The community must initiate this. It cannot be done by PAT. Jeff Stephan, executive director of the Carnegie Community Development Corporation, had a group there that evening.

We know we need to come into Denver and prove that Southwest deserves to be a part of the community. We have a fantastic customer-friendly product and we?ll make the market very aware of our presence. But also, we?ll be involved in the Chamber of Commerce, local event sponsorships and other ways we can give back to the community.

We wanted to get involved in the community off the campus. There is no end to the number of motel rooms in town.

Given that we are a river community, it behooves us to look at the situation.

We are looking at things that perhaps we could get passed. There didn't seem to be community support to put a fence down the river.

It's such a good way for us to do something that we like doing and give back to the community. In the past we've helped just one individual who needed help, and then a lot of different groups. This way, you as an individual can do this race and do something you've probably never done before and also know that at least $10 of your entry fee will go to help some charity.