Denver Actors Fund helps guitarist cover huge gap in insurance coverage with dental equipment
Aid recipient: Mitch Jervis is a longtime guitarist in the Colorado theatre community who recently played in the DCPA Theatre Company’s “Rattlesnake Kate” at the Wolf Theatre. Mitch has too many theatrical credits to count, but here are a random few: “Pump Boys and Dinettes” with late local actor Daniel Langhoff at the Miners Alley Playhouse; and “Spring Awakening,” “Hair” and “The Robber Bridegroom” at the Town Hall Arts Center. Mitch, who is from Marshalltown, Iowa, and now lives in Black Hawk, also plays in a rock band called Captain Quirk. Plus, he’s active in the Colorado tribute band scene with Double Life: A Tribute to the Cars.
His initial medical story: In 2018, Mitch sliced his hand open while out of town moving his mom into a new care facility.
How we helped: We covered Mitch’s medical bills, including follow-up visits, totaling $1,195.44.
The latest chapter: Mitch needed a custom dental appliance to help with ongoing sleep and breathing issues, which are not covered by his insurance plan. “It always amazes me what insurance doesn’t cover,” Mitch says. “Evidently, teeth are luxury bones, eyes are non-essential organs and sleep is completely optional. I’m so thankful that the DAF is available to help close those huge gaps in my health-care coverage.”
‘IT’S SAD THAT THE U.S. HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IS SO BROKEN THAT WE NEED A RESOURCE LIKE THE DENVER ACTORS FUND.’
How we helped: The DAF Board of Directors unanimously approved covering the cost of a custom dental appliance system that works to alleviate obstructive sleep apnea, which came to $4,759. That brings our total support for Mitch Jervis, including a DEAR Fund living-expense stipend during the pandemic shutdown, to $6,454.44.
A message from Mitch: “It’s amazing to me how quickly and easily the Denver Actors Fund comes through with the funds we all need. It’s sad that the U.S. health care system is so broken that we need a resource like the Denver Actors Fund, but it’s wonderful for all of us in the Colorado theater community that it’s available and so hassle-free to work with.”
How you can help The Denver Actors Fund help more Colorado artists in need: To date, The Denver Actors Fund has made more than $1,020,000 available to Colorado artists in medical need. If you would to help us replenish, simply mail checks made out to The Denver Actors Fund to P.O. Box 11182, Denver, CO, 80211. Or use this donation link.
Read testimonials from other Denver Actors Fund beneficiaries here
Note: At the Denver Actors Fund, anonymity of aid recipients is presumed and fully protected, unless and until the recipient chooses to have his or her story told.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US REPLENISH:
To DONATE the Denver Actors Fund, please CLICK HERE (with our humble thanks)
ABOUT THE DENVER ACTORS FUND:
Video above: The Denver Actors Fund receives the Colorado Theatre Guild’s 2016 Community Impact Award.
The Denver Actors Fund is a source of immediate, situational relief when members of the local theater community find themselves in medical need. To date, the Fund has allocated more than $1,000,000 to more than 500 artists facing medical need. In addition to financial relief, a team of more than 100 Denver Actors Fund volunteers offers good neighborly assistance including meal prep and delivery, child care, transportation, errands, construction, pet-sitting and more. For more information, visit our web site at DenverActorsFund.Org.
HOW TO APPLY FOR AID:
To apply for Denver Actors Fund aid: Fill out this brief online form here
MORE WAYS TO HELP:
DONATE BY MAIL:
Send checks made out to the Denver Actors Fund to:
P.O. Box 11182
Denver, CO 80211
VOLUNTEER:
Ever thought about taking a more active role in the Denver Actors Fund? Click here for more information
COME TO THE EVENTS THAT SUPPORT US:
SUNDAY, SEPT. 4: As part of our ongoing “Thanks a Million”” celebration, we are hosting a Labor Day weekend Happy Hour to thank Denver Actors Fund volunteers, donors, recipients, friends and anyone else on the planet who wants to join us to gather with us to mark our recently having surpassed $1 million in medical relief provided to Colorado theater artists. Drop by for a beer or beverage of your choice and let’s hug it out. Cap City is donating a keg of beer for this event. Thanks to a donor, the DAF will issue a ticket for one glass of wine to anyone who prefers wine over beer. Any other food/liquor will be on a cash basis. Mark your calendars!
- When: Sunday, Sept. 4
- Time: 5-9 p.m.
- Where: Cap City, 1247 Bannock St.
- Open to: Volunteers, donors, recipients and friends of the DAF. (Meaning, anyone.)
- Cost: Free
- Host: Dr. Brian Kelly DDS is a former Broadway performer and DAF Board member who, to date, has made $150,000 in free dental care available to members of the Colorado theater community
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 7: True West and Henry Award-winning actors Sophia Dotson and Nathaniel Waite-Lutz return with a new cabaret revue called “Young at Part” at the Vintage Theatre. New songs and with old favorites … and they’ve invited some special surprise guests to join in the fun. Neither 16-year-old is a stranger to the stage. In 2018, Waite-Lutz, of Denver School of the Arts, played Michael Banks in Vintage Theatre’s “Mary Poppins,” and Dotson, of Grandview High School, became the youngest winner of a Henry Award in Colorado Theatre Guild history for her utterly natural performance as Young Alison in Miners Alley Playhouse’s coming-of-age musical “Fun Home.” In an unusual twist, the pair were brought together the next year for the Aurora Fox’s regional premiere of “Caroline, Or Change.” But not to perform alongside one another. Rather, they were hired to share the pivotal role of Noah in alternating performances. They finished the year at Vintage performing together (but separately) in “Tuck Everlasting,” playing youngsters who don’t know it yet but (spoiler alert!) are going to grow up and get married someday. Last month, Waite-Lutz won the Colorado Theatre Guild’s first-ever “Youth Performer” Henry Award for his performance in the Aurora Fox’s “A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant.” The performers will be taking a collection for the Denver Actors Fund during this concert, which features accompanist Mitch Samu. 7:30 p.m. at 1468 Dayton St., Aurora. Tickets $21 ($12 streaming.)
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28: Michelle Jeffres will be performing her nostalgic cabaret revue “If You Knew My Story,” at The Vintage Theater, and she will be splitting all net proceeds as donations to The Denver Actors Fund and The Arabian Horseman’s Distress Fund. Jeffres played Lady Eugenie in Vintage Theatre’s “A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder” and Mrs. Brill in “Mary Poppins” in 2020. “I hope that this could be a helping hand to those that are in need,” she says. “It’s my small way of saying thank you to so many.” 7:30 p.m. at 1468 Dayton St., Aurora. Tickets $21 ($12 streaming.)
ONGOING: “Quarantine Week by Weak” is a new photographic coffee-table book by Susannah McLeod and her wife, Chloe McLeod, who chronicled their home life during the COVID19 shutdown with a light-hearteded photo series documenting their lives during quarantine. They produced more than 35 sets of humorous photos comparing the beginning of quarantine to later in the “stay-at-home” period. Susannah pulled out her camera and we started to play,” said Chloe McLeod. As popularity for the series grew on Instagram and after a feature in Westword, the couple started exploring options to publish the series as a book to benefit The Denver Actors Fund. To order, visit mcleod9creative.com. This project is generously sponsored by: The Albritton Family; Natalie Bowen and Jim Corbett; Dave Dyer; Julie Dyer; and Denise Gentilini and Lynette Prisner. Additional support provided by Angie Flachman and Sandy Birkey at The Publishing House and Sandra Lee Stuart.
ONGOING: “Waiting for Obama,” the audio version of DAF Founder John Moore’s play that was an official selection at the 2016 New York International Fringe Festival, has been released as way of raising funds for The Denver Actors Fund. A Colorado Springs family is convinced that Barack Obama is coming for their guns in the final weeks of his presidency – and they’re right. Featuring Laurence Curry, Drew Horwitz, Chris Kendall, Leslie O’Carroll, Jenna Moll Reyes, Jessica Robblee, Luke Sorge and Mare Trevathan. It was recorded by the staff of Parker Arts at the PACE Center as an in-kind donation to The Denver Actors Fund. Listen for FREE on all major podcasting platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Podbean. Just by listening, you will be raising revenue for The DAF! Or, WATCH the recording as a pay-per-view video for $9.95 on Broadway on Demand. ‘Waiting for Obama’ was recorded by the staff of Parker Arts at the PACE Center and edited by Ray Bailey TV as in-kind donations to The Denver Actors Fund. The actors also donated their services.
VISIT OUR ONLINE MERCH STORE:
Click here to see how you can buy DAF products such as T-shirts, key chains, puzzles and much more
