2022 Wrap-up
Happy New Year from AfterHours Denver!
2022 has been a year of remembering our history at AfterHours Denver and looking forward to the future of what AfterHours can be. We give thanks for our founder, Jerry Herships and for the service of Tyler Kaufmann who saw AfterHours through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We recommitted ourselves to creating places for human beings in search of love, belonging, kinship, acceptance, and safety. That means for homeless people and housed people too. We continue to provide welcoming places in bars around the city for all kinds of folks: that includes atheists, Christians, Buddhists, agnostics, and people who just think PB&J has a little bit of power to make the world a better place.
We distributed well over 200 pairs of thermal underwear this Thanksgiving in partnership with Network Coffee House, Denver Central Library, and the St. Francis Center Safe Outdoor Space.
At Christmas in the Park '22, 270 volunteers served 360 people on Christmas Day. Less than a week after some of the most brutal cold Colorado has experienced we distributed hats, gloves, bags, tarps, sleeping bags, coats, hand warmers, duct tape, and socks. As I write this, another winter storm is bearing down on Colorado and we know all of that gear will be put to good use as people take shelter from the weather.
2022 saw us celebrate AfterHours and raise support for our homeless friends as we came together for our first Walk for Feet in May.
Shindig '22 saw us roll out our new mission statement, a vision for what we do, how we do it, and who we do it for. It goes like this:
AfterHours’ mission is to put more love into the world by providing necessities for people who need them, especially the homeless, and by creating places where all are welcome.
And finally, as always, we served thousands of lunches to people in Denver who need a bite to eat and a little love in a world that is too often unloving.
At AfterHours WE love YOU for your donations, your support, your prayers, and your good feelings. We thank you for your presence in the bars and on social media. We thank you for telling your friends about us. We love you for believing in what we do and helping us make it happen.
Today and tomorrow are the last days of our year-end campaign. If you haven't given yet we invite you to start off 2023 by joining us and taking advantage of our $10,000 match. If you've given already, good on ya. Happy New Year!
https://afterhoursdenver.networkforgood.com/projects/176026-year-end-campaign-22
