PARKER: Oprah's gift wave buoys good causes

By Penny Parker, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Barry Gutierrez / The Rocky

Former Colorado first lady Frances Owens caresses newborn Vivian Amaida Gomez on Monday as her mother, Amaida Melendez, watches.

Oprah's Big Give has come and gone, but her gifts could keep giving to Denver for a long time.

In April, nine Give contestants descended on Denver with 48 hours, $4,800 and instructions to find ways to give the money to a deserving person, family or organization.

Their adventures, documented on Give's second episode, Destination Denver, which aired Sunday on Denver's 7, showed the results.

On Monday, Give's donation to Denver Health Foundation's Newborns in Need program was the subject of a news conference with Denver Health CEO Patricia Gabow, DHF executive director Paula Herzmark and former first lady Frances Owens. Newborns in Need is a longstanding foundation program in which individuals and organizations throw baby showers to collect donations for new moms.

Contestant Olusegun "Sheg" Aranmolate, a 24-year-old researcher at Vanderbilt University, was the reason Give and Newborns in Need found each other.

"We accidentally bumped into him," said Robin Engleberg, foundation program director. "He came into our east side clinic with cameras rolling. Our receptionist said, 'You can't come in here with cameras, this is a medical facility.' She called our PR department, and they contacted us."

On the show, which should be called Oprah's Big Cry, Aranmolate tours the facility and hands out $400 cash to new moms. On his second visit, he brought an 18-wheeler crammed with diapers, 48 car seats and other baby supplies. Everything was gone by November.

"We are thrilled, but we need more," Engleberg said.

In the midst of the give away, Oprah Winfrey texted Denver's Big Givers and instructed them to give away the Ford Edge SUVs each was driving. The orange metallic car sitting in front of Denver Health's Delaware Street building transports newborns and their families home.

Other Denver do-gooders included Kim Prentiss, a sports marketing executive for the Tennessee Titans Radio Network, who used her PR prowess by going on the Kelly, Mudflap, and JoJo morning show on KYGO-FM to ask listeners to donate auction items for the Denver Broncos Branch of the Boys and Girls Club.

Rachael Hollingsworth, a singer who lives in L.A., found HIV positive women in The Empowerment Program, and treated them to a day of pampering at a spa and dinner at String's.

Brandi Milloy, a beauty pageant queen, put together survival kits and distributed them to homeless shelters. She also gave a single mom money toward earning her master's degree, as well as the SUV.

But the biggest givers were .com millionaire Cameron Johnson, model Eric Klein and pipeline company CEO Stephen Paletta who teamed up, worked the phones and handed a check for $293,000 to the Denver Children's Home, Colorado's oldest children's charity.

The motto, "You either give big or you go home," came to roost on Iraq War vet Angelo Adams, who threw a fundraiser for a wounded Army vet living in Greeley who can't work due to his injuries. TGI Friday's manager Jake Hart agreed to throw the party to raise money for Jason.

Where judges - celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, Kansas City Chief's Tony Gonzalez and Malaak Compton-Rock, the wife of comedian Chris Rock - felt Adams went wrong was in giving the SUV to the restaurant manager rather than Jason. He got booted off the show.

To see the episode, including hunky host Nate Berkus, go to abc.go.com/primetime/oprahsbiggive/index, click on "full episodes" then Oprah's Big Give. The show now goes on to other cities.

• March 11, 2008

  10:53 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  madmomof4 writes:

  The "vet" in Greeley is really a DEAD BEAT DAD looking for a hand out! Maybe if he didn't have 6 kids by 4 moms (which he owes child support to) he wouldn't be in this hole. He should have to pay back all of that money! He dug his own hole and NOBODY should help him! This money should have been given to a REAL hero that served our country overseas NOT a DEAD BEAT "DAD".

• March 12, 2008

  1:33 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  vudumom writes:

  I think Oprah is a publicity hound,who thinks giving money and gifts to people is going to change the world and help people find their inner selves.She is one person I can't stand to watch.Thank God or whoever for the remote control.Click!