Metal flowers and community members drove the fundraising efforts to rename a Colorado highway after a life-saving teacher.
On May 2, the Colorado House of Representatives voted unanimously to rename part of the Colorado Highway 470 from West Bowles Avenue to South Platte Canyon Road after Dave Sanders, a teacher credited to saving multiple students’ lives in the 1999 Columbine High School shooting.
Ad
Tom Sullivan, the Democratic state representative for Arapahoe County, spoke to the House about Connie Sanders, Dave Sanders’ daughter, and how he was lifted up by her strength. Being the father of a victim of the 2012 Aurora shooting, Sullivan thought it appropriate to speak in order to make the legislation bipartisan.
“I didn’t know Dave Sanders, but I have learned a lot about him from the workings of his daughter,” Sullivan said. “And (the highway) was something she supported. If she supported it, then I was there to support her.”
Republican state Rep. Patrick Neville created a GoFundMe on May 2, setting the end goal at $5,000. In total, $4,223 was raised.
The Littleton community rallied behind the GoFundMe; however, local community member and Columbine High School graduate Jared Gates noticed the donations had slowed, inspiring him to use his artwork for the cause.
Originally, Gates didn’t expect all the attention his metal flowers would receive when he posted pictures of them on Facebook.
“Everybody was asking to buy them,” Gates said. “I didn’t actually originally make them to sell. Then it escalated from there.”
The funds he received from the flowers he sold went to the online fundraiser that was set to purchase new signage for the highway.
“A lot of people have told me they’ve been inspired to do something themselves, which is actually one of the goals too,” Gates said. “I didn’t think I’d have this big of a response to it, so I’m really, really happy about it. I’m just blown away by the support I’ve gotten from the community.”
With the GoFundMe campaign no longer accepting donations and the new highway signs becoming fully financed, Gates plans to continue donating the proceeds he receives from his art to the Columbine Memorial.
Ad
“(These events) have put us on the map for a lot of the wrong reasons, and we continue to work to correct some of that. … It’s a long tough road to be on, but I am confident that something better will come out of this.” – Tom Sullivan, Democratic Representative for Arapahoe County
Gates was a junior at Columbine when the events of 1999 took place. Dedicating a portion of C-470 serves as a reminder of the shooting, Gates said. People recount where they were and what they were doing when they heard what was happening, so in one way or another, everyone was impacted, he said.
“Every time I hear of something else happen(ing), my heart goes out to the people affected by that,” Gates said. “What I’m doing now is kind of my response to that.”
Gun violence has happened again and again in the Colorado community, Sullivan said. The Arapahoe County representative sponsored the Red Flag Bill, which passed in March and gives Colorado judges a process by which they can temporarily remove firearms from people who are believed to be at high risk of harming themselves or others.
“(These events) have put us on the map for a lot of the wrong reasons, and we continue to work to correct some of that,” Sullivan said. “We have the day-to-day gun violence that happens here in our state, and we are standing up and having those conversations. It’s a long tough road to be on, but I am confident that something better will come out of this.”
Laura Studley can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @laurastudley_.
