Nathan Yip Foundation

Greenwood Village

News: At first glance, Westerners may see the lunar Year of the Snake in a somewhat negative light, associating it with things slippery or slimy. But as Jonathan H.X. Lee, a San Francisco State University professor and researcher of Chinese folklore, said in a recent piece for NBC News, the Year of the Snake is “All about shedding that bad energy.”

In fact, those born in the sixth sign on the Chinese zodiac—1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, and 2025—are said to be curious, charming, and deeply intuitive, blessed with intelligence, resilience, and love.

This laid a good foundation for the Nathan Yip Foundation’s 2025 Chinese New Year Gala, a Feb. 1 celebration chaired by Bruce and Lisa McDonald and held at the Grand Hyatt Denver.

Bruce and Lisa, who also sponsored the cocktail reception that preceded dinner, attended their first Nathan Yip Foundation Chinese New Year Gala in 2024 as guests of Melly Kinnard, an NYF board member and presenting sponsor for the 2025 gala. They were so impressed with the foundation’s depth of support for schools in rural areas of Colorado that they told the Yips they would love to become more involved.

The words were barely out of their mouths when Linda Yip invited Lisa to join the board of directors. “At my first board meeting, Linda asked if Bruce and I would like to chair the 2025 gala, and so a year later, here we are!”

Net proceeds from sponsorships, ticket sales and silent auction bidding are still being tallied. Still, at press time it looked like over $300,000 was in hand: some $200,000 from the live auction and paddle-raise and $130,000 from a gift given by current and emeritus board members in appreciation of Linda and Jimmy.

A highlight of the evening was a tribute to Linda and Jimmy Yip, who established the Nathan Yip Foundation following the loss of their only child in a December 2001 automobile accident.

A video prepared by former NYF board president Mike Kalush, whose wife, former 7News anchor Anne Trujillo was the gala’s emcee, detailed how the Yips – he from Hong Kong and she from Taipei, Taiwan – met in Denver in the late 1970s and married in 1981. They owned and later sold three successful restaurants before they and their business partners established the first Keller Williams real estate franchise in Denver and Peliton, a business processing outsourcing company that helps small business owners improve efficiency and profitability.

Nathan Yip’s passing, Linda said, created “Unbearable grief. It was so dark, and everything felt empty.” Jimmy Yip added that their son always wanted to help kids in less fortunate circumstances, “So we chose to continue what he would have done.”

Lisa McDonald added: “Beyond their incredible work, Linda and Jimmy are two of the kindest people you could ever have the privilege to know. They have a way of making everyone feel like family, and we are truly blessed to call them friends.”

The 450 guests included:

• NYF co-founders Stephanie and Kevin Tung

• Earl Wright, co-founder and board chairman of AMG National Trust Bank

• NYF board president Alan Frosh, who had been friends with Nathan Yip since their days at Kent Denver School

• NYF past board presidents Denise Gliwa, Jon Olafson, David Thomson and Okie Arnot

• NYF outgoing executive director Jill Henwood and interim executive director Christine Gillette

• Such board members as Raj Babu, Debby Buescher, Doris Burd, Adrienne Ruston Fitzgibbons, Joe Wagner and Dr. Michael Schaffer

• Psychologist Leslie Miller and her husband, attorney J. Kent Miller

• Auctioneer Debbie Scheer from The Gala Team

About the organization: To date, the Nathan Yip Foundation strives to close the educational opportunity gap between rural and urban schools by providing grants to teachers and schools in rural areas of Colorado. The NYF’s fundraising efforts have resulted in grants totaling some $1.5 million. The schools have used the money to purchase supplies and materials that range from computers and the ingredients for a “growing minds garden” at an elementary school to the state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment that has enabled students at North Fork High School’s media class in Hotchkiss to create pieces like “Western Slope Stories,” a video shown at the gala.

Website: nathanyipfoundation.org

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