Loveland-based Diversify Whitewater offered the free event. It is a seven-volunteer organization started by Lily Durkee, 26. An Asian woman from the DC suburbs, she studies evolutionary ecology at CSU Ft. Collins. Another volunteer head of the organization, Satya Wimbish, also a board member, was onsite to help with reporter paddling.
Durkee started the group two years ago after noticing that when she went out paddling in her spare time, she didn’t look like anyone else. So she set out to eliminate financial and social barriers to the outdoors for people of color by organizing events at no cost and finding sponsors and volunteers to help.
She got $4,000 in funding in March from Colorado’s Outdoor Equity Grant Program, a new state-run program that uses proceeds from the Colorado Lottery to fund programs that educate and get people participating in outdoor activities. They…
