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Wheat Ridge football booster seeks city help; council grants $3,000 by consensus
Summary
A Wheat Ridge football booster president asked council during public comment on Oct. 5 for help after his nonprofit’s community grant request was denied; councilors reached a consensus to allocate $3,000 from the general fund for the Fighting 40‑threes program.
At the start of the Oct. 5 Wheat Ridge City Council meeting a public commenter identified as Ben LaRue, president of the Wheat Ridge Football Team Booster Club (the Fighting 40‑threes), asked the council for any additional city funding after the booster’s application to the city’s community partner grant program was not awarded.
LaRue said many players on the team come from low‑income households and the booster covers travel, summer programming and other costs to keep the team participating in off‑site camps and college exposure opportunities. ‘‘We have a lot of kids at our school that are, especially on the football team, that are below the poverty level,’’ LaRue said during his three‑minute comment.
After the formal budget presentation later in the meeting, Councilor Hoppe proposed adding $3,000 from the general fund to support the Wheat Ridge football booster. Council asked for consensus; councilors indicated support on the record and online participants registered their assent. The council consensus allocated $3,000 from the general fund to the booster program and councilor Hoppe recorded the action on the public record as part of the meeting’s wrap‑up. Staff noted that the final adopted budget will be brought back on Oct. 27, when formal adoption and mill‑levy certification occur.
The booster’s request was discussed in the context of community partner grants: staff said the city budgeted $200,000 for those grants in 2026, while applicants requested about $491,221. City staff and councilors discussed that demand far exceeded available funding during the budget discussion.
LaRue identified himself as a volunteer who lives in Edgewater and described prior volunteer roles in Wheat Ridge schools and programs; he said the booster had applied for city nonprofit funding the previous year and had not been awarded a grant in the current cycle. He did not provide an exact grant request amount during his comment. City staff did not commit to further, separate grants beyond the $3,000 consensus allocation recorded on Oct. 5.
