WOMAN HAS HEART FOR THE SURVIVORS

Nancy Dzurilla of Colorado Springs wasn't in Littleton the day of the Columbine High School shootings. She didn't know the 12 students and one teacher slaughtered on April 20, 1999.

But Dzurilla, 38, knows emotional pain.

Ten years ago, while traveling home to Michigan from a church retreat, the van she was riding in rolled on a patch of black ice, killing the driver and another passenger.

The passenger -- her friend -- died in her arms.

So when she got word of the Columbine shooting by two students, Dzurilla had one thought: somehow help the survivors and their families devastated by the attack.

First, she wrote a letter, titled "Healing for Littleton," to the students and families and sent a copy to the high school. (She's since posted it on her Web site, www.jesuslovescolumbine.com, and sends a version to other schools where shootings occur.)

Then she started a ministry to create a yearly memorial in Littleton on the shooting's anniversary. Every year, on April 20, Dzurilla sets up 13 white wooden crosses, each about 3 feet high, on the grass of Clement Park next to the high school.

From morning to night, she and several other volunteers wait in the park as mourners arrive. Dzurilla comforts them -- sometimes praying with them, sometimes just listening. Sometimes a hug helps.

Some people want to be alone, and that's OK too.

Dzurilla and the volunteers also bring a larger white cross with space for people to leave written messages. In just a few years, it's become packed with writing, Dzurilla said.

Dzurilla and her friends stay at the park all day and into the night, as long as people come.

This year she'll head to the park with a new perspective and a new way to empathize with people still hurting from Columbine nine years later.

Dzurilla is a member of New Life Church, where Matthew Murray, 24, opened fire on Dec. 9,, killing sisters Rachel and Stephanie Works.

Dzurilla typically goes to the second service Sunday mornings and normally would have been chatting with friends when Murray arrived. But because of snowy roads, Dzurilla stayed home that morning.

Dzurilla found out later that one of the volunteers who helps at the memorial -- a Littleton resident -- participates in the same home-schooled group that Murray did. She also knows the security guard, Jeanne Assam, who shot Murray and helped bring him down.

Dzurilla doesn't see these as coincidences. She sees them as part of a divine plan. She calls it a "God thing," said fellow volunteer Steve Schweitzberger, who helps at the park each year.

Schweitzberger has a heart for massacre survivors -- his daughter Sara attended the high school and took shelter in the cafeteria the day of the shooting. She made it out OK.

Dzurilla has been there for Schweitzberger during his difficult times, he said. And on Sunday, she'll be there again, helping the hurting however she can.

"She has a great heart," Schweitzberger said.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0274 or jennifer.wilson@gazette.com THE MEMORIAL

Nancy Dzurilla's Columbine High School memorial takes place all day Sunday at Clement Park, at the southeast corner of West Bowles Avenue and South Pierce Street in Littleton.

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