The morning of Sept. 12, 2013, I was driving to Denver in the pouring rain. It had been raining off and on for several days. With road closures, I turned around at Commerce City; it took me over four hours to get back home. At the time I was Milliken’s mayor pro tem.
The afternoon of Sept. 12, the rain was still coming down. There were emergency evacuations in the foothills above Boulder and further north. Be it for drinking or irrigating or washing, most Coloradans get their water from the mountains. And it was on its way to Milliken and much of the Front Range. Water. Lots of water.
The morning of Sept. 13: flood. While not of Biblical proportions, it seemed close. The spilling over Little Thompson River inundated Milliken homes and businesses. Students stayed home, parents didn’t work, downtown businesses didn’t open and areas of Milliken had to be evacuated. I was named Milliken’s lead elected official for flood response because the mayor, very literally, was not able to get back into our town. Thus began a flood recovery effort that lasted for most of two years.
Through it all, I gained an appreciation and understanding of the resources that helped dozens of our impacted Milliken families. Weld County’s Office of Emergency Management. The Red Cross and Salvation Army. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). A long-term recovery effort led by United Way of Weld County, including over 60 organizations.
This massive effort showed me that every natural disaster is an exercise in supportive services mobilization for helping our neighbors stay safe and recover. The more quickly our neighbors achieve their new normal, the sooner our students go to school, our employees get back to work, and our customers are able to shop again at local businesses.
The flood response and my time on the Milliken board of trustees also taught that disasters aren’t always community-wide. More often they are very personal. The loss of a job. A debilitating illness. The closing of a child care provider. An unexpected increase in rent. The leaving of a spouse or partner. Any one of these everyday situations can destabilize a family, just like a natural disaster.
For times when our neighbors experience personal “floods,” it is important to have a strong and connected response network. From 211 Colorado and its database of resources that are used by those in need and those responding to need, to Weld Food Bank and its food security programs, to Weld County Department of Human Services and their many supportive services, our shared response to family hardship is important for employers, local businesses and the community overall. When we assist people in times of challenge we are helping our employees and customers and Weld County neighbors to recover as quickly as possible, just like in a natural disaster.
You can be part of this response. I hope that you will join me in supporting our network of Weld County organizations that respond to disasters, big and small. To learn more, contact Margie Martinez, 211 Colorado @ UWWC and Weld Project Connect coordinator, at Margie@Unitedway-Weld.org or 970-353-4300. Or make a donation to United Way at www.UnitedWay-Weld.org/donate to support a number of these organizations.
Julie Cozad is a development review and civil inspections manager for the City of Greeley and serves on the United Way of Weld County board of directors.
