So hard to get the brain around how the recovery will happen since these scenes are repeated over such a broad area along the Front Range (plus the downstream impact as the waters combine on the plains). I’m attaching two photos — one of the church where I was married and where my daughter and I were involved for all of her life and a couple more years before that for me (about 14 years). I’m also attaching a photo of how it looks now. Descriptions sound like soil from the Fourmile Canyon Fire’s burn area came down bringing black water (not “blackwater”), cars, telephone poles, large boulders … and gouged the area to six feet below the former road bed.

I used to live in Boulder Canyon — my own house was not in the 100-year-floodplain but so many were. As you know, rebuilding can’t begin until there is a road to deliver supplies.

It just hurts to think about and I’m not even dealing with any loss. My daughter lives on Capitol Hill and I live next to Highlands (HIGH lands) so … we’re fine since we didn’t have runoff or canyon flashfloods to experience.

I know you’ll like how people will pull together but it’s also a tense time when absolutely everyone is grieving. Very different from when, say, one person’s house burns and everyone chips in to help their situation.

There are also degrees of “survivor guilt” where someone feels they can’t talk about their sadness because they “only” lost the VIEW from their home and someone else lost their HOME. In every case, each person needs to find someone who can listen but often other victims are the only ones who really understand and yet they are coping with their own loss. Recovery is prolonged because of this and it’s just plain very hard.

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Stay tuned for prayer circles and heartening National Guard rescuers near R2W’s offices.

Volunteer For Boulder Emergency

The roads are closed. Still, volunteers from other states are keeping R2W’s operations running. Clients can still login and connect with employers. We’re still conducting counseling services that are more relevant than ever.

We are focusing on helping evacuees transition out of shelters and replacing computer equipment to get key counselors back into the field. We are using R2W’s buddy system to help each other with shelter, food, groovy clothing, a good listener, and a place to call home while figuring out the next step. Recruiting volunteers for the cleanup.

Your help matters more than ever right now. Please GET INVOLVED now.