Shootings in Colorado & My Direct Connection

[Styluss]

So if you haven't seen it all over the news or my FB page yet, we had a shooting here in Colorado in the early morning today. A 24 year old man came in the back door of a movie theater wearing a bullet proof vest and carrying a knife, two pistols and some fully automatic assault rifle and simply laid waste to a sold out theater watching the sneak peek of the new Batman movie. As people ran for the exits they not only began to literally pile up in the rush to get the hell out of there, but the gunman then aimed at those trying to flee. 71 people injured, 15 hospitalized and 12 dead.

Of the 15 people hospitalized, 9 of them were Red Robin employees, the company that I have worked with for the last 15 years. Many if not all 9 of those Red Robin employees came from the same restaurant location. A restaurant that I was a manager at for over a year. My head has hung low all day...

Although when I heard what we as a company were doing for not only our effected team members but their families as well as all of those affected by this I had to fight back tears. Tears of pride and joy. Please see below which is a direct copy and paste of what I posted on FB earlier. Please, do not quote me on the numbers, the weapons or any of that. I have been in a personal frenzy of media and an attempt to help in any way I could. This is still a developing story even over 12 hours later.

Okay, now that I am home from the office I can offer a full breakdown. At the current state, 9 of the 15 people that were hospitalized due to this morning's shootings were Red Robin team members. Most, if not all of these team members worked at a single location where I was actually a manager for over a year.

Our annual company picnic was scheduled for today. The picnic was cancelled and our office was closed early. But that didn't stop any of us from taking action. All of the food we had set up for our picnic was quickly diverted to a local high school so that it could be prepared and provided to the victims, the support staff and any and all persons displaced to this relief center. Money was put aside to assist with medical bills, lost wages, even flying in the affected team member families from our of state so that they could be with their loved ones. Managers and team members alike from numerous restaurants across the state stepped up to not only work the shifts of those directly affected, but to cover shifts of the other team members and management from this location so that they can be with their co-workers. Numerous corporate level people, including myself, also stepped up to offer assistance as many of us came directly from the field and have the capability to cook, bus, serve even manage shifts to cover for those affected.

We have had a fund in place for years now, The Giving Fund, that is used to care for team members in their time of need. Be it a broken down car, a broken leg or even a death in the family. I have personally used this fund to help me with past financial woes so great I would have never been able to recover on my own. Even to help my mother when she fell and broke her hip. This fund has now been opened to the public under the Red Robin Foundation name so that anyone can contribute directly to the cause. Please, if you were ever a Red Robin team member or you simply want to assist, I encourage you not only to donate, but to share and repost this link so that any and all that want to contribute can do so.

I have worked for this company for over 15 years now which in itself says a lot about who we are and what we do. But when I see us come together as not only a company, but as a family in a scenario like this, I have to fight back the tears. I have never seen a company care so much for its employees. I can proudly say today and any other day, I am a Red Robin team member and I am proud of it.

Thank you.

If you would like to assist and have the means to do so, you can donate via this link: https://npo.networkforgood.org/Donate/D ... Id=1000624


Thank you to those that have already expressed their condolences and concerns to me via text or FB. I seriously think of my Beretta family in the damn same way that I am referring to my Red Robin family and you had better know damn good and well that if anything ever happened to you, I would go to bat for you just as hard.

[themadness]

dude i dont have any money to donate, is their anything else that can be done?

this whole world is going crazy. we have had 5 murders here in the past week.....

[Koots]

I'm sorry to hear that hit you so close, this is incredibly terrible and I still can't wrap my head around it all...and i'm a couple thousand miles away

I got to float a couple bucks into my paypal account and send a few bucks towards the cause. If I had a job right now, I'd send more

[Styluss]

It was announced today that we did lose one of our Red Robin family in this incident. A 27 year old young man lost his life over the weekend in the hospital. Everyone else has been released except for two of our team members who are in good condition and finishing treatment.

The bastard was in court for the first time today looking rather smug. His sentencing has been set for next Monday. I had a great weekend full of Rallycrossing and a drifting event only to come to work to be reminded of this. Ugh.

Madness, there isn't much more you can do unless you have physical items to donate that can be turned into cash. Your sentiment is greatly appreciated. I have seen a huge outreach from family, friends and even FB friends in other states. I believe that my reaching out has netted nearly $1000 for the fund. I had one friend donate her entire week's earnings of $350. I am amazed at the generosity of people I have never even met. The human spirit lives on.