Editor's note: Contact7 seeks out audience tips and feedback to help people in need, resolve problems and hold the powerful accountable. If you know of a community need our call center could address, or have a story idea for our investigative team to pursue, please email us at contact7@thedenverchannel.com or call (720) 462-7777. Find more Contact7 stories here.
PARKER, Colo. -- Moving is hard enough as it is. Add a devastating loss along the way and it can be crippling.
But after losing her husband, Kenneth, back in January, Dawn Kuzik-Michal decided to move forward with her big move from Alaska to Colorado with the five granddaughters they were raising on their own.
“It was hard,” Kuzik-Michal said. “But it was the right thing to do.”
We first introduced you to Kuzik-Michal a month ago.
“I had to start the job on the 13th of January,” she said of her new job. “And on the 24th, I got a phone call stating that my husband passed away from a massive heart attack."
When Sandy Jones at the Centennial non-profit called the Butterfly Foundation caught word of Kuzik-Michal’s situation, she decided she had to do something.
"(Dawn) had put (a message) on Facebook saying, ‘Hey - I have no furniture and I just lost my husband two weeks ago,'" Jones said. “So, I met with the board and we said, 'You know - we want to do more.'"
They reached out to Contact7 Gives and, through matching donations, were able to deliver $3,000 to Kuzik-Michal.
"You know, people are losing their jobs and for them to donate to my family is amazing. Just amazing.” Kuzik-Michal said as she choked up.
"I have three little kids myself. Grocery bills are super high,” Jones said. “I think we're all seeing so many acts of community right now with this public health crisis. However, there are families that are struggling with things completely unrelated."
It's a struggle made a little less difficult thanks to the generosity of perfect strangers.
"Every little bit helps, and the community has been amazing,” Kuzik-Michal said. “My job has been just amazing. I am very thankful."
