(An email sent to employees living in the areas affected by the Marshall & Middle Fork Fires)

Dear Colleagues,
We are reaching out to you to offer our support because we have identified you through our university employee database as having an address within Boulder County in an area that may be impacted by the wildfires and evacuations.

The university is committed to supporting the needs of our impacted employees. If you are displaced due to the fire, first responders will provide you with information about emergency shelters, food and other resources. If that information is not available to you or if you need additional assistance, please contact the CSU CARE program (https://hr.colostate.edu/care-program/).

As university faculty and staff, your wellbeing during this difficult time is our first priority. If you have questions about your health benefits, employee leave, or other university matters while you take care of your personal needs, please contact the Human Resources service desk at (970) 491-6947 or at MyHR@colostate.edu. We are here to help you.

Additional assistance through Human Resources and the university

• The Employee Assistance Program is well known as the employee benefit for mental health support, and we encourage you to reach out to them for a confidential referral to a community provider, if you or a member of your household needs mental health support. You may not be aware that the Employee Assistance Program also provides help related to legal and financial matters, as well as assistance with child and elder care referrals, pet care, etc. You can access more information about this program on our Human Resources website at https://hr.colostate.edu/employee-assistance-program/.
• CSU Cares is a fund available to university employees to access during crisis situations, such as fires and other natural disasters. It provides financial help to employees to help pay for unexpected costs during an emergency such as this. You must apply for the funds, and applications for those impacted by this fire will be promptly reviewed. You can see more about the program at https://commitmenttocampus.colostate.edu/rams-for-rams/.
• As always, the Red Cross of Northern Colorado may also be of assistance to you – https://www.redcross.org/local/colorado/about-us/Locations/northern-colorado.html.
• The CSU CARE Program, available through Human Resources, provides information about local resources and low to no cost services and can help connect you to those services. For more information, visit https://hr.colostate.edu/care-program/.

If your home is impacted by the wildfires, know that we want you to take care of your personal and family needs first. We want to make sure you are safe and we are ready start supporting you with resources. When you have an opportunity to do so, please take the following steps to update your supervisors:

• If you are working remotely and have lost power or WIFI to your home as a result of utility disruption and are unable to work due to other impacts, please notify your supervisor when and if you are able to do so. We are also contacting supervisors of employees with known addresses in the area of the fire, asking them to provide flexibility to employees who may not be able to work due to the impacts of the fire.
• If you have evacuated or are required to evacuate, focus on taking care of your personal needs. We know personal impacts may be significant; when you have the ability to do so, please follow up with your supervisor about your leave needs and determine a plan for work coverage, etc.
• For additional questions, please contact the Human Resources service desk between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on business days at 970-491-6947.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if we can be of assistance to you. Our thoughts are with each of you who are impacted by the fires and evacuations.

Sincerely,
Robyn Fergus
Vice President for Human Resources