C4 and Lake County Community Fund provide heating for Lake County community members during recent cold snap
Christian Luna-Leal (left) of C4 and Gabriel Means (right) pose with full propane tanks outside of Big R. C4 was able to secure funding to help residents fill their propane tanks and stay warm during a stretch of sub-zero temperatures.
Original article by Finn McNally for the Leadville Herald Democrat. Published January 27th, 2025
Last weekend, Cloud City Conservation Center (C4) helped provide emergency heating assistance to Lake County residents ahead of a cold snap that gave Leadville some of its coldest temperatures this season.
In 2021, C4 began providing financial assistance to community members for heating issues. C4 executive director Emily Olsen said that many residents live in campers or recreational vehicles and cannot participate in C4’s other program, which assists with bill payments. Instead, the program helped provide propane or space heaters to those in need. Olsen said the program served 20 households in 2024.
[Previously] the program’s biggest funder was the Lake County Government, which cut its funding to C4 in 2025, so the program was ended. However, with temperatures as low as -17 degrees from Saturday, Jan. 18 to Tuesday, Jan. 21, C4 was able to temporarily restart the program with help from the Lake County Community Fund (LCCF), which gave them $10,000.
“We were hearing reports of individuals coming to St. George with nearly frozen limbs, using potentially dangerous heating methods and we were also receiving reports of squatting,” Olsen said. “We decided we had to act and bring this program back immediately to ensure that we honestly don’t lose any community members. With the temperatures this cold and the rise in homelessness in Lake County, this is a life or death issue.”
Both C4 and the Advocates of Lake County reached out to clients who they knew to be without proper heating methods. With the $10,000 from LCCF and $5,000 from their own operating funds, C4 provided propane and space heaters and even offered some hotel rooms to those in need during the cold stretch. Approximately $13,000 went to heat and the remainder was available for hotel rooms for the weekend. C4 filled up propane tanks at Big R.
Olsen said that to continue the heating assistance program throughout the rest of the winter, C4 will have to explore additional funding options. She said that her organization’s primary sources of funding are from grants and donations. She said that any individuals who wish to support the program can make a donation to C4 or the Advocates and say that it is for the Disaster Relief Fund.
“We had to act and bring this program back immediately to ensure that we don’t lose any community members. With temperatures this cold and the rise in homelessness in Lake County, this is a life or death issue.”