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Super heroes soar in for Heuga Center

Story and photos by Carolyn Pope
Special to the DailySandy Treat, Teri Lester, Shirley Creighton, JoAnn Story and Jimmie Heuga
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This year is a memorable year for the Heuga Center. It’s been forty years since Jimmie Heuga won a medal at the Olympics in Innsbruck and twenty years since the Center launched its first program. In honor of Jimmie, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens named April 2, 2004, Jimmie Heuga Day.

The premise of the Edwards-based Heuga Center is to improve the health of people living with multiple sclerosis. The Heuga Center remains the only organization that provides health promotion programs such as Can Do, Can Do 2 and Jumpstart.



Jimmie wanted to share the principles that transformed his life from one of despair to one of health and well-being. Defying conventional wisdom, he began a program of exercise, nutrition and psychological motivation that improved his physical condition and his outlook on life, by focusing on health instead of his disease.

The Heuga Snow Express in Vail was topped off by the 20th Birthday Bash – “Super Heuga Heroes” – at the Park Hyatt in Beaver Creek. Guests donned super-hero costumes, along with the random anti-hero. After dinner, Hazel Miller entertained the packed ballroom with her soulful style.

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“The folks at the Jimmie Heuga Center are ingenious with their fund raising,” said Barb Treat.

A wheelbarrow full of wine was the prize in a raffle while a crate of bananas and artistically crafted boxes were auctioned off. There were boxes of steel, elm, raku, stained glass and beads; and boxes for children and a painted suitcase for travelers as well as “Totally Texas” box filled with Texas treats.

Phyllis Martinez, director of development, who also organized the event, explained the idea behind the boxes.

“I like to collect boxes. Even though the auction is big, I wanted to transition into something that reflects the community,” she said. “The boxes have different personalities, just like the artists who created them. We can always think out of the box.”

Perhaps Terri Goodman, vice president of programs for the Heuga Center, summed up the evening the best. :We have so many people who give of their time and money, so they’re all heroes,” she said.

For more information on The Heuga Center, call 1-800-367-3101. On the Web: http://www.heuga.org.


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