For Olivia Ranta, sanding wooden playground equipment was a first, but it’s an act she hopes will help support the Denver community.

It may not be the typical workload for an Inclusion and Corporate Impact intern, but Ranta, who has been with Xcel Energy for about four months, was happy to get hands-on during the company’s annual Day of Service.

And while the task was new, Ranta said she was getting the hang of it.

“I wanna say, this is my first time sanding ever,” she said. “I feel like I’m getting the hang of it slowly but surely.”

Ranta was among hundreds of volunteers who spent Saturday morning at Mile High United Way refreshing a playground and completing other community projects. The work included sanding playground equipment, cleaning up wood chips and organizing toys.

The volunteer effort is part of Xcel Energy’s 16th annual Day of Service, an event that has grown significantly since it began.

“It started as a way to acknowledge and remember the tragedy of 9/11,” said Robert Kenney, president of Xcel Energy Colorado

Since then, the event has expanded in both size and impact.

“Each year we have more and more volunteers, more and more projects that we’re doing,” Kenney said. “So this year we have over 40 projects that were done Thursday through Saturday and over 900 volunteers. That’s both Xcel employees as well as friends and family and community members.”

The effort also included volunteers from CBS Colorado.

“It’s really just amazing to see how much you can get done together,”  CBS Colorado Anchor Karen Leigh said while helping volunteers with the playground work.

The day was more than just a volunteer event. For Xcel Energy, it was an opportunity to put company values into action by giving employees, their families and community members a chance to make a tangible difference.

“It really is important to us as a company, and everyone really shows out,” Ranta said. “It’s a part of who we are as employees.”

LINK: Xcel Energy’s Day of Service

Last week, as they’ve done once a year for two decades, four generations of Haseldens met and talked construction.

They toured 242 Milwaukee Street in Cherry Creek, the BMC Investment development that broke ground a year ago, where Haselden Construction is the general contractor.

“There’s no better way to expose any kid to the construction business than take them out and show them what’s going on,” said Ed Haselden, the company’s board chair.

Before stepping down and handing the CEO reins to his younger brother Byron Haselden 10 years ago, Ed led the firm.

In Denver, a memorial now stands Friday for the United Airlines workers killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington D.C and Pennsylvania. Eighteen crew members died when United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the north tower and when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania 25 years ago.

United Airlines dedicated a memorial at its Denver headquarters in honor of its employees among the fallen 25 years to the day of the 9/11 attacks. It is two steel beams from the World Trade Center planted in the ground at HQ, meant to resemble the buildings they came from. There are also 18 shrubs surrounding the beams, one for each employee lost.  

“So much time has passed since an event that I remember so vividly,” said pilot Miles Morgan, a captain with United Airlines.

Morgan said it’s hard to convey how much different his life is now compared to when 9/11 happened. 

“My career, which was at the time, 25 years ago, just beginning and had so much runway ahead of it, is now starting to wind down,” Morgan explained.

Morgan was a young airbus pilot for United when terrorists hijacked four planes and used them to attack the United States. He says, on that fateful day, he was crushed to learn he lost coworkers in the attacks.

“So I really think that this monument for us is a way to keep our people connected to the history of United, which has made us so great into who we are today,” Morgan said.

Capt. Morgan says, these days, there are pilots and airline crew members who visit to train in Denver who don’t remember the terrorist attacks. So he thinks it’s important to have the new memorial at the facility.

“It’s so important to be a steward of history and to remember the people that laid the foundation for who we are today. If you forget that, you make more mistakes in the future,” Morgan said.