Snow Angels: Denver volunteers needed to help neighbors shovel

Maddie Rhodes
·2 min read

DENVER (KDVR) – Denver is gearing up the roads, schools are closing and the Snow Angels are ready with their shovels as Denver’s forecast is predicting around several inches to a foot of snow for the end-of-the-week storm.

The snow will get underway late Wednesday and continue through early Friday morning. During this time, snow will amount to more than a foot in some places.

How much snow is expected to fall during Thursday’s storm?

Denver is already planning for major roadway delays and school cancellations in preparation for the storm. Another group planning for the storm is the Snow Angels, who help Denver residents, usually with a disability or physically unable, shovel their front sidewalks during winter months to avoid fines.

Paul Rosenthal works full-time at the City and County Building but still makes time to be someone’s hero as a Snow Angel volunteer.

“The reward is I’m helping somebody who needs help,” Rosenthal told FOX31’s Shaul Turner.

In Denver, there are fines associated with not shoveling your sidewalk after a specific amount of time. The volunteer-based group was created to avoid fines for non-compliance with clearing pedestrian walkways in front of homes, according to Heidi Rodriguez with the Agency for Human Rights and Community Partnerships.

For Thursday’s storm, the Snow Angels will be out, Rodriguez said.

The program will contact its Snow Angels to inform them of which homes in their nearby areas need assistance. Rodriguez said there are around 460 volunteers in the program and just over 710 homes that need assistance across the city.

While Rodriguez said the numbers have increased over the past few months, the group still needs some volunteers in specific neighborhoods like Montbello, Barnum and Green Valley Ranch.

Major roadways expected to close for heavy snow in Colorado

Those areas have many homes and residents in need, but very few Snow Angels respond to homes in that area, Rodriguez said.

To apply to become a Snow Angel or register your home, City and County of Denver community members can visit denvergov.org/snowangels or call 720-913-SNOW (7669).

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