Barbara Lawlor, Nederland. Michael Czeponis was a single dad with five children when the Flood of 2013 washed down Boulder Canyon taking his belongings and his home with it. Just when he thought life was giving him and his family a break with their cabin at the Red Lion Inn near Boulder Creek, everything began sliding downhill.

And then, when things went from bad to worse, to the moment of despair, a community stepped in to give the dad a break, in the form of rent for a house in Nederland and a 1999 Lincoln Navigator to ensure he had a way to get to work and a way to pick up his children from school when they were sick.

The children range from age seven to 13 and Michael had been working too hard to make their lives consistent and meaningful since his ex-wife left him with the responsibility of caring for them while trying to make a living. The family shared the space in a one-bedroom cabin, but they didn't mind being crowded because they loved being in the mountains and near the creek.

They remember watching the bears come to raid the restaurant dumpsters and look into the cabin windows as they passed by. The talk about the time the bears came into their cabin and raided the kitchen until their cat scared it away.

Their little paradise ended when the Red Lion Inn was sold and the family had to move out. They had packed everything in boxes and stored most of it behind a mosque in Boulder when the rain began to fall. As the sirens shrieked into the night, Michael knew it was an emergency situation and he and the kids decided to see if what was happening and drove to North Boulder, and saw the overflowing creeks flooding the streets.

They went to check their belongings, including the tools he used as a handyman, and found the doors torn off the building and everything washed down the creek. When they returned to the cabin, a wall of mud was moving down on them.

"We lost everything," said Michael last week at the Wild Bear Mountain Ecology Center. "But my priority was getting the kids to school." He also turned to the Boulder County Housing Authority seeking somewhere to live. The family began the next month jumping from one hotel to another. But they wanted to settle.

When a housing unit in Nederland opened up, the family was filled with hope that their transient life was over.  They moved into their new home—which was easy, seeing as they had nothing to move—and began looking for ways to become part of the community. They had an idyllic summer. The children spent time at Wild Bear, charming the staff and especially the executive director, Jill Dreves. While Michael worked, the kids attended summer activities.

Although by this time Michael no longer had a car, having sold it to someone who needed it more than he did, he managed to ride his bike to work. He was striving to become a role model to his children, to get over a past that included a time of magic and devils and scraps with the law that ended up with stains on his record.

One night when he was incarcerated he asked a Muslim friend if there was any way for him to find peace. He prayed to God to help him and found the answer to his prayer in becoming a Muslim.

"Being up here in Nederland was more valuable than anything. We had a house, the kids were in school and although it was hard to work without the tools, we got there and introduced ourselves. We picked up trash all over town and whenever we were in the shopping center parking lot, we gathered the shopping carts and returned them to the grocery store. According to Islam no good deed goes unrewarded."

It was a great summer. But then Michael injured his back and the healing process took time. Two months ago, everything fell apart. The children became sick with the colds and flu that happen in school. One day, Ricky, 12,  had a temperature of 104 degrees and needed to leave school.

"I went to pick him up on my bike, the daddy ambulance, and began to feel overwhelmed. I put a post in Facebook asking for help when they were sick." But Michael wasn't working much and fell behind in the rent.

One day, not feeling well, he went home and found an eviction notice on the door. He took it to the place that had welcomed him and his children into their community and had a physical breakdown, dizzy with a temperature of 105.

He went to bed and sweated out the illness. During his recovery Dreves and other Wild Bear staff and some members of the community got together and raised enough money to pay the rent for the family.

"They put the word out. I was very nervous about a fundraiser. I am a quiet person and don't like being in the spotlight, but it only took one week to come up with rent money."

And then, after Dreves found out that the way to Michael's being self-sufficient was a vehicle to get him to and from work and to be there for the children when they needed to come home, she helped Michael set up a GoFundMe account online. The goal of $5,000 was reached last week.

Michael found the deal of the century: a 1999 Lincoln Navigator, big enough for all the kids and safe for winter driving.

Michael says that was raised was the exact amount to purchase the car and pay for insurance and registration to make it legal.

Michael said, "What goes around really does come around. The vehicle will get me back to work, will help me to help others. That's what helps me the most—the ability to help others.

Dreves says she has grown very fond of Michael and his children, that they have become part of the Wild Bear family. "He is doing his best to survive and the children were all in our childcare program and help us take care of the animals. We reached out to the community members and came up with the money and the family is on their way to becoming self-sufficient again. Having a car makes all the difference."