Kudos & Kindness: From St. Patrick’s dinner to Aspen Fire, our community continues to show its mettle
Aspen shows its St. Patrick’s Day generosity
On behalf of the parishioners and friends of St. Mary Catholic Church, I want to sincerely thank everyone in our community who supported our 136th annual St. Patrick’s Day Benefit Dinner on March 17.
We repeated our drive-through/take-out format again this year and it was a fun and incredible success! We distributed 640 delicious dinners from the alley behind the church. There was no cost for the meals; we simply asked for a donation to our St. Mary Charity Assistance Fund. Through everyone’s amazing generosity, we raised approximately $14,400 to help the needy throughout the Roaring Fork Valley, regardless of their faith. Thank you!
I’m so grateful to our St. Patrick’s Day committee and all the amazing volunteers of our parish who worked so hard to make this a successful event. I also want to thank The Little Nell and their chefs for donating their time, talent, and kitchen to cook and slice all the roast beef for our meals, and the Elks Lodge for providing gravy!
For those of you who picked up a meal from us that day, I really hope you enjoyed it! If you would still like to donate to our Charity Assistance Fund, please visit our website at http://www.stmaryaspen.org and click the “donate“ link in the top-right corner of the page. May God bless you and your loved ones abundantly!
Sincerely,
Rev. Darrick Leier, pastor
St. Mary Catholic Church
Aspen
*****
Aspen Pantry needs your help
Hello, fellow community members! Your help is needed at the Aspen Pantry across from Clark’s Market on Tuesdays from 3:30 to 6 p.m. Thank you to the amazing volunteers who answered our call for help previously. It is with your help we are able to distribute food to so many people in our community. Please join us next Tuesday!
Kari Throm
Snowmass Village
*****
A nod to Aspen history
Want to send a big thank-you out to the Aspen Senior Center and Aspen Skiing Co. for having the great breakfast on St. Patrick’s Day. There was a lot of Aspen history there. As I looked around the room at the Sundeck, I thought of all those people that had a small part in building this great resort, and without billionaires to help.
Be brave, comrades.
Tom Marshall
Aspen
*****
Aspen Fire supports Ukraine
The Aspen Fire Department, although small in size, is big in heart and their support for Ukraine.They have gathered and shipped supplies to their fellow firefighters and Ukraine! Thanks to the Aspen Fire Department!
Dr. John V. Prunskis
Knight of the Order of Merit; Hon. Consul of Lithuania; Dean of the Aspen Consular Corps
*****
Support local art
Since August 2018, the Aspen Chapel Gallery has partnered with 19 different valley nonprofits and the five valley high schools, and through show sponsorships and art sales, has been able to donate a total of $33,308.79 to these organizations and schools.
Last week we returned all the high school art from 5 X 17 to the Aspen, Basalt, Roaring Fork, CRMS and Glenwood Springs art departments along with a check for each department in the amount of $574.25. We want to thank the 55 individuals who “adopted” one or more pieces of student art and the anonymous donor who made this show possible. Seventy-five percent of each “adoption” went directly to the five high school art programs. The art stayed in the students’ portfolio.
The current show, 4 Rivers Biennial, features 28 artists who were juried into the show by Lissa Ballinger, Aspen Institute Arts curator. It is partnering with Harvest for Hunger and runs until April 10.
Shows for 2022 include partnerships with Aspen Family Connections, EcoFlight, Pathfinders, The Farm Collaborative, Voices, Holiday Baskets, five valley high school art departments, and Two Rivers Community Foundation
If you would like to be a sponsor in support of one of these nonprofit organizations and the gallery, please contact us at Aspen Chapel Gallery, 0077 Meadowood Drive, Aspen, CO 81611 or at aspenchapelgallery.org
Thank you,
Tom Ward and Michael Bonds
Co-directors, Aspen Chapel Gallery
*****
Another good Samaritan in Aspen
We would like to take this opportunity to express heartfelt thanks and give recognition to a very outstanding and kind member of our Aspen community.
We were walking on Thursday, St. Patrick’s Day, at the Aspen Golf Course with a friend who collapsed near the park district facilities and the Cemetery Lane entrance. How fortunate for us that we were able to find Steve Barr, who is the Aspen Parks operations manager, and he came to our immediate rescue! Steve quickly brought a small Snowcat vehicle, loaded our friend into it and brought her to a nearby parking lot, so that we could transfer her to our car and get her to proper medical attention. Not only was he available and efficient, but his very kind and calm manner helped us all to “keep our wits.”
Thankfully, our friend is doing very well, but we just thought it would be important to make special mention, exemplifying that there are wonderful people like Steve in our very extraordinary, small Aspen town.
Thank you, Steve, you are our hero.
Barbara Berger and Barbara Gold
Aspen
