Over 1,000 Columbine community members volunteer for day of service 25 years after school shooting
Saturday marks 25 years since the tragedy at Columbine High School.
Members of the Columbine community gathered at a church in Denver to honor the victims Friday night.
On April 20, 1999, two teenagers killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded 24 other people.
At Friday night's vigil, gun safety advocate and former congresswoman Gabby Giffords spoke about preventing gun violence.
"We are living in challenging times," she said. "We're up for the challenge. My own recovery has taken years. Many, many, man people have helped me along the way and I learned so much. I learned if people work together progress is possible, the world is possible."
Saturday, the community came together for a day of service.
Governor's Ranch Elementary is one school that opened its doors to volunteers to help brighten things up.
These projects are helping to strengthen the community.
"Today is a new day at GRE," 13 students said in unison, some also using American Sign Language to communicate. "Everyone is welcome here."
These are words Governer's Ranch Racoons say they live by. And on Saturday morning, they opened their doors to the community for a day of service.
One volunteer who stopped by, 16-year-old Landon Scott, is a current student at Columbine.
She knows about the unimaginable tragedy that happened at her school 25 years ago and says it's had lasting effects.
"Even though we weren't alive to experience it, just with all we hear about it and how much it still affects us as students who go to the school, I think it's important to do all we can to help."
And Scott wasn't alone in lending a helpful hand; Over 1,000 Columbine students, teachers, families and community members scattered across Jefferson County for the eighth annual Columbine Day of Service.
"We're taping things off and painting some walls that haven't been touched in 35 years in this school," said GRE principal Ryan Lucas.
A fresh paint job is just one of the many community service projects throughout the county.
Lucas says it's these efforts that continue to strengthen a once frail community.
"Really good things happen when a lot of people come together to do good things together," Lucas said. "It's all about that community being together working together and it's all about having fun."
"It's such a great community and I feel like things like this help bring us together," Scott said.
