The City of Colorado Springs has joined a few Colorado companies and organizations to create a refreshing way to help restore Colorado forests burned in recent

Buy a special edition reGrowCO water bottle and you’ll help buy seedlings for the forest and support local firefighters. And who doesn’t want to help forests and

ReGrowCO was created by the city, Colorado Springs Professional Firefighters Local 5, local marketing agency Vladimir Jones and Polar Bottle of Boulder “to improve, preserve and protect the natural beauty of Colorado.

The insulated 24-ounce water bottles sport an eye-catching logo based on Colorado’s iconic state flag and sell for $15. For every bottle sold, $3.50 will be donated to the ReForest Colorado Fund to plant seedlings in burn areas and $1.50 will go to the Colorado Springs Professional Firefighters Foundation, which helps support firefighters and their families in times of need as well as activities such as the Colorado Springs Fire Department Explorer

“We are proud to support the reGrowCO initiative, in partnership with our local Colorado Springs firefighters, so that together we can help begin to heal the wounds inflicted by the devastating Waldo Canyon fires,” said Suzi Bach, wife of Colorado Springs mayor Steve Bach, in a news

The group’s initial goal is to sell 1,600 water bottles, honoring the 1,600 firefighters who fought the Waldo Canyon fire by planting a seedling for each. Longterm, the group hopes to do more, perhaps donating a seedling for every firefighter in the

“There is nothing more devastating to us as firefighters than the loss of lives, homes and natural resources due to fire,” said Jeremy Kroto, president of IAFF Local 5. “While our team of firefighters worked day and night on the front lines, battling the Waldo Canyon fire, we are also a part of this community and are equally affected by this unprecedented natural disaster. As such, we are proud to be able to help give back to the community, supporting healing of both our people and our natural

“We look forward to planting many trees with reGrowCO and in turn we also thank the entire community for their support of our firefighters.”

Nikki Kinzer, shown here for UCCS earlier, is the reigning RMAC player of the month. Photo by Courtesy of Lori Kinzer

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