All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
Henry Stauch (left) receives a Kindness Counts award from Dave Elchoness of The Peter Fund.
Ellie Steele received a Kindness Counts Award from The Peter Fund for the kindness she displayed during the past year.
Volunteers helped host The Peter Fund's award recognition event at Whistle Stop Park, including (l to r), Ainsley Burnette, Peyton Burnette, Alexandra Varga, and Stacy Rahall.
Pearl Vision performed at The Peter Fund award ceremony in Whistle Stop Park.
Tuesday, July 25, saw The Peter Fund host a concert in Whistle Stop Park in conjunction with the recognition of the first five Kindness Counts Award winners in the non-profit's effort to recognize and reward acts of kindness.
The evening opened with two bands, The PSB and Pearl Vision, each made up of local high school students who knew the late Peter Bonn-Elchoness, who died of a rare heart condition during his senior year at Niwot High School last fall.
The music concluded with a performance by Good Catch, a Denver-based Alternative Rock Cover-Band, playing hits from the 80s, 90s, and beyond. Nacho Mama's Tacos Food Truck of Niwot supplied food for the event, which was sponsored by Deborah Read Fowler's real estate office.
Peter's father, Dave Elchoness, served as the master of ceremonies, with a crowd of almost 300 attending. Many were friends of Peter, including students from other area high schools.
Elchoness, a retired attorney who now teaches in the St. Vrain Valley School District, introduced four of the five award-winners, and also recognized the fifth winner, who was unable to attend.
The non-profit organization known as The Peter Fund, was organized by Peter's parents to keep his legacy of kindness alive. A summary on the website of The Peter Fund states, "We have heard many stories about the extraordinary kindness and generosity of spirit he showed during his lifetime. For example, in middle school, he stood up to bullies on behalf of a friend in need. He regularly offered support to kids in crisis carving time out of his day just to be there for them. Peter rooted for teammates and competitors on the fencing strip. We're told he saved lives."
The award-winning students, Freddie Ambrose, Haylee Matney, Phoebe McLean, Henry Stauch, and Ellie Steele, were all nominated by NHS students and faculty. Each received a cash award of $250 and a donation of $250 was made to a non-profit organization in Peter's honor, as selected by the award winners, as "a reminder to pay it forward" as Dave Elchoness described it.
He spoke to the assembled audience, and noted that Peter had a special sense about him. "When Peter passed away, that was evidenced by the support that you gave us in return," Elchoness said.
"We were grieving, we are grieving, and you were grieving, you are grieving. And yet you showed up, and that was just phenomenal. So we got to thinking about his kindness. At the same time, we heard from many of you. Lots and lots of letters and notes from people. It was actually remarkable, the number of people we heard from, and strangers too. To tell us that Peter had done great things for them during his life.
"So we came up with this idea called The Peter Fund, a method of supporting the Kindness Counts Awards. And at their core, the Kindness Counts Awards are designed to make it so that no kid with mediocre grades and mediocre athletic ability, but something special in terms of goodness and kindness, ever feels that they haven't succeeded.
"The goal of the Kindness Counts Award is to stand alongside every Valedictorian in the country on equal footing, because grades are very important, but so are the other things. And the other things should be recognized."
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