By Matt Sebastian, Boulder Daily Camera
Stephen Tinoco’s death last month did not go unnoticed.
a teen, who told police she’d been blinded by glaring sun, drove her Ford Explorer into Tinoco on a Lakewood street as he steered his motorized wheelchair against traffic in the roadway.
Yet in Boulder, where the amputee with a face scarred by fire had panhandled for decades, it would take weeks before many made the connection.
“I didn’t know him by name — I knew him by person,” said Mike Fitzgerald, a member of Boulder Outreach for Homeless Overflow’s board of directors. “When I was (living) on the street, I ran into him a lot in his wheelchair.”
That’s a common refrain.
Tinoco was a fixture on the Pearl Street Mall and outside First Presbyterian Church. Many in Boulder could recognize him immediately. Some no doubt felt uncomfortable by his disfigurement, or would simply look away. Few likely ever gleaned his name.
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How to help
Stephen Tinoco’s family is trying to raise money to cover funeral and living expenses. Donations can be made via the family’s GoFundMe page, or by sending checks made payable to the Wesley Foundation and earmarked for “Stephen’s family” to the Wesley Fellowship Campus Ministry at 1290 Folsom St., Boulder CO 80302.
