Helping our Community help Hurricane Katrina victims

In late 2005, New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina and caused massive destruction. In the weeks that followed, people from all of the country and world tried to help in any way they could. Here in Aspen, CO local high school students put together the Aspen-Cares Katrina Relief project. The project was designed to collect donations whether it was clothes, money, or food. In the first week of accepting donations, it was clear that the Roaring Fork Valley wanted to help in a big way.

During the middle of week two, the Aspen-Cares committee had a meeting to discuss how they were going to get all of the donations down to those in need. They had not been prepared to have such an overwhelming amount of donations.

That’s when the offer came to Columbine Moving and Storage. They donated packing materials, guidance on loading the semi-truck, and arranged with an over the road driver at a discounted rate to haul the donations to Lafayette, LA. Bill and Marilyn jumped on the opportunity to work for such a great cause and have an effect on those in need. On September 29, 2005, Aspen High School Athletic teams volunteered their time to pack boxes and load over 400 boxes of donations with the direction of Bill on how best to load the truck. On Monday October 3rd, the truck arrived in Lafayette, where the local high school football team unloaded and set up the donations in their gym.