Celebrity talk-show host Rosie O’Donnell revealed recently that she had been treated for depression soon after the horrific events at Columbine High School.
O’Donnell, apparently, empathized so strongly with the victims of April 20, 1999, that she felt as if it had happened to her very own children.
“I couldn’t stop crying,” Rosie explained. “I stayed in my room. The lights were off. I couldn’t get out of bed, and that’s when I started taking medication.”
She probably wasn’t alone.
Compassion is wonderful, but, you know, action is better. And though I don’t consider myself a Rosie fan – actually, what’s the antonym of “fan”? – she should be applauded for putting her money where her remarkably prodigious mouth is.
Yes, in addition to hanging upside down for a half-hour each day to find her mental bearings, Rosie has generously donated cash to Columbine causes.
Perhaps now we can nudge more local bigwigs to follow her charitable example.
Bob Easton, chairman of the Columbine Memorial Committee, is in the process of raising the remaining $167,000 needed to complete a memorial in Clement Park adjacent to Columbine High.
Undertaking a partially funded construction project – 40 percent of which is now complete – was “a leap of faith,” according to Easton.
And that’s a real shame.
Especially when you consider how effortlessly locals pledged $80 million or so to entice Democrats to hold their convention in Denver.
Or when you consider that a Denver-based corporation like Qwest offered at least $5 million for that coronation ceremony – as political conventions are nothing more than extravagant parties for the well-connected.
How about utility giant Xcel Energy? It kicked in $1.5 million to bring the convention to Denver. Perhaps it could have given customers an option: (1) Help fund a shindig for out-of-town politicos, or (2) Donate a couple of dollars to the Columbine Memorial Fund?
So when weighed against the dollar amounts we hear about in Denver, Easton’s request is quite modest.
Easton says the biggest chunk of his funding has come from the Coors family. A number of downtown law firms (some involved in bringing the Democratic convention to town) have also donated. So has the Gill Foundation.
He also points to former President Bill Clinton as tremendous help in raising money for the project.
“The fundraising part has been frustrating,” Easton admits. “There has been a lot of interest around the country. Yet, we’ve talked about this on the committee level – and even President Clinton raised the question: There’s a lot of money in the Denver area, and we can’t understand why some local folks have not stepped up to help out.”
The project was scaled down from $2.5 million to a more reasonable $1.5 million to hopefully ensure the memorial’s completion.
Now, Easton says he’s looking for 1,700 locals to donate a hundred bucks each.
And he’s confident it will get done.
“A big portion of being able to move on – for the families and the community – is having some kind of permanent memorial to remember what happened here at Columbine,” Easton explains. “Not to remember five years later, but to remember 20 years later. A place where a former student can bring their children and show them this memorial and say: ‘This is what happened to my classmates.”‘
I’m really about the farthest thing from a teary-eyed “let’s- build-a-memorial” type you’ll ever find, but I hope we can agree that a permanent place to remember the victims – and survivors – of Columbine is at least as important to the Denver area as a contrived political event.
Donations for the Columbine Memorial can be sent to:
Columbine Memorial Fund
c/o the Foothills Foundation
P.O. Box 621788
Littleton, CO 80162-1788
You can also donate online at columbinememorial.org.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday and Thursday. He can be reached him at 303-954-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
