Each year, Peak Vista holds its premier fundraising event, the Breakfast of Champions, which features a keynote address from an Olympic Gold Medalist. Some of the greatest athletes in history have been featured, including Mary Lou Retton, Jackie Joyner Kersey, Scott Hamilton and Mark Spitz. 2014 marks the tenth anniversary of Breakfast of Champions, and this year’s keynote will be Venus Williams, a four time Olympic Gold Medalist, who revolutionized women’s tennis.
“Venus suffers from an autoimmune condition called Sjogren’s syndrome and is sensitive to the crucial need for people to have access to healthcare,” said BJ Scott, Executive Director of Peak Vista Community Health Centers Foundation. “It will be inspirational to hear this gifted Champion tell her story.”
Venus and her sister Serena have won more Olympic gold medals than any other female tennis players; at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Venus became only the second player to win Olympic gold medals in both singles and doubles at the same Olympic Games, after Helen Wills Moody in 1924. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women’s Tennis Association on three separate occasions, earning the World No. 1 for the first time on February 25, 2002, becoming the first American black woman to achieve this feat during the Open Era. Her seven Grand Slam singles titles, including five Wimbledon singles titles, have placed her on the list of one of the greatest tennis players in history.
For 43 years, Peak Vista Community Health Centers has been serving people of all ages by providing exceptional healthcare to those who face access barriers. These barriers can include little or no insurance, child care, transportation, language and cultural barriers or other challenges which can limit or prevent the ability to find needed care.
Peak Vista develops increasingly innovative and efficient ways to ensure our patients receive a broad spectrum of care. Our model of care integrates medical, dental and behavioral services for infants through the elderly. Expanding into the East Central Plains in 2014, Peak Vista now serves over 80,000 patients – across nine counties – in 25 locations. Peak Vista has built health centers in urban and rural areas, opened clinics within schools, and equipped mobile vans with state-of-the-art equipment to reach those who aren’t able to visit a health center.
Peak Vista’s 2014 Breakfast of Champions will be held on November 4 at the Broadmoor International Center 7:30-9:00 am. Tickets and sponsorships are available at www.peakvistafoundation.org or call 719/344-6605.