No One Should Go Hungry
Deb Rosenbaum Is This Year’s Babbs Award Winner
By Heather Shockey
For the GPHN
Editor’s note: Deb Rosenbaum was named the recipient of this year’s Babbs Award during the Oct. 6 annual meeting of GPHC, Inc. The following are remarks from Heather Shockey, currently a board member, treasurer and a former Babbs recipient.
Dr. J. Carlton Babbs was a minister at Park Hill United Methodist Church from 1955 until his death in 1978. He helped organize the Park Hill Action Committee (now Greater Park Hill Community, Inc.) and was a key supporter of integration in Park Hill.
On the same Sunday in May of 1956, faith leaders throughout the community preached sermons on the need to eliminate all the barriers to church membership and housing on the basis of race, sex or national origin.
The Park Hill Action Committee, organized and sponsored by these churches, subsequently became the Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. (GPHC). Historically, GPHC’s impact on integration, zoning, schools, social justice and legislation for the community has been widely recognized. At the time of Dr. Babbs’ death, the clergy of Park Hill met and decided that a community service award in his memory would be a fitting tribute to one of the neighborhood’s outstanding leaders.
This year’s honoree is Deb Rosenbaum.
Deb is a Park Hill native who grew up in the only white and Jewish family in an African American neighborhood, which she says made for a complicated childhood, struggling to figure out where she fit in. Her father, a plumber, would make sculptures and home décor. Deb had a 30-year career as a high school art teacher. She has lived in rich, culturally diverse destinations beyond Colorado, which has influenced her art and life. She returned to Denver later in life and headed the Visual Arts Department at the Denver School of the Arts for 15 years.
Deb has been a food pantry volunteer and coordinator at GPHC since 2018. She ensures the smooth operation and success of the food programs, including overseeing and organizing backstock, taking overstock to other area food pantries, managing the trash/compost/recycling, and other tasks.
Deb works in the pantry two days per week and regularly makes herself available on additional days and times to help with projects or cover someone else’s shift.
She also serves as a board and faculty member of the Art Students League of Denver and volunteers at The Gathering Place.
Not only is she an outstanding volunteer but also a talented artist. In 2019 Deb painted the mural on our community room wall, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of GPHC.
Past Recipients
Named in honor of Dr. J. Carlton Babbs, the award has been presented annually since 1980.
1980 – Robert Hickman
1981 – Helen B. Evans
1982 – Jules H. Mondschein
1983 – Marjorie Gilbert
1984 – Madeleine Hegarty
1985 – Issac and Marie White
1986 – Karen Saliman
1987 – Art and Bea Branscombe
1988 – John and Gladys Bates
1989 – Mary Ann McClain
1990 – Henry Turner
1991 – William R. “Bill” Turner
1992 – Gerald “Jerry” Kopel
1993 – Cynthia C. Kahn
1994 – Emmett F. Wallace
1995 – Liz Cruder
1996 – Patricia B. Clarke
1997 – Dr. Robbie Bean
1998 – Lewis and Bernice Watts
1999 – Algene and Odell Holleman
2000 – Richard Pickett
2001 – Ann Long
2002 – Marietta “Jo” Mosby
2003 – Sarah Lee Foster
2004 – Geneva Goldsby
2005 – Linda L. Elliott
2006 – Bob Homiak
2007 – Roz Wheeler-Bell
2008 – Roberta Locke
2009 – Lyle Hansen
2010 – Susan Schneider Homick
2011 – Lynn Smith
2012 – Tracey MacDermott
2013 – Bernadette Kelly
2014 – Kate Sultan
2015 – Heather Shockey
2016 – Lynn Kalinauskas
2017 – Claudia Fields
2018 – Blair Taylor
2019 — The Bresler Family
2020 — LeAnn Anderson
2021 — Pastor Nathan Adams