The Rocky Mountain Conference ACS Disaster Response team was engaged in the Marshall Fire Recovery efforts from January through May of this year. The fire which started on December 30, 2021 at the intersection of Colorado 93 and Marshall Road around 11:00 am had reached the town of Superior by noon, and later spread to the cities of Louisville, Broomfield, and unincorporated Boulder County, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate. Two people were killed, over 1,000 homes destroyed, and more than 6,000 acres burned in Colorado’s most destructive wildfire.
The ACS team, under the leadership of Cathy Kissner, Rocky Mountain ACS Director, managed the Collection/Distribution Center which was set up at the Flatiron Mall in Broomfield. It was open seven days a week during these five months, except for two days when they closed due to a winter storm. Donations of various items such as food, clothing, backpacks, shoes, water bottles, bicycles, personal hygiene kits, and kitchen kits poured in to assist the affected community. Our team partnered with Spark the Change to establish a volunteer base through which we were able to recruit the volunteers needed.
During this five-month period, 3,000 family units were served and 750,000 items were distributed. Kissner declared she’d never been so proud of her team and hopes this opportunity to serve will encourage individuals to join ACS in these type of efforts. “I commend those involved and am ever so thankful for Cathy Kissner and her strong team of Volunteers,” stated W. Derrick Lea, NAD ACS Executive Director. “Many new lessons were learned during this event, but the greatest lesson showed us what could be accomplished by pooling our efforts with others in the community for the greater good of those served,” added Lea.
