Eateries pitch in for firefighters, evacuees

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Restaurants large and small are donating food, money and more for firefighters and evacuees affected by the Fourmile Canyon Fire.

 

Chris Rosen, owner of downtown tea and coffee shop Atlas Purveyors, turned his café into an unofficial drop site for food and toiletries on the Wednesday after the fire. He got the message out via Twitter and has personally donated about $250 worth of goods — including 100 pounds each of cat food, dog food and cat litter.

And when he learned volunteers at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley were working late into the night, Rosen sent over an assortment of refreshments from Atlas, including coffee, tea and pastries.

As for giving out food at the café, however, Rosen says most people coming in are looking for an hour or two of ordinary.

“Everyone who came in here who was evacuated has refused to accept anything,” Rosen says. “This is just me editorializing, but I think they want one part of their day to be normal.”

Rosen says he plans to keep accepting donations as long as they’re needed.

On the other end of Pearl Street, Spruce Confections has been reaching out as well. Owner David Cohen, who was also evacuated, says his shop provides free coffee and pastries to evacuees, and will continue to do so for as long as need be.

“We’re going to play that by ear for now,” he says. When he found his home had escaped almost all damage from the fire — one bedroom had moderate smoke damage — Cohen decided to help those who hadn’t been so lucky.

“We just took in a family, and we’re expecting them [to stay] for 45 days,” he says.

Donation box at Atlas Purveyors

Cohen says he’s also baking 600 cookies for a picnic event being held Sept. 16 at the Chautauqua Green for evacuees, firefighters, volunteers and their families. The event is organized by Hugo Matheson, head chef at The Kitchen. Other participating chefs and restaurants include Big Bang Catering, Chef Bradford Heap of Salt, Chef Lachlan Mackinnon- Patterson of Frasca and the Big Red F restaurant group. For more information on the event, visit www. fourmilefirehelp.com.

Boulder Big Red F restaurants — The West End Tavern, Zolo Southwestern Grill, Centrino Latin Kitchen, Jax Fish House and Happy — have donated more than $13,000 worth of food, including dinner for firefighters based at the Boulder Reservoir and free entrées for fire evacuees. According to Bryce Clark, spokeswoman for Big Red F, the restaurants have fed about 500 evacuees.

In addition, Zolo donated $1,250 in cash from a coin margarita special.

The restaurants also donated sales from food and drink specials over the Sept. 11-12 weekend, but figures for how much money was raised weren’t immediately available.

Local restaurants and cafes donating food, money or services to residents and firefighters include:

Atlas Purveyors, 1505 Pearl St.

Centro, 950 Pearl St.

Modmarket, 1600 28th St.

Mountain Sun Pub, 1535 Pearl St.

Half Fast Subs, 1215 13th St.

Happy, 835 Walnut St.

Mountain Sun, 1535 Pearl St.

Ozo Coffee Company, 5340 Arapahoe Ave

Pica’s Mexican Taqueria, 5360 Arapahoe Ave., Suite F

Salt the Bistro, 1047 Pearl St.

Southern Sun, 627 S. Broadway St.

Spruce Confections, 767 Pearl St.

StreatChefs, lunch at 1606 Conestoga, 5-7 p.m. at Chautauqua

West End Tavern, 926 Pearl St.

Zolo Southwestern Grill, 2525 Arapahoe Ave.

Whole Foods Market, 2905 Pearl St., 1651 Broadway, 2584 Baseline Rd., 2031 30th St., 1275 Alpine Ave., 1821 30th St.

For updates to this list, visit www.boulderweekly.com.

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