DENVER — At Kavod Senior Life, spring cleaning means more than tidying up, it means giving back. For the third year in a row, residents at the housing community held a clothing drive to support people experiencing homelessness and domestic violence. And at the heart of it all is Beverly Thompson.
Thompson, a Kavod resident and volunteer, led the effort to collect and donate bags of gently used clothes and essentials to the Comitis Crisis Center and a local battered women’s shelter — two places she knows well.
“One night he got angry, and he kicked my whole side and my head and told me to lay there. I literally ran out barefoot, with nothing,” Thompson said, recalling the night she fled a violent domestic situation in 2021. “He would have killed me.”
After spending two weeks hospitalized, Thompson found refuge at the Comitis Crisis Center and a women’s shelter. It was there, she says, her life began to turn around.
“They saved my life,” Thompson said. “So I decided I’m going to go help everybody I can.”
That mission now drives everything she does. Through the clothing drive, expanded from a small “Adopt-a-Purse” program launched three years ago, Thompson and her neighbors are making a tangible difference for people starting over with nothing.
“The women that go in there have nothing, and their kids don’t either,” Thompson said. “Even a tube of lipstick can make them feel alive again.”
Despite living in a HUD-subsidized facility where many residents have limited means, the Kavod community is incredibly generous, according to volunteer Karen Wollman.
“This population is so generous—it just warms my heart,” Wollman said. “A lot of these people have very little themselves, and yet they are giving.”
Thompson’s resilience and selflessness inspired Kavod staff to nominate her for Denver7’s Everyday Hero award, which she received with tears in her eyes.
“It takes all my pain away,” Thompson said. “When I’m doing for others, you can’t help it.”
Director of Communications and Marketing at Kavod Christie Ziegler said, Thompson exemplifies the spirit of the community.
“She represents the typical resident here at Kavod, people who are here not just to receive, but really to give,” Ziegler said. “She lights the way wherever she goes.”
Thompson said she’s simply grateful to be in a place where she can give back.
“It’s so easy to work with them because they’re my family,” Thompson said.
For her tireless efforts and unwavering compassion, Beverly Thompson is not just a survivor, she’s a hero.
Denver7 features a different Everyday Hero each week. To nominate a hero in your life, click here.