WOODLAND PARK • A ministry that began in 1997 in the garages of Pete Tysdal and the late Greg Schilling continues to help Teller County residents heat their homes during the winter.
“Greg had somebody come and cut the dead trees down and I went up in my ATV and pulled them out,” Tysdal said. The two delivered the fire wood to people in need.
Tysdal and Schilling, who founded Help the Needy, expanded the program and eventually attracted donations of logs from the Cripple Creek & Victor Mining Co.
For years, the volunteers, members of the Knights of Columbus at Our Lady of the Woods Catholic Church, chopped and collected wood donated by Teller County landowners. “We use splitters and cut the wood up with chain saws,” Tysdal said. “And we deliver the wood.”