Thumbs Up & Thumbs Down

"Thumbs-up to Poudre High School students and community partners who took part in this year's Feed our Families Food Drive and raised $88,900 and brought in 65,475 pounds of food. We were also able to buy $12,000 worth of fresh food from the contributions of students, staff, families, community members and the Impala Board. Special thanks to our grocery store partners at Albertsons; Safeway; King Soopers; Bella's Market; and to Exodus Moving for providing 1,400 boxes; the Larimer County Food Bank; our custodial staff at PHS; the staff at Poudre for all of their time and dedication; the folks of Fort Collins who handed a student a bag of food an estimated 14,000; Fort Collins High School Student Council for planting the seed at Collins; and, of course, Poudre students who put in hundreds of volunteer hours and made this happen. Proud to be an Impala."

Joe Fontana, assistant principal/activities director at Poudre High School.

"Intercultural Community Builders would like to give a resounding thumbs-up to our 2014 supporters: The Gannett Foundation; Poudre Schools; Loveland Schools; Community of Christ Church; Vineyard Church of the Rockies; Curiosities; Global Village Museum; Hunan Restaurant; Kilwans Fudge; Walrus Ice Cream; The Cupboard; Bean Cycle; Mary's Mountain Cookies; Merle Norman Cosmetics; Snooze Restaurant; Thamel Imports; Spooners Ice Cream; American Furniture Warehouse; Beau Jo's Pizza; Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant; The Wax Factory; Sports Clips; Pablo's Pizza; The Perennial Gardener; Dr. Chuck Luna; Teresa and Kevin Christian; Debbie and Steve Dyer; Sylvia and Larry Miller; Dean and Donna Miller; Natasha and Cole Sjoholm; the American Association of University Women; Panthers Dance-Pom; Storm Mountain Dancers; Quetzalcoatl Aztec Dance Group; and the Indian Classical Dance Bharathnatyam. Thank you for helping make our communities safe and inclusive for all people."

Carol Miller, Intercultural Community Builders director

"Thumbs-down to the CSU Board of Governors, which recently approved building a new football stadium on the CSU campus. Also, thumbs-down to CSU President Tony Frank and members of his administration, who proposed and promoted building a new stadium on campus against the wishes of the majority of both the Fort Collins and CSU communities.

Thumbs-up and "thanks" to Joe Zimlich, who was the only member of the CSU Board of Governors who spoke against building this stadium; thereby representing the majority of us who are opposed to it.

Also, thumbs-up and "thanks" to the members of "Save Our Stadium Hughes" and all others who have worked so diligently to educate us and the CSU Board of Governors to vote against this new stadium. Please continue your efforts to oppose it. You have the support of a lot of people who really appreciate you."

Dara Anderson, Fort Collins, CSU alumna

"The Fort Collins Breakfast Rotary club would like to congratulate and welcome its four newest members: Bonnie Dawdy, health tech for Poudre School District; Bill Honn, sales rep for Sterling CNG and Tico's Roofing; Melissa J. Stockberger, CPA with Soukup Bush & Associates; and Mark Campbell, retired State Farm Insurance agent in Colorado Springs."

Joan Heiman, Mimi Garrison and Associates

"Fort Collins High School students, staff and administration would like to sincerely thank everyone who donated to and attended the Purple and Gold Silent Auction and Dinner. Fort Collins High has a great history of community support, and such was apparent at this inaugural event. Below is a partial list of donors (more to come): Thank you to 20/20 Vision Center; A Clean Team; All-Tech Automotive; Altitude Running; Aura Aesthetics; Atlas Chiropractor and Acupuncture; B and B Family Insurance; Big Horn Family Dental; Blue Agave; Brad Wiggens; Café Vino; Cal Johnson; Change of a Dress; Charis Cook; Charming Charlie; Cheri Lamperes; Chick-fil-a; Chili's; Chris Lee; Cindy Short; Core Power Yoga; Hot Corner Concepts; Debbie and Chris Bostak; Dellenbach; Dolce Nail Salon; Domino's Pizza; Drive Train Industries; Egg & I, Eileen's Colossal Cookies; Ellen Danforth; Fundamental Strength; Foothills Chiropractic; Gamble Pet Clinic; Genoa Coffee and Wine; Get Well Physical Therapy; GoJo's Sports; Harmony Gardens; Highland Meadows Golf; Houska Automotive; IBMC; J Gumbo's; Jacquie Chapman; Jon-Michael Willert; Josten's; Julie and Fernando Castro; Krista Churchhill; Kevin Troudt; Lewis Tennis Center; Macy's; Markley Motors; and Mary's Mountain Cookies; Fort Collins High School students, staff, and administration would like to sincerely thank everyone who donated to, and attended the Purple and Gold Silent Auction and Dinner. Fort Collins high school has a great history of community support and such was apparent at this inaugural event. Below is a partial list of donors, the rest ran last week. Mathnasium, Meghan Daniel, Melissa Schaefer, Miramont Lifestyle Fitness, Mood ease massage, Mountain States Driving school, Mindstream yoga, Navi's Nails, New Belgium, Noodles, Palmer Flower, PVREA, Roots Wellness Studio, Pelican Lakes, Poudre Valley REA, Rainbow Bridge Pet Crematorium, Get Real Music Studio, Restaurant 415, Rio Grande, Tri-Star Drywall, Rocky Mountain Family Vision. Texas Roadhouse, Runners Roost, Ryan's Grill, Salon West, Snooze, Men's Wearhouse, Molly Hoff, Otterbox, Grace Alessi, Salon DeChelle, Skip Caddoo, Starbucks, TCBY, Taco Johns, Sienna Tan, The Cupboard, The Kitchen, The Parlour, The Pet Shop, Walmart, Unique Nail Salon, The Humapl Family and Stuff N'Mallow."

FCHS activities

"A huge thumbs-up to Leroy Gomez for his soapbox about gearing ourselves to solutions and picking worthier battles than Illegal Pete's. He recognizes there is a bigger picture here and that we all need to be aware of our actions and their consequences. I hope this helps in setting up open and honest conversations without judgment but with a mindset of understanding and the willingness to listen to all sides."

Jim Siefken, Windsor

"Thursday night I took my fourth-grade girls basketball team to a CSU womens game vs. University of Denver. My team had a great time watching the game, being seen on the scoreboard dancing, etc. At the end, the kids were asked to come on the court and meet the team, get autographs, etc. What A Great Experience! The CSU women not only signed autographs, but visited with the girls and were so accommodating the girls all told their parents they want to go to another game soon! I am sure those young ladies at CSU have plenty of school work; they were tired, especially with so many players not even suited up, but yet they took as much time as my little forth-graders wanted to let them know how much they appreciated them coming. One of the players even told the girls to send their basketball schedule for January and she will come watch them! I am a Huge fan of those ladies at CSU, and more people should know the quality of player and person they have on that team. Thanks to the CSU staff for being so accommodating to my young ladies."

Joe Mivshek, Fort Collins

Businesses on Harmony Road "United in Pink" during October with one common goal: raise money for cancer patients. The PVH and MCR Foundation thanks them for making a difference in the lives of others: Association Online (TM), Brinkman Partners, Cambria Suites, Computer Services, Inc., Dex One, Ead's & Associates Inc., Edward Jones (Ed Cullen), Fidelity National Title Company, First Western Trust Bank, Fuzzy's Tacos, Gib's Bagels, Highpoint Financial Group, LLC, Hilton Garden Inn, New York Life Insurance Company, Original Pancake House, Peloton Cycles, RBC Wealth Management, State Farm (Dave Lawser), Steven J. Wick & Associates PC, and Volt Workforce Solutions."

Erica Siemers, senior director of Poudre Valley Hospital and Medical Center of the Rockies Foundation

"Thumbs-up to the amazing folks at First Western Trust for volunteering their time to ChildSafe on Make a Difference Day! The volunteers spent the day giving our facility some much-needed love by tackling some deep cleaning and other improvements. First Western even went above and beyond by giving ChildSafe a $4,000 donation for the day! Our clients and staff love all of our improvements and we are so grateful to First Western Trust and The United Way of Larimer County for the amazing impact on our community during Make a Difference Day!"

Lindsey Hausman, billing coordinator, Fort Collins

"A huge thumbs-up to each and every volunteer in Fort Collins! The gift of your time is invaluable, regardless of whether you feel you make a big impact or not. You are a treasure! Special thanks to our Elderhaus volunteers, who have been so dedicated and giving. We succeed because of people who are part of SLICE; Community Cakes; B. J. Stone; Janice Rockvam; Jill Fox; Bob and Justin, and their fantastic work crews; our students; our interns; and our board and community members. Each volunteer is a special angel. Thank you for sharing your time with us."

Sandie Cogswell, volunteer coordinator, Elderhaus/Mindset

"Thumbs-down to Sony pulling The Interview and the involved artists canceling appearances mean the North Korean terrorists/hackers win."

John Thomas, Fort Collins