It’s always a fun night with a big nonprofit secret and July 30 was the 2026 unveiling.

Several months in advance of Peak Vista Community Health Centers’ signature Breakfast of Champions fundraising morning, this year on Oct. 15, donors, community advocates and the members of the organization’s boards are invited to be the first to pull back the curtain announcing which famous Olympic athlete will be the headliner of their Broadmoor Hall event.

This partnership of the athletes and the community health centers started as a fundraising and community awareness idea by Bill Hybl, who had been president of the United States Olympic Committee and member of the International Olympic Committee, and Lynn Pelz, longtime Peak Vista director of communications.

The Olympic-alum athletes chosen have moving personal stories to share about the need for medical support they have had and how difficult it can be before fame arrives. That’s when the need for health care such as at Peak Vista Community Health Centers, which serves more than 74,000 clients, is so vital, they point out.

1971 was the first year for the health center, called Colorado Springs Free Clinic, a walk-in two nights a week with volunteer staff. It became a 501(c) (3) nonprofit public charity in 1972.

The first athlete making that headliner Wheaties-theme Breakfast of Champions visit in 2005 and spending time with local supporters as she told her story was gymnast Mary Lou Retton.

On July 30 guests were invited to the United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum for a reception announcing the first current Olympic medal winner to be featured. Walking out into the museum to a standing ovation was Oksana Masters, the top-decorated U.S. Paralympian of all time, who has participated in eight Paralympic Winter Games.

A double amputee, she specializes in cross-country skiing/biathlon along with cycling, rowing and Nordic skiing.

She shared that the word she “really really” dislikes when it comes to disabilities: adaptive.

She used her visit to the museum to hand-deliver her memorabilia and uniform from the Milano/Cortina Games for the newest exhibit being prepared by curator Lindsay Huban. It will be on loan there for a year.

Oksana will share more of her touching story at the October breakfast and she has published a book, “The Hard Parts: A Story of Courage and Triumph.” She was the first Para athlete nominated for an ESPY Best Athlete, Women’s Sports.

Her background takes your breath away. Her single American mother “saved my life,” adopting her, a failure-to-thrive, emaciated 8-year-old from an orphanage in Ukraine. Because the orphanage was in the area of Chernobyl, birth defects forced amputation of both legs at the knees. Webbed fingers were corrected with surgery. Her mother became the force behind her. “She believed in me,” said the charming blond 37-year-old, who admits that one of her biggest barriers was that she didn’t believe in herself.

Her mother is “my fierce advocate,” and another person who believed in her was her coach in Louisville, Ky., who saw potential in a teen and introduced her to Paralympic sports.

Oksana told the sympathetic audience that even when she lost her first Paralympic competition she had to learn to keep moving forward. “It’s what we all can do. This is not the forever moment. And it’s OK to ask for help.”

She has studied management at DeVry University through the USOPC Career and Education program. 

Tickets to hear Oksana and the Peak Vista story at Breakfast of Champions: peakvista.org/BOC