STYLE Media and Design

Windsor Mayor John Vazquez

Windsor Mayor John Vazquez says today the town is “99 percent rebuilt.,” thanks to the swift action of local contractors, construction companies, volunteers, and even insurance companies. Work continues on the Chimney Park baseball complex and the Town Hall roof, but the last of the commercial reconstruction is complete and only two residential properties have yet to pull building permits.

“The ability to begin reconstruction so quickly is directly the result of the thousands of volunteers that cleaned debris and the hundreds of businesses that provided essential resources, as well as the food service providers that kept the volunteers well-fed and hydrated,” says Vazquez.

Initial clean up was an essential part of the recovery process. “With the debris gone, a safe environment existed for people to begin rebuilding and the sooner they could begin, the sooner the town could return to some semblance of normal,” says Vazquez. It is not to say the tornado hasn’t left lasting emotional impacts. “The sticks and bricks are the easy part of the recovery, it is the minds and hearts that take time,” says Vazquez. Thanks to the following businesses and the thousands of volunteers that helped out, the residents of Windsor have been able to focus on this emotional recovery instead of worrying about the “sticks and bricks.”

These businesses were among those who fell victim to the tornado’s wrath, climbing out of their own disaster to lend their neighbors a hand. Others are businesses that went beyond the call of duty to help their community with recovery, from volunteering materials and manpower to feeding the volunteers. Here are their stories:

McCauley Constructors

The roof at 700 Automation Way, home to McCauley Constructors, Inc. and several other businesses, was completely removed by the tornado.

McCauley Constructors, a Windsor-based general contracting company, suffered a direct hit from the tornado. “It was surreal. There was debris everywhere and all I could think about was getting my daughters home safely from school and getting back to the office,” says Controller Tami McCauley. “When I got to the office I didn’t recognize it – it looked like a pile of collapsed dominoes.”

Though their office was destroyed, McCauley Constructors was up and running within 24 hours, operating out of McCauley’s home garage. “My job was to get us operational,” says McCauley. “Within two hours we were moved into our home garage and stayed there for three days. We never missed a beat. If clients called, they got the service they needed.”

McCauley’s staff got to work immediately. They volunteered their time to help businesses and residents with demolition, haul-off, repairs, and clean up. “We brought in trailers and generators, helped with demo, and hauled trash,” says McCauley. “We also offered free advice to our local neighbors on how to avoid unscrupulous contractors and offered lists of reputable subcontractors and restoration businesses.”

Most of the rebuilding is now complete, but McCauley Constructors continues to help residents in need and to donate their services to the rebuilding of the Chimney Park baseball complex.

“The loss of our business seems insignificant when compared to the loss that many families faced,” says McCauley. “But watching the buildings go back up has felt almost like a triumph. The wind can blow and knock things down, but we’re going to put them right back up.”

Park Place Interiors

Garden Valley Veterinary Clinic in Windsor was completely destroyed by the tornado.

Dan Stoos, of Park Place Interiors in Windsor, had a front-row view of the tornado as it came thundering into town. He recalls looking out the window of his business and seeing a big black cloud heading right toward him. “I realized it was coming right at me, so I told my guys to take cover and then ran out to my truck to check on my dog. I parked the truck in the car wash next door just as the tornado struck.”

Stoos and his yellow lab were fine, but Park Place Interiors was damaged fairly extensively. “It blew all the windows in, lifted the roof up, and filled the whole place with standing water and mud. I had a 25-foot dumpster and a 16-foot steel cargo trailer out front that both ended up about a half mile away, rolled up into balls. There was also a smaller dumpster that ended up on top of our roof.”

Park Place Interiors, which does flooring and interior work, is all put back together now. So are the other projects Stoos helped out with, including Mark’s Funeral Home, Garden Valley Vet Clinic, and other homes and buildings. Some took a few months and others, like the vet clinic, have just recently been completed. “We tried to do the homes that were less severely damaged first so people could get back into them as soon as possible,” says Stoos.

While the storm itself was devastating to his business, Stoos remembers fondly how everyone came together right after the storm to help out in any way they could. “Right after the storm, we brought a fifth wheel out with a big barbecue and served free lunch for a few weeks to everyone who was volunteering,” he says. “Everyone was helping where they could. From out-of-towners to local businesses, we all did what we could.”

Armstead Construction

The tornado minutes before it struck 700 Automation Drive.

A member of the Home Builder’s Association (HBA) since 1997, Armstead Construction owner Jeff Schneider was one of the first people to donate to an HBA fund set up for the rebuilding of Windsor. “We created a fund the day after the tornado and gave $5,000 to the American Red Cross through the HBA and our ‘Building the Future’ fund,” says Schneider. “Just recently, we gave almost $24,000 to the Town of Windsor to rebuild the Chimney Park baseball complex.”

Schneider’s involvement in the HBA was crucial to the fundraising efforts. “I helped raise money through the HBA and sat on a rebuilding committee for two months through the Red Cross and FEMA,” he says. “We raised almost $30,000 in three days,” he says. “It was remarkable. Most of the donations weren’t big, either, mainly in the $50 to $100 range. There were just a lot of them. Our members really stepped up.”

The money raised was originally supposed to help with building repairs for homeowners, but Windsor was so well insured no one needed the money for home repairs. “No one really fell through the cracks,” says Schneider. “Everyone was taken care of by either insurance or a church group, so we decided to give the money to rebuild Chimney Park. We wanted to do something for the community.”

Champion Windows

Windsor was struck by baseball-sized hail.

Located across I-25 from Windsor, Champion Windows was involved in the restoration process from the very beginning. “After the tornado passed, our first thought was to get over there right away and see what kind of devastation we were dealing with,” says general manager Steve Lambert. “Immediately our phone was ringing because everyone had their windows blown out. We had an immediate influx of appointments – we were booked out for weeks at a time almost instantaneously.”

Champion Windows received calls from people with varying degrees of damage, from Windsor all the way to Laramie, and worked hard to coordinate efforts between homeowners and insurance adjusters. “I’d say that was probably the biggest way we helped out – by taking at least that one thing off the homeowner’s enormous list of things to do,” says Lambert.

While Lambert and his reps were dealing with estimates and insurance, his construction and installation crew was helping out on the front lines. “We had our installation guys over there in trucks hauling cases of water for volunteers, donating time, and running supplies back and forth while we were doing estimates.”

Most homeowners were covered by insurance, but there was at least one elderly woman with extensive damage to her home who was not. She needed work done but couldn’t afford it, so Champion installed brand new windows and doors for her, free of charge.

“It was our life for six months,” he said. “We worked a lot of overtime, weekends, and whatever was needed to get the job done. We hired more installers and reps to handle the reconstruction. We did whatever we could.”

Affordable Roofing and Fort Collins Restoration

One of many residential homes in Windsor to be badly damaged during the 2008 tornado.

Because of their background in insurance adjusting, Troy Jennings and Jim Simpson of Affordable Roofing and Fort Collins Restoration were prepared to help as soon as the storm cleared. “Jim was involved in Hurricane Katrina and other major natural disasters and we know about emergency repair,” says Jennings. “We contributed initially by going into emergency board-up mode and getting people’s homes secured as quickly as possible to prevent residual damage. We got a trailer full of plywood and headed over to the epicenter to offer free board ups and tarp ups.”

“We had one homeowner who had us knock down a couple of severely damaged walls in their home and tarp-up the floor so we could save their basement,” says Simpson. “We completely sheeted a house (with plywood) over the weekend, and totally reframed another house. We gathered up every guy we had, every hammer and saw, and tried to help wherever we could.”

Because both Jennings and Simpson have experience in insurance adjusting, they were also able to offer homeowners invaluable help in dealing with their insurance companies. “We have good working relationships with agents and know the insurance industry,” says Jennings. “We were able to coordinate estimates and claims for our homeowners. Our insurance adjusting experience helped tremendously in this instance.”

A year after the devastating event, Windsor is building from the ground up, literally, to become a stronger, closer community. “The residents of Windsor should be proud of what has been accomplished. Hopefully, we will continue to be good neighbors to one another and work for the best quality of life in what I believe to be the best town in the great state of Colorado,” concludes Vazquez, one very proud mayor.