Those impacted by Marshall Fire benefit from homemade ornaments this holiday season
Carol Burton is having a hard time moving around her family room. Boxes of Christmas ornaments started showing up in March and now fill the first floor of her home. Those ornaments are awaiting a new home but she's hoping for more.
"Some of them very simple and sweet from children, some of them very elaborate and time-consuming," said Burton. "Our goal was to be able to provide for 500 families."
Burton is the Colorado point person for a Facebook group called "Operation Christmas Ornaments From Near and Far." The organization started a few years ago to help victims of natural disasters. This year, most of the donations will go to families that lost everything in the Marshall Fire.
Burton has more than 5,000 ornaments from all over the country and even Japan. The goal is to collect a few hundred more so each family can have a dozen new ornaments.
An international passion project for so many who know their artwork will make a difference this holiday season.
"Something beautiful has come from a disaster," Burton said. "When you hear of a disaster, your heart breaks for those people and you want to do something for them, and you normally can't because you're so far away but it's some small thing that they can do for them."
In November, Burton and a church in Broomfield are hosting an event to distribute the ornaments to families from Louisville, Superior, and Boulder County.