A plea for help for Aspen-turned-Florida Keys residents

I am a longtime local, class of 1990. Perhaps your readership is familiar with my semi-prolific letter-writing on a range of subjects, since I was at Aspen High School. Today, I write on a totally different subject.

My parents were public servants. My dad, Bob Anderson, moved us here to take the very difficult city manager position, in 1986. He resigned in 1989, after trying an even more challenging experiment, which was combining the city and county managers’ responsibilities. Mom, Dina, was the librarian at Aspen Middle School.

They chose service careers, rather than greedy, wealth-gathering careers; they possessed the ability to make as much money as any super-wealthy business-folk. They were happy in their retirement. They bought a humble modular mid-rise in the Florida Keys.

While they visited my sister and me,here in Colorado, Irma sent their key, Cudjoe, the first direct landfall of the eye on Sunday morning. The results are devastating. A true state of emergency. I will be going down at some point to assess the situation. I don’t have the means to take extended time off work, though it’s clear I am going to have to participate in a massive cleanup project. Most people in the Keys are prepared for water and wind damage, but not total destruction. My parents, like many of their neighbors, simply don’t have it in their retirement assets to rebuild.

Thus, I humbly ask any members of the community who has any means to help. My sister has created a gofundme.com project: http://www.gofundme.com/bob-and-dina-andersons-irma-fund?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=email&utm_content=cta_button&utmpd_n_campaign=u.

Chris “Dogger” Anderson
Fruita