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DENVER — **In 2014 Noble Energy partnered with the Broncos and Denver Public Schools Foundation to donate $1,000 for each trip the Broncos made to the red zone in home games. To be sure, that was a pretty big effort given the record-breaking success the Broncos had in the previous season.
Though the Broncos didn't reach those same heights as the previous season, they were still the No. 4 offense in yards per play and the No. 2 offense in points per game. Ultimately, they lined up on 40 trips in the red zone in home games this season.
On Monday, Noble Energy visited Smith Elementary School to present the $40,000 check to the DPS Foundation to the delight of a group of students in attendance to help receive the donation.
"The Broncos have been long-time partners with us; Noble Energy has been long-time partners with us. For those organizations to come together and to figure out 'How do we do even more for Denver Public Schools' kids?' is just a tremendous win for us, and our students and our schools," said Kristin Colon, President and CEO of the DPS Foundation.
Noble Energy partnered with the Denver Broncos and Denver Public Schools to make a donation every time the Broncos entered the red zone. On Monday, that effort culminated in a $40,000 donation to DPS.
The money will go to help Denver Public School's 89,000 students and 186 schools, Colon said; that means teacher and classroom grants, STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) programs and more.
"Community partnerships is entirely how the DPS Foundations supports Denver Public Schools," she added. "As I said, we've got 89,000 students and so for us to be able to do more for every single student to ensure that they succeed whether it's literacy interventions or to really ensure that they have advanced opportunities through maybe job shadows or job mentorships at a company like Noble Energy or maybe the Denver Broncos. Those are the types of connections that we make. The DPS Foundation is here to connect community partners with Denver Public Schools, the actual schools themselves and the students to ensure that every child succeeds, both financially through financial contributions as well as volunteer and employee engagement."
In addition to the donation, Noble Energy brings help with their employees volunteering to help schools on occasion. The emphasis on making the impact locally—on the home turf, if you will—was a focus for Noble Energy and the Broncos.
"When we first met with Noble, it was very important to them that they had some sort of way to leverage our partnership with the community program and any time you can take a community partner like the DPS Foundation, raise some money and promote them through a corporate partner, that's a win-win," said Darren O'Donnell, the Broncos' Vice President of Business Development. "As I said, it had to be authentic and what better way to do it than to celebrate students who excel in STEM and what better way to do it than every time the Broncos reach the red zone, some sort of a donation that all that money goes to DPS Foundation. It's a good cause all around."
This season-long plan was an intriguing initiative that has Noble Energy looking for even more success from the Broncos' offense in seasons to come.
"I'm looking forward to more than 40 times next year, we're hoping," said Noble Energy Senior Vice President Chip Rimer. "We love the partnership with the Broncos, this is a gret community effort here to be able to give money to Denver Public Schools. That's just for us, it's a passion to help the next generation be more successful than we are."
