By Matthew Poust
Estes Park Trail-Gazette, Colo.
ESTES PARK, Colo. — On Dec. 4, 2020, Kathryn Avery’s world was flooded with devastation when her husband Chris was killed in Lakewood, CO after his vehicle was struck at a stop light by three robbery suspects fleeing from the authorities.
As Avery endured this irreparable tragedy, however, there was a division of individuals dedicated to helping her through the times of tribulation — the Lakewood Police Department.
“The Lakewood Police Department was incredibly good and incredibly kind to me during the time after Chris passed away,” Avery said. “They checked in on me, came and did my Christmas lights and when my dad with dementia needed help moving into a home three doors down from where Chris and I lived, they helped move things.”
It was Avery’s first real experience with first responders, and one she wouldn’t soon forget.
Soon after her husband’s death, Avery was approached by members of the media who asked for pictures of Chris as part of their coverage on the incident. Avery agreed to give them pictures under the condition that a letter be shared along with them. Throughout the letter, Avery gave thanks to the Lakewood PD for how wonderful they had been and acknowledged how difficult of a job the department’s notification team had.
Also contained in the letter was a request from Avery for local Lakewood community members to perform acts of service in memory of her husband. Once the media was made aware of this touching gesture, they again reached out to Avery, this time asking if she would be willing to narrate the letter she had written as the basis of their coverage — a call, which Avery agreed to.
“They ran the package, and I received, I can’t tell you how many letters from people who said, ‘I did this in memory of your husband,’ or, ‘I did that in memory of your husband,’ and that was kind of what got me through the initial stage of my grief,” Avery said.
Jumping to April 2021, on what would have been Chris’s 75th birthday, Kathryn — still grateful for the generosity displayed by the Lakewood PD — asked if she could bring officers food during roll call. While delivering the food, Avery recalled overhearing about an incident that took place the day before involving an individual being stabbed more than 30 times by their own family member.
“The officer who was first on scene at the incident was talking in very unfiltered and uncensored language about what he experienced,” Avery said. “I kept asking myself, ‘Why is he at work?”
After pondering the thought for a while, Avery got around to asking that same question to the command staff on duty, who explained that the officer would likely rather be at work around his fellow colleagues than sitting at home alone, thinking about the gruesome incident he witnessed.
“He may or may not be ready for mental health counseling, and there is no other place for him to go,” Avery recalled the commanding officer telling her.
Once she learned of this grim truth, Avery viewed it as fundamentally wrong, making a vow from that very moment on to do something to change the circumstances those officers endured.
While trying to come up with solutions, Avery thought of a vacation rental property she owned in Rockland, Maine — a location she probably wouldn’t see for quite some time with three pending defendants and trials awaiting to be held as part of her husband’s case. Realizing this, Avery decided to see if she could donate time at the property as a getaway for Lakewood Police Officers.
After collaborating with the Lakewood PD on the effort, Avery began looking into what other programs existed to support first responders in what she referred to as the “dramatic event life cycle.” A cycle that first responders such as dispatchers, firefighters, law enforcement members, emergency department personnel, members of the judiciary and their families may often find themselves in.
The more Avery investigated, however, the more she found that there was little to none out there that cater to members in this line of work.
“I wanted to create something so that when these people see each other on the scene, they know who they are, and they have an opportunity to interact outside of being on call,” Avery explained.
When the Lakewood Police Chief informed Avery that he didn’t want his officers taking time off to compromise her husband’s case, the initial trip was ultimately passed to the West Method Fire District — who, according to Avery, went to her house in Maine and had the time of their lives.
With the first trip proving to be a success, Avery hatched the concept for a bigger, more permanent and nature-filled location for these first responders to escape to.
“I had this idea, and I wanted to buy a ranch and create a respite place for first responders and their families to be able to go,” Avery explained. “It is not a mental health place, we don’t provide counseling, but I know how therapeutic it can be to just be in a beautiful spot in nature.”
In searching for properties to make this dream a reality, Avery’s first stop was Estes Park — a town which her family had a wonderful relationship with, where her dad cleaned cabins for the YMCA of the Rockies in the summer of 1942 and where she and her husband shared many happy moments.
The high property prices in Estes Park rendered Avery unable to afford any sort of land, however, pushing her to keep looking until she found 40 acres of property in a different location that she used money inherited from her late father to purchase.
Avery’s dream respite facility was achieved as Restoration Ranch Colorado(RRC) was founded in 2021 and opened to first responders and their families free of charge in 2022.
RRC was initially only for members of Jefferson County departments but is currently being opened to all Colorado first responders due to Avery’s recognition of how great the need for recovery is.
No nomination is required for the ranch, and all members need to do is contact RRC to let them know what type of stay they have in mind before booking their stay.
“There are no programs that members have to go through; it is very self-directed,” Avery said. “They get to do what they need to do in order to take care of themselves while they’re on my property.”
With RRC in full operation, Avery was fast to work in an effort to further the impact she made by donating her own vacation property in Maine. Avery Valor Vacations in 2021, and since its start, the program has grown to nine properties from Montana to Florida as a result of individual owners making in-kind donations at their own vacation rentals.
Through this Valor Vacations program, Avery was drawn back to the Estes Park area in January 2023. The connection was initiated by Solitude Cabins owner Steve Kruger after he sat down with Lakewood police commander and longtime Solitude Cabins guest Mark Reeves to see what steps would need to be taken in order for him to help first responders through his vacation rentals. To Kruger’s pleasant surprise, Reeves told him that Avery had already been hard at work to establish such programs.
As Steve’s wife, Kaylyn Kruger, explained in an interview, the interest that she and her husband held after learning of Avery’s work extends to a personal passion due to their oldest son serving as a police sergeant.
“He works in a larger city, and we understand how important it is for our son and what he has gone through to protect his family,” Kaylyn said. “It truly hits us personally, and we just want to help first responders and provide them with what we can, you know?”
In talking with Avery, Steve and Kaylyn presented the idea of donating time at Solitude Cabins to the families of fallen first responders. Not wanting to stop at just one vacation rental, the Krugers wanted to work with Avery and find a way to get the entire town of Estes Park involved.
As perfect timing would have it, Kruger’s attempt to achieve this goal drew on yet another initiative Avery had in the works called Colorado Puts First Responders First(CPFRF), — A health and wellness program launched in 2023.
Avery started the program in an effort to make Colorado the number one state in the country at retaining first responder employees through means of health and wellness.
“That is what I think the entire town of Estes Park seems to have gotten behind and embraced, and that’s the story of how it all started,” Avery said.
Avery will be joining the Krugers at Solitude Cabins at 1 p.m. on April 19 to speak to the lodging and short-term rental community of Estes Park in an effort to get lodging donations for first responders during the off-season.
“The overall goal is to make Estes Park the very first mountain town that wants to stand on the mountain top, so to speak, and say, ‘we’re going to look out for the health and well-being of our first responders,’” Steve Kruger said, speaking on the effort. “We’re going to live in a community that supports and welcomes first responders through the Valor Vacations program, and we would like Estes Park to be a showpiece of how to do it correctly so that other mountain towns can copy what we’re doing.”
Avery and the Krugers have also formed a partnership with Visit Estes Park to help promote the effort and the April 19 event and have invited Mayor Wendy Koenig, Estes Park Police Department Chief David Hayes and Estes Valley Fire Protection District Chief David Wolf, who are all expected to attend the April 19 event as well.
“Estes Park by itself is a very generous, caring community and is supportive of our first responders,” said EPPD Chief Hayes. “So what Kathryn is going to provide for us is not only support for our staff here in Estes Park that may need it but for other agencies and other first responders from around the state, which gives them the opportunity to come to Estes Park and see the Beauty and be welcomed into our community as well.”
Hayes says that as both the chief of police in Estes Park and the President of the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, he can speak on behalf of both agencies in saying that they’re in full support of the programs that Avery has put together.
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