VOC Honored with 2016 El Pomar Award for Excellence
Alex Schupp • May 27, 2016
VOC Honored with 2016 El Pomar Award for Excellence
Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado is a recipient of the distinguished El Pomar Foundation's Awards for Excellence for the Metro Region in 2016. The award includes a $25,000 grant.
VOC will be among a select few other outstanding nonprofit organizations throughout Colorado honored during El Pomar Foundation's Awards for Excellence Presentation Ceremony and Dinner on October 2 in Black Hawk.
"VOC is delighted to be selected as a 2016 El Pomar Awards for Excellence winner," said VOC's executive director, Ann Baker Easley. "This award reflects VOC's long-standing commitment to creating opportunities, tools, and strategies for people of ages and walks of life to care for Colorado's outdoors."
El Pomar Foundation, based in Colorado Springs, is one of the largest and oldest private foundations in the Rocky Mountain West. El Pomar contributes approximately $20 million annually through grants and programs to support Colorado nonprofit organizations involved in health, human services, education, arts and humanities, and civic and community initiatives.

After three meaningful decades, Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) will be saying goodbye to our longtime home at the Dos Chappell Bathhouse in Denver's beloved Washington Park. In the early 1990s, VOC signed a 30-year lease with the City of Denver to transform the historic bathhouse in Washington Park into a headquarters that could support our growing mission. With generous support from our community, we launched a capital campaign and raised $700,000 to complete the initial renovations, which were finalized in 1996. Altogether, including the original renovations, VOC has invested more than $1 million in improvements and ongoing maintenance, creating a space that is enjoyed by our staff, volunteers, and the broader Washington Park community. In 2000, the building was renamed in honor of Dos Chappell, VOC’s former Executive Director (1988–1999), whose vision and leadership left a lasting legacy on our organization and Colorado’s outdoor stewardship movement. This space has been more than just an office—it’s been a gathering place, a launchpad for thousands of volunteers, and a visible symbol of our commitment to caring for Colorado.