Life Flower Dispensary
Monaco Inn
Domus Pacis
Domus Pacis — A Cause For Celebration
by Julie Hayden
Mountain Respite: Domus Pacis Family Respite encourages cancer patients, their families and friends to escape to the beauty of the mountains and experience the peace that comes from creating joyful memories for the people they most cherish.
Some things are just meant to go together, like creating wonderful family memories in the Colorado mountains, the music of John Denver and the photographs of John Fielder.
They all merge Saturday, February 3, 2018, at the University of Denver’s Newman Center.
John Fielder’s Colorado landscape photographs will be choreographed to the music of John Denver played by the John Adams Band.
Proceeds from the celebration will benefit the Domus Pacis Family Respite. The non-profit organization helps cancer patients along with their families and friends escape to the Colorado high country. Through the donated use of second homes they enjoy a week of peace and respite.
Winter In Colorado: John Fielder’s amazing photographs display the beauty of Colorado’s mountain scenery.
Vince and Mary Louise White-Petteruti founded Domus Pacis about 10 years ago. It means “Peace House.” Vince White-Petteruti explains his wife’s mother was diagnosed with cancer and her wish was to spend time in Breckenridge, where they owned some property. He says, “She created some wonderful memories and we want to give other families the same opportunity. We ask homeowners, especially those with second homes to donate the home for a week at a time.”
Out There Colorado: One of John Fielder’s many award-winning photographs capturing the beauty of Colorado’s high country.
Other volunteers provide meals and activities. Domus Pacis provides staff for all of the cleaning.
They started in 2008 with eight families and today take care of 125 families and they already have 220 applications for next year.
“We need more homes,” White-Petteruti says. “We want cancer patients and their families to come up to Colorado’s high country and create great memories.” He says they decided to hold the John Denver Benefit Tribute event in Denver, because they want to raise awareness along the Front Range about the organization and hopefully inspire people in the Denver metro area who have second homes in Summit County to donate them for Domus Pacis to offer to cancer patients and their families.
John Fielder says being part of this
Perfect Match: The gorgeous Colorado landscape photographs are choreographed to the music of John Denver, performed by the John Adams Band.
event is a “no brainer.” He’s been capturing the beauty of Colorado for 40 years and is the author of some 50 books containing his amazing photographs. Fielder says, “John Denver is probably the most influential environmentalist in the second half of the 20th century. Merging my pictures with his words and music is natural.”
Fielder explains Domus Pacis is a perfect fit for him personally, too. He says his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when she was 50 years old and he took care of her for 7 years. “I know well what the demands are for cancer patients and their families. What they do is remarkable and Domus Pacis helps give the patients and their caretakers some respite.”
Fielder hopes people attend the upcoming Denver concert. “This concert is very important to get the word out on the Front Range about Domus Pacis.”
Breathtaking: Audience members enjoy the artistic collaboration of photography and music celebrating Colorado’s high country beauty.
John Adams and his band will provide the musical inspiration for the event. Adams has been a lifelong fan of John Denver ever since he heard Denver perform in Holland in 1998. He formed the John Adams Band and has traveled the world playing John Denver’s music.
Adams has long supported Domus Pacis. He met White-Petteruti after one of his concerts in Breckenridge. “He explained what Domus Pacis is and I liked the idea. The music and spirit of John Denver is — it’s not about you or me, it’s about you a
nd me. Supporting Domus Pacis is one way I do what I can to help make the world a better place.”
General admission tickets are $37.25 and VIP tickets are $47.25. Children are $15. Tickets are available for purchase at the Newman Center Box Office located at 2344 E. Iliff Ave. in Denver. For more information on Domus Pacis, visit www.domuspacis.org.
Major League Rugby Fulfills A Glendale Vision And Dream
Mayor Mike Dunafon
The announcement by CBS Sports that it had agreed to a multi-year rights deal with Major League Rugby (MLR) to televise 13 games starting this spring, including a game of the week and two weeks of playoff action for MLB’s inaugural season, is a dream come true for Glendale and its many rugby fans.
MLR was formed earlier this year with seven teams, including the Glendale Raptors and teams from Austin, Houston New Orleans, San Diego, Seattle and Salt Lake City.
Glendale Rugby was the vision of the Chronicle Publisher Chuck Bonniwell, Michael Dunafon and Debbie Matthews, all of whom had played rugby. The team logo of a three-headed raptor represents the three founders.
The concept was to bring a sports team to Glendale which the town could rally around and bring a sense of community. As Chuck Bonniwell remarked, “Glendale wasn’t going to get a National Football League or Major League Baseball team, but rugby worldwide is the second most popular team sport after soccer, and little Glendale could make a mark, not only nationally but even internationally, with rugby.”
Mike Dunafon, now the mayor of Glendale, has been the relentless major driving force behind rugby in Glendale but it has not been an easy task. For its initial team in 2007 Glendale did not want to cannibalize the existing teams in the Denver metropolitan area so they placed ads in The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News for new players and brought in players from across the country.
One of the keys to Glendale’s success was the early addition of Stanford educated Mark Bullock, who is now the Director of Rugby for Glendale. Bullock has coached with great success the men’s team, the women’s team and youth teams. His intelligence, tenacity and broad range of abilities has made him one of the faces of Glendale rugby.
Glendale built a world class stadium specifically for rugby with a seating capacity of 5,000 which can be doubled for special events. The city also built an adjacent venue with artificial turf that is open to the Glendale public for myriad sports in addition to rugby. Dunafon ensured that the Infinity Park Stadium was designed to be a state-of-the-art broadcast facility which now meshes perfectly with the national broadcasting standards of CBS Sports.
The Infinity Park Stadium has won numerous state and national awards relating to its field and turf management thanks to the extraordinary work of Josh Bertrand, Glendale’s Director of Public Works.
It was always envisioned that Glendale would compete at the highest level nationally which proved to be a challenge, not because of the quality of the Glendale team, but the state of rugby in the United States. The top level of American rugby when Glendale rugby started was the Rugby Super League which refused to admit Glendale due to petty jealousies by older more established clubs to a newcomer. By the time the Super League was willing to accept the Raptors, Glendale was no longer interested and the Super League folded in 2012. It was replaced by the Rugby Elite Cup which lasted only one year before closing in 2013, which Glendale also declined to join.
National and international rugby bodies sanctioned America’s first professional rugby competition named PRO Rugby in 2016 which was owned and operated by a single individual, the quixotic Doug Schoninger, and also did not include Glendale. Schoninger was not up to the task and that league also folded after that single season (2016) amid acrimony and threats of lawsuits. Schoninger, in the process, lost millions due to his investment in professional rugby.
In the meantime, during those years, Glendale competed in whatever top competition it could find, including winning USA Rugby’s Division I championship in 2011 and the Pacific Premier Championships in 2015 and 2016. In addition, Glendale’s women’s team, now known as the Merlins, was also excelling, winning back-to-back National Championships in 2014 and 2015.
The CBS Sports television contract elevates the MLR, and American rugby in general, to a level never reached before. It is expected the league will attract traditional power houses on both coasts, and Chicago to join in the near future.
After a decade Glendale is now competing at the highest level nationally with country-wide television exposure thanks to CBS Sports. The Glendale team has some of the best players in the United States with international players from across the globe sprinkled in. It can be expected to compete strongly for the league championship.
The success of Major League Rugby is by no means guaranteed, but Dunafon and Glendale can be justifiably proud of the fact that the dream and vision, over a decade old, has been fulfilled. The future of Glendale rugby is bright and the upcoming season of Major League Rugby in Glendale should be one exciting ride.
- Editorial Board