Community Outreach

Colfax Marathon Awards Banquet

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This past May, the runners of Studio PBA, who featured three relay teams, the Revit Crashers, Rum Runners, and Team Slow Down for What?,  participated in the Colfax Marathon relay for the fifth year in a row.  The Colfax Marathon is one of the largest charitable races in the country, with over $100,000 in prize pool for those who align themselves with a non-profit partner.  Our charitable partner for the second year in a row was Food for Thought Denver, a Colorado non-profit whose mission is to eliminate weekend hunger for children in the Denver area by providing food PowerSacks, because they believe that no child should go hungry.  We have been working with Food for Thought for years, helping to bag “PowerSacks” for kids several times a year.  
 

This year our team placed second in the Colfax Marathon Corporate Relay group in the Construction, Engineering and Development category, earning a second place plaque, and most important, $1000 for Food for Thought Denver.  The awards ceremony was held June 19 at the DaVita building in Downtown Denver.  Studio PBA representatives Tearar Chan and Gina Metge were on hand to accept the check on behalf of our team of runners and sponsors.  
 
The training has already begun for 2019!

Studio PBA Runs the Colfax Marathon Relay!

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Studio PBA had three teams run the Colfax Marathon Relay Sunday morning!  Despite the cold and rainy conditions, all 15 runners crosses their respective finish lines.  The teams ran to benefit our charity partner, Food for Thought.  The PBA Rum Runners, PBA Revit Crashers and Team Slow Down for What? all surpassed the estimated race times.  Good job teams!

Meadow Community School Tours Studio PBA

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 April 4, 2018 – Studio PBA welcomed Mapleton School District’s 7th and 8th grade students from Meadow Community School to the office.  During their visit, they met with several architects and staff members to discuss some of our current projects, challenges facing the architecture community today, and most importantly, reasons to follow a career in architecture.  The 24 students and their two teachers were then treated to breakfast and an office tour.  The tour was organized by one of our project managers, Robin Stipe.

Back at it! Volunteering with Food for Thought

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New year, new opportunity to help out in the community! We spent the morning volunteering with Food for Thought. We packed a record 2,700 PowerSacks! These sacks will go to help students in twenty-one Denver Public Elementary Schools. 

If you or you organization would like to participate and get involved with this great organization, you can learn more here: http://foodforthoughtdenver.org/get-involved/

Career Day at Goldrick Elementary School

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Yesterday Studio PBA was invited to speak at Goldrick Elementary School's Career Day.  President Paul Bergner, Danyell Miller and Will Salas did a Q&A session with Mrs. Salas' fifth grade class.  The students were eager to learn about what skills and interests one might need to become an architect.  They each took turns asking questions about their experience, how they got into architecture and what they enjoy most about their job.  We had the kids do an exercise where we provided blank floor plans for the students to design their dream home and then as a team, assembled the pieces of the exterior to make the house they drew.

School is back in session...

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Studio PBA and ULI Colorado volunteers with Food for Thought founders, Bob Bell and John Thielen.

School is back in session and that means we spent the morning volunteering by packing power sacks for Food for Thought Denver with our friends from ULI Colorado & Downtown Denver Partnership.  To learn more visit FFT's website at: http://foodforthoughtdenver.org/

Studio PBA Athletics Mid-Season Update

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Work hard, play hard is a term used frequently around the office and it seems pretty literal when it comes to our athletics.  This year, we have a kickball team (Paul's Ball Army), a volleyball team (Bumps like a Truck) and three marathon relay teams that ran in the Colfax Marathon's Corporate Cup (Team PBA: Slow Down for What, The PBA Revit Crashers, PBA Rum Runners).  Here are our weekly recaps of how the teams are doing.

The Colfax Marathon relay teams all finished with great times and had a blast with every team finishing before their pre-race estimates.  The PBA Revit Crashers finished 2nd in the Construction/Engineering division winning $1,000 for our charity partner Food for Thought at last night's award ceremony.

PBA’s volleyball team (B.L.A.T.) rose above team Hot & Code (City of Denver). Out of the 4 games we got in before sundown, PBA was able to take 3 wins and steal the match. Game 2 was an intense back and forth, both teams were neck and neck. PBA rallied together with a bump, set, and incredible spike by Derek- which won us the game 27-25. Tadd & Bridget were a great tag team last night, pulling off some acrobatic moves to keep the ball in play.  Team B.L.A.T. continues to improve this season, showing strong potential for the upcoming mid-season tournament next Saturday June 24th at Washington Park.

Paul's Ball Army continued its magical sophomore season last night, but dropped the match against those pesky engineers from Anchor. Team Orange, despite not gaining a single lead in the game, had the largest turnout in the history of PBA’s beer-in-hand kickball!! The final score was 14-8, but Team Orange trailed 10-8 heading into the bottom of the inning when the game was called.  Paul's Ball Army is currently ranked 11th with a 3-4 record for the season.

Studio PBA Runs the Colfax Marathon Relay

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Left to Right: Chris Fuller, Jill Reilly, Josh Grote, Desirae Zamora, Kathy Parker, Adam Acree, Seth Wealing, Derek Westby, Tearar Chan, Aaron Rule, Chris Vulcano, Gina Metge, John Payne and Rachel Bek.

Studio PBA had three relay teams (5 runners for each team) that competed in the Colfax Marathon Relay: The PBA Rum Runners, The PBA Revit Crashers and PBA: Slow Down for What.  This yearly PBA tradition had our biggest turnout for runners wanting to participate.  

We thoroughly enjoy jumping pictures.

Bright and early at 6 am, Sunday morning runners took off from City Park toward Mile High Stadium with all three runners of the first leg finishing with faster times than expected.  Through multiple hand-offs throughout the city including Sloan's Lake, Lakewood and Mile High Stadium, all of the runners did an amazing job and once everyone crossed the finish line with all teams finishing ahead of our estimated times.  Good work everyone!

For the first time, we choose to run to benefit a nonprofit and we chose Food for Thought (http://foodforthoughtdenver.org/).  You can read more about our work with them in previous posts.  This was Food for Thought's first year of being involved as a charity partner with the Colfax Marathon.  We met the FFT team after the race and were greeted with lots of gratitude and awesome running shirts they gifted us.

We are still waiting on the final results to determine if our teams placed in the top 3 of the Construction/Engineering/Development category.  A top 3 finish would mean we would win funds for our charity partner.  Regardless of the outcome, we had a great time running and look forward to future races to come!

Leg 1 Runners: Kathy, Tearar & Seth

PBA Volunteers with Food for Thought

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PBA staff members spent Friday morning volunteering with one of our favorite organizations, Food for Thought.  We packed Power Sacks for Denver-area elementary school students that depend on these food sacks every week to supplement or to provide food for the weekend for the students and their families.  

We also have elected Food for Thought Denver as our charitable organization to benefit from in the upcoming Colfax Marathon Relay.  Studio PBA will have three teams racing for the top spots of the Architecture Construction Design division as the top teams win prize money to benefit their chosen charity.  More updates on the relay to follow.  If you or your organization will be participating in the Colfax Marathon, consider Food for Thought Denver as one of your charitable organizations! For more information, click the link here: http://foodforthoughtdenver.org/

DPS Students Shadow at PBA

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Pictured above: Kathy Parker, Chris Fuller, Greg Maldow and students

Pictured above: Kathy Parker, Chris Fuller, Greg Maldow and students

We were lucky to be contacted by one of Denver Public School's Gifted and Talented program coordinators, Greg Maldow.  We arranged for some students to come shadow our team for a day to see what being an architect is like.  Two groups of students from different high schools around Denver came in two different sessions and were able to spend time with a few of our Project Managers.  The students toured PBA's office and had a sit-down with the respective Project Manager and designers.  They went over basic concepts of architecture, reviewed drawings and models for current projects, followed by a site tour of those specific projects with our construction administration team.  They were able to ask questions throughout and enjoyed a casual lunch with the team.  The students enjoyed themselves and it was a great experience for our team members as well.  We look forward to partnering with DPS in the future for other tours and mentorship opportunities.

PBA Drive for The Gathering Place

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Studio PBA held a food, clothing and supply drive this month for our neighbors and friends at The Gathering Place.  We found out about The Gathering place last month while helping at ULI's holiday volunteer opportunity.  TGP helps women, children and transgendered individuals that are experiencing homelessness and poverty. 

During the month of January, the office was able to collect enough supplies that it required the help of several people to carry the donations the two blocks to the center.  We collected food to stock their food pantry along with supplies and books for the job readiness program and education center.  We also collected clothing and shoes for the boutique they offer.  Thank you to everyone who participated and donated items.  Keep an eye out for our February's volunteer opportunity.  To learn more about The Gathering Place, here is a link to their website: http://tgpdenver.org/

ULI's Holiday Volunteer Opportunity: The Gathering Place

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This morning Paul, Desirae, Derek and myself (Gina) participated in the ULI Holiday Volunteer Opportunity at The Gathering Place.  The Gathering place is a drop-in center that provides services to children, women and transgender individuals experiencing poverty or homelessness.  They offer three meals a day, children's center, employment assistance, counseling and medical care among many other programs and services aimed at helping these individuals get back on their feet.  ULI's Outreach Committee organized the event where we cooked and served breakfast a hearty breakfast of pancakes, sausage and scrambled eggs.  We also prepped for the lunch meal and packed additional sack lunches that will be distributed throughout the day for anyone who needs one.  For more information on The Gathering Place or for volunteer opportunities visit their website at: http://tgpdenver.org/

PBA Volunteering with Food for Thought

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What a great morning! Studio PBA's team along with many other volunteers worked to fill grocery bags with food and prepping bins to be delivered to  over 9,000 kids who would otherwise not have a meal this weekend. Food for Thought is a fantastic organization that we are lucky to be able to work with, ZERO overhead, run by volunteers and feeds Denver's Title 1 elementary school kids in need. It is hard to believe that just here in the Denver-metro area over 30,000 kids would go without food for a weekend due to poverty. Thanks to Food for Thought there are 9,000 less that will go hungry this weekend as a result of the Powersack packed this morning.

Food for Thought organizes this every Friday during the school year. Every single penny of every dollar donated goes towards purchasing food while all of the supplies are donated. The food gets packaged up, loaded into containers and distributed by volunteers. Bob Bell and John Thielen founded Food for Thought in 2012, originally delivering food to two Denver elementary schools and have grown their impact to currently serve 7 schools with the hope of expanding as soon as possible.  We thank Food for Thought for allowing us to volunteer and investing in Denver's elementary students.

If you are interested in learning more about Food for Thought or volunteering visit: http://foodforthoughtdenver.org/

Jansen Strawn's Pack to School Event

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Yesterday a group from Studio PBA volunteered at Jansen Strawn’s 4th annual Pack to School Fundraiser in collaboration with the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Denver.  PBA’s Cris Torres, Scott Baker and Gina Metge, along with many other volunteers packed donated backpacks en masse with school supplies specific to each grade’s needs.  The backpacks will benefit three Denver-area elementary school's students grades K-5 along with teacher-specific supply boxes.  In record time, backpacks were filled and we look forward to participating next year.  If you are interested in donating click this link for more information: http://fwdev.civicore.com/giving_colorado/packtoschoolfundraiser