Updates

"I thought that lighting the water tower blue and yellow for Ukraine would be appropriate. We have a lot of Eastern European immigrants in this community and people with ties to Ukraine and Russia, and truth is, a lot of those people are in pain right now," Simpson said… "Putin will never see the water tower lit up, but members of our community will see that; they’re going to see that the community stands with them. In our tiny little corner of the world, we stand up for what’s right."

HCC has partnered with Simpson, State Representative Lindsey Daugherty, the Arvada Jefferson Kiwanis Club and the Action Center for the drive. The goal of the fundraiser is to provide 100 students in need with a fully stocked backpack and a shopping experience for new clothes and shoes, as well as to donate school supplies to JeffCo Public School teachers.

“I realize to the public something like this can send up red flags. You say a ‘navigation center,’ you say, ‘homeless services.’ For many that will conjure up wonderful images; for others that might conjure something scary. And I want to assure the public at this point in time that this is my district and I’ve already driven around it; I’ve already looked at this,” Simpson said.

“This is a good site that would be able to provide opportunities to people. It’s not buried inside an existing historical neighborhood. It is walkable to job opportunities that could train people. We are not looking at the kind of situation where we could be seeing tent cities in Arvada… If we’re going to do this, Arvada, we’re going to do it right. We’re going to help people, but we’re going to help them the right way and we’re not going to bring danger to Arvada.”

(Mayor) Williams commended Simpson and Smith for their role in heading up the fundraiser. “I want to commend both Lauren and Lisa for taking the bull by the horns on this issue and really showing how caring Arvada is and really led the entire metro area in terms of its recognition of the plight of our neighbors to the north, so thank you both for your tremendous work.”

Arvada councilor Lauren Simpson recalled the evening the fire was so close that pre-evacuation orders were issued as the skyline glowed red. “There was just sick feeling in the pit of my stomach,” she said. Simpson and fellow councilor Lisa Smith texted back and forth. By the time the pre-evacuation orders were lifted for Candelas and Leyden Rock that night, the duo was devising ways to help.

Federal, state and local groups are ready to help residents who lost their homes, were displaced, or were affected by the devastating effects of the Marshall Fire.