Colorado Springs, Colo., native
Taylor Proctor's summer wasn't only filled with rehab from a knee injury that cut short her freshman year suiting up for the University of San Francisco women's basketball team. She was out exemplifying one of the athletics department's "Four Pillars of Success" when wildfires struck near her hometown.
USF is committed to excellence in athletics as part of a larger commitment to excellence in educating students in the Jesuit Catholic tradition. The department is built upon four pillars that aim to develop every student-athlete in the traditions of excelling in the classroom, winning at the highest levels of competition, becoming leaders in the world, and engaging in the community. Proctor was hard at work in the communities surrounding the Black Forest and Falcon areas east of Colorado Springs for a week this summer volunteering her time to help those around her that needed it most.
Here are her thoughts from the experience:
How did you get involved?
My mom works at Home Depot. She does Team Depot events so it's just straight up volunteer work, to take hours out of your day to just come up and help out. She's been doing it for 15 years, so I've been volunteering with her ever since I was little.
What did you do?
I donated probably 24 to 30-some hours of my time just to help out right when it kind of calmed down and they were letting people back into the area to sift through their stuff and see if everything was fine. Volunteers made sifters, gave gloves out, shovels, rakes, garbage bags – everything just to go sift through the ashes of houses. We would just sit on the sides of the roads and call people over if they need some help.
I actually went over to one house and I helped the lady take off her roof. It was a modular home and it just melted completely down. We had to tear off the roof for her to get under her house to go sift through things.
Were you affected by the fires, personally?
This is probably the closest that my house has ever been, but where we're at is really safe compared to everything outside of us. A lot of friends got evacuated. It's just crazy to see houses all burnt down. My mom's close friend that she works with – six homes in her family were lost. Most of them didn't have any insurance or anything except for maybe one, so everybody else just lost everything. They're actually doing another Team Depot even for them because six houses is a lot to lose in a family.
What are some of your memories from the week?
Just every story, when they come up. There was this musician and he comes up and he just started a band and a club, and it all burnt down. So all of his equipment is gone and he had no insurance on anything because he just moved there four days before the fire happened. It was just really, really sad to hear a bunch of their stories.
Also, my cousin's husband is a police officer and he was patrolling the area [for looters]. So he took me around the forest and just seeing everything just devastated me. It's just complete black in there and there's nothing else there except ashes everywhere. It was really sad to see all the damage.
What other things have you done through your volunteer experiences?
A long time ago I helped with the Hayman fire (2002) out in Colorado. That was a big one. I do a bunch of other things too, not just fire stuff. We went into the Goodwill Center for mentally disabled kids and built gardens and fixed up some things around there. We've also built houses with Team Depot.
What makes you motivated to volunteer your time?
I love volunteering. When my mom says she's out doing volunteer work, I always want to go. It's just fun to get out and help others that need the help. I don't like sitting around and doing nothing, so I like donating my time helping people out.
It just feels really good to help someone out that's in need. And just to hear their story gives you another perspective on life and how you might have it good compared to what others have. It's just really good to help out and see what other people see so you just have that open eye for the world and how your life compares.
