we’re too emotionally exhausted to find ways to help out!

Beginning last March, Lakewood Connects joined county-wide discussions with over fifty different organizations to build collaborative solutions for serious community food challenges. In September we were awarded a $30,000 grant to support construction of “Pantries” or “Hubs” at three Lakewood elementary schools. We’re excited to tell you this story in our next few newsletters!

Pantries/Hubs Goal? Build a sustainable network of school pantries at Lakewood elementary schools while merging district protocols with a vetted and trained support staff of community volunteers. The long range vision is to guide each “Pantry” into becoming a “Resource Hub” adding neighborhood leaders and community resources such as job enhancement, cooking classes, social emotional support, etc. A local pantry organized and staffed by neighbors and friends can remove barriers many in our world today face to realizing a thriving life.

On the 9^th of September, two local nonprofits, Benefits in Action and the JeffCo School Foundation, partnered with Lakewood Connects to apply for a city of Lakewood Cares Act Grant. After the grant was awarded, our Director Reg met with school administration, the principals of the three schools, their leadership teams and the directors of both partner nonprofits to develop the next steps to setting up these Pantries/Hubs over the next few months. Realizing this goal is would be impossible to achieve in the middle of a pandemic without the support of dozens of leaders from multiple organizations that have stepped up to make this breakthrough plan a reality!

What has happened so far? School district facility management has approved the project, all three schools set up their contact leader to lead Pantry/Hub development and, most importantly, each school has received $5,000 in grocery store gift cards! (More about this part of the story in our next blog and December newsletter!)

These last few months Lakewood Connects has been involved in building and supporting partnerships that will bring solutions for some of the most nagging and heartbreaking challenges our community has ever faced. Know that this Thanksgiving week hundreds of families are experiencing a time of gratitude and relief thanks to your support. We can’t do this without you!

By Bernadette Marquez, Title I Family Engagement/Diversity Liaison at Foothills Elementary

It is with great delight and a joyful spirit that I am able to tell the Lakewood Connects Team and their supporters about the good work happening within the heart of the Green Mountain Community that serves the students and families of ALL of the Green Mountain Articulation Area Schools.

The HUB at Foothills Foodies is the brainchild of both Diana Baumgarten (Foothills Elementary School Social Worker) and myself, Bernadette Marquez (Title I Family Engagement/Diversity Liaison). It came about by Diana and I linking arm in arm and combining both of our passion projects into one.

Initially both Diana and I had different but similar projects that we were working on within Foothills Elementary to serve students that we recognized would benefit from supplemental resources that we ourselves could extend through partnerships we had built with community partners. You see, Diana had been serving as the school Social Worker for many years and had seen how underserved Foothills Families were and that many of our families did not always having enough money to buy food. She established a weekend backpack program that she soon realized didn’t meet the unique needs of the families it served.  In comes me… when I arrived on the scene at Foothills in the fall of 2017 in my role as Family Engagement Liaison, I came with very wet feet and an eager heart to serve underprivileged families by providing them with the wealth of tools that I had been afforded to have at my fingertips.

Jump ahead one school year…the fall of 2018 and the story of how our interests and commonalities came together… it was due to Mr. Reg Cox, who on the outside looking in envisioned the power of the two of us forming one objective…which is to ensure that ALL students have equal access to food, clothing, and opportunities. It was our mission to eradicate the barriers that stood between them and their education. It was truly a match made in heaven! Something that we both would have never imagined without the prompting of Reg Cox.

After Diana and I met with Reg we embarked on a full-on marathon to bring our dream into fruition. She and I went on an adventure to scope out other schools that serve as Hubs to see what their set-up looked like, we interviewed the teams responsible for starting their individual programs and we sat down and evaluated our very unique Green Mountain population, and devised a plan that we both believed would best serve the most underserved demographic of students and families in and around Foothills Elementary.

Based upon what we observed worked and didn’t work in the school-based Hubs we visited, we recognized that one thing rang true for all of them… Partnerships, Partnerships, Partnerships! It was imperative to establish partnerships with our sister schools, community agencies, religious organizations, grocers, and of course the most important component the stakeholders themselves… our Foothills families.

Thanks to Lakewood Connects, the first partnership we established was with Concordia Lutheran Church (CLC). We met with Donna Miller who is a very active member of CLC and now our Volunteer Coordinator. She spread the word at church and launched our first food drive. It was a great success which gave us so much inspiration to reach out to The Action Center, our neighborhood Safeway Store, all six of the Green Mountain Articulation schools, and our Foothills PTA. Have you ever seen how fast a wildfire ignites and spreads? That was 100% how quickly the good news spread and how rapidly we were able to form and secure partnerships and launch our supplemental food program which we fittingly decided to name Foothills Foodies.

Being that Diana had previously established the weekend backpack program in one of the temporary buildings in the back of the school, we had a space to store and distribute food. Our vision of how food would be distributed was what makes our program very distinct. It was of the utmost importance that families had a dignified experience at Foothills Foodies. Overall, we wanted families to come in and have a shopping experience where they have the ability to select their own food and how we accomplished this was by modeling our program after The Action Center’s 7-day supplemental food program. Instead of a 7-day supply of supplemental food, Foothills Foodies supplies 3-days of supplemental food to see our families through the weekend. Families came in and shopped with the assistance of a form that guided them through their shopping trip. Families selected how many family members in their household and then checked off the allotted items including proteins, fruits, veggies, grains etc. In addition, it was very important to us important that families had access to not only non-perishable food items but also fresh items such as milk, eggs, meat, and fresh fruits and veggies. Through our established partnerships we secured refrigerators and a freezer to store the fresh food that was donated or provided by Safeway, The Action Center, and private donors. It truly was a beautiful whirlwind of vision, humanity, collaboration and loves labor that founded Foothills Foodies!

Spring forward to the fall of 2019…

Diana and I were so amazed and ignited by the results of our previous years work, that we did not want to resolve what we had initially envisioned as sufficient. We had lofty aspirations that still hadn’t come to pass. Beyond just providing food we truly wanted to offer wrap-around services which included providing families access to hygiene products, household items, clothing, and shoes. So began our partnership with A Precious Child. Foothills became a full functioning HUB when we officially became a satellite boutique for A Precious Child who provide clothing, coats, shoes, toiletries, home goods, and basic essentials to our Foothills families. We then extended these services to all Green Mountain Schools students and families. With that, a move to a larger and more adequate space on the Foothills Elementary campus, a name change and a Re-Grand Opening!

The HUB at Foothills Foodies now has the capacity to serve over 1500 families within the articulation area. The HUB at this time is 100% sufficient, relying solely on donations of money, food, and volunteer hours and is recognized as a Health and Human Services Academy Career Pathway for Foothills Students that choose to participate. Again, the mold was broken when The HUB at Foothills Foodies became an option as an extracurricular course for students to participate in the distribution of the necessities offered through the HUB. In fact, Foothills Elementary was recognized by the Colorado Department of Education for providing such innovative courses in the statewide 2019 Promising Partnership Practices publication with recognition from Governor Polis, Mayor Adam Paul, and Jeffco Public School Board Members. Channel 7 and Channel 4  featured the HUB at Foothills Foodies on their newscasts and the Lakewood Sentinel shared with its readers about the resources offered to the community through this truly amazing collaborative.

So, this is how a dream, true collaboration and a labor of love looks like in its most genuine form.  I would like to extend an invitation to anyone who wants to financially contribute to the Hub or help out in any way. Contact Reg Cox and he will get those funds to and connect potential volunteers to support us at the HUB at Foothills Foodies. Please feel free to come by the HUB to see it for yourself! It is a sight for sore eyes and will lift your spirits above and beyond what you’d ever expect.

In all the years that Whiz Kids has been at Foothills Elementary, I always knew it was a life changing ministry! I finally had the opportunity to join this last school year and was blessed with a first grade girl named, Heaven. At first, I struggled with knowing how best to tutor her. Even though I had homeschooled my kids, it was not easy to determine her needs or how best to teach her. The Lord answered my prayers about this when her mom, Stephanie, invited me to the parent teacher conference! The teacher gave me great input that helped to shape our focus and our goals during tutoring time.

With this new game plan, it was so rewarding to see her academic improvements! In December, every time we worked on reading, she was resistant and uncomfortable. She mixed up letters and did not know sight words. However by our last tutor time, she not only felt very comfortable with reading but also confident and happy!

Besides this academic growth, it did not take me long to realize how much farther reaching this ministry is! I had many direct and indirect opportunities “to make Jesus famous”, besides the one on one tutor time. Parents also regularly saw “Jesus with skin on” at the end of our tutor times, at the Christmas party, and at the end of year party. Heaven’s family was so comfortable and connected that Stephanie brought food to the Christmas party and her son helped serve and clean up! Besides the family being impacted by Jesus, the school and teachers were also. Not only did they see better grades, but also tutors connected with teachers who were still there during tutor time.

The direct ways of sharing Jesus were through club time and through the tutor team. We were like a big, happy family with the sole purpose of loving on these kids and bringing Jesus to these kids! The solidarity and support of this “community” was apparent when one of us couldn’t be there, others stepped in to tutor or to team up. Club time was so “successful” that by the end of the year, the kids were able to clearly and confidently share the story of Jesus!

Heaven and I connected so well that every Tuesday morning she would tell Stephanie that she couldn’t miss Tuesday because it was “Lisa Day”. Also the family and I felt so connected that they gave me gifts and cards, and even shared prayer requests! Stephanie and I plan to set up a time to hang out with Heaven this summer. This is all so much a “God-thing”!

As I’m remembering all of this, I’m realizing how much I look forward to the next school year, thanking the Lord and anticipating how He is going to shine Jesus at Whiz Kids again!

-Lisa Welsh, Lakewood Connects Board Member and Whiz Kid tutor

A huge part of what we do at Lakewood Connects is right in our name — we form connections to make Lakewood a better place. Sometimes that means knowing the places that have needs, so when an opportunity comes up, we can get the right people talking to transfer resources and improve life on both sides.

Recently, Confluent Development (full disclosure: one of our board members works for Confluent) purchased a new building and the previous owners left behind a bunch of furniture & fixtures that were in great shape! Since Confluent didn’t need these materials, they wanted to donate them to local schools and churches that would need them. Through connections, the nearly $40,000 of furniture and fixtures was distributed to three schools and one church.

Augustine Classical Academy

Bethlehem Lutheran School

Sewall Child Development Center and Mountain Christian Church also received equipment!

Total donation:

• 19 Folding flat top tables, very versatile, high quality, expensive.
• 46 Folding stackable chairs.
• 2 large rolling whiteboards
• Teaching lectern, and teaching assistant.
• Cubes and additional working space

This truly was a case of businesses, schools, and a church coming together to improve the quality of life in Lakewood. We are grateful to be part of this work!