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Every year, the Park Hill Historic Neighborhood has a Fourth of July Parade, complete with small children catching candy thrown from floats, panting dogs in festive outfits and doting moms, dads and grandparents who watch the children enjoy the festivities.

“It’s a fun community parade,” said Carol Spensley.

“With nice community support,” added her husband Skip.

They’ve lived in the neighborhood for 26 years and have attended the parade almost every year since it started nearly a decade ago. On Monday, they sat in their matching camping chairs in the cool shade of a huge elm tree and smiled as the parade passed by.

At聽the聽Salvation Army shelter on 29th Street off Brighton Boulevard, about聽four miles west聽of the Park Hill parade, a different community gathered to mark the holiday. Nearly 700 men lined up for burgers, hot dogs, chips, sodas and a nice cool place to sit and socialize while they ate their Independence Day lunch.

“Holidays tend to accentuate the need,” said Steve Bradley, the Salvation Army Metro Denver regional coordinator. “Holidays tend to represent family activities and being with family. Many of the people who are here, their family isn’t with them.”

In the crowded hall where the men sat to eat, they joked with each other and shared warm embraces with people they likely聽haven’t seen in a while.

The picnic offered community support similar to what the Spensleys and their neighbors experienced at their parade.

Tony Corrales, a volunteer and member of the Salvation Army’s聽Stepping Up聽program, is an Air Force veteran who has struggled with PTSD and manic depression. Volunteering at the shelter helped fulfill his need to give back to his community.

“It’s not just a matter of food聽—聽it’s a matter of working with them and trying to help them in their spirit,” Bradley said. “To let them know that they’re welcome and they’re聽family. And that we love them and that God loves them.”