Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — It's been over a month since the Colorado Women's Charity Shoot took aim in Steamboat Springs.

But this week, the impact of the event, hit home. The group donated $900 to the local Northwest Colorado Aid and Support Group.

"It was a big one," Lorna Farrow said. Farrow has helped to bring the women's shooting event to Northwestern Colorado for the past two years.

Last year, the event raised $250 that was donated to help fight breast cancer. This year the event shifted its focus to help a Routt County organization that helps people in need.

"Over the years, Northwest Colorado Aid and Support has filled the day-to-day void," said Jan Fritz, the director of Home Care and Hospice. "We're very quiet about what we do. A lot of people get in a situation where they have nowhere to turn, and the medical community knows they can contact us."

The organization, which was started in 1983, helps people who have medical problems deal with the little things.

It was started by Glen Paulk and a group of doctors, including Dr. Vernon Price, Don Kinney, Fran Haines and John Wilkinson. Paulk, who had a family member who was battling cancer, realized that people could help where insurance and doctors couldn't.

The idea was to help local folks who were battling life-threatening illness by making a difference in ordinary ways. The group set out to help pay for gas to travel to see doctors, for overnight stays, and to help fill in where insurance left off.

The group joined forces with Pat Burnett, a former director of the Visiting Nurse Association, and established a golf tournament to help raise funds.

Instead of hiring someone to run things, the group depends on a volunteer board to take care of the details.

"We're small. Donations and memorials are our only source of revenue. We can't solve a lot of the big problems, but we can help where special needs fall through the cracks," Fritz said.

In the past, the group has been able to purchase a breast prosthesis for an older woman who was not covered by Medicare, handed over a $100 check to a women who works 60 hours a week and had to take her husband to Denver for care, and provided baby cloths and formula for a young family in need.

The annual Women's Charity shoot has been held the past two years in Steamboat Springs. Local organizers started the event with hopes of drawing more women into the sport of shooting.

A group of women meet every other Thursday at the Steamboat Rifle Club for a women's only shoot. For more information drop by the range.

To reach John F. Russell call 871-4209 or e-mail jrussell@amigo.net