Shattered glass and broken pots littered the inside of Happy Living Adult Daycare center in the early morning hours of Sept. 22.
Staff at the center known for serving Asian elders in the community watched as Aurora police officers swept through the building with their guns drawn. The alleged perpetrator was gone. He had shattered the center's windows and street sign.
"It's just been so emotional the last week trying to figure out what to do and what makes sense," said Annie Guo VanDan, president of Asian Avenue Magazine and Happy Living Adult Daycare's program manager.
Repairing the center was going to cost thousands of dollars, according to VanDan. Though she and other center workers were wary of asking for help due to concerns of drawing more attention to the incident, they set up a GoFundMe campaign with the help of another Asian community nonprofit.
A week after launching, the campaign has more than tripled the $3,000 goal for repairs.
"Within 24 hours we were at $6,000," VanDan said. "We've come out feeling more uplifted and empowered than before."
VanDan's mother, Christina Yutai Guo, is the owner and founder of the Happy Living Adult Daycare center. It originally opened in 2016 inside Aurora's Great Wall Supermarket before re-opening in February 2022, taking over what used to be a Sweet Tomatoes restaurant.
The space houses five Asian-serving organizations: Happy Living Adult Daycare, Colorado Asian Culture and Education Network, Asian Avenue Magazine, Mile High Asian Media and Rocky Mountain Chinese Weekly.
"A lot of times individuals or organizations who don't have funding, we provide the space for free," VanDan said. "It's really become an opportunity for our community to share in this resource that didn't really exist before."
After the outpouring of support, the center plans to invest the extra funds into creating a safer building that benefits the community at large.
They plan to install a better camera and surveillance system, change old door locks and eventually repair the street signage.
"It's just meant a lot because it was a reassurance that what we were doing was of value for the community," VanDan said. "It helped us think bigger picture of what this space means for people."
People of all ages have benefited from the center's presence in Aurora. Past events and services include early childhood education programs, civic engagement trainings and even book signings for local Asian-American authors. It was Asian Girls Ignite co-founder and chief operating officer Mehgan Yen that encouraged VanDan to start a GoFundMe campaign to help raise funds for the damage. We reached out to Yen for comment but haven't heard back. We'll update when we do.
"At the time, our minds didn't even think to go to the community for support," VanDan said.
Aurora Police arrested Taylor Watson, a 38-year old white man in connection to the incident. Watson is charged with two counts of burglary, one count of arson and one count of criminal mischief.
Watson is being held on a $15,000 bond and is awaiting a preliminary trial set for Oct. 27. Aurora police told Denverite that the incident, now a closed investigation, did not appear to be a racially motivated hate crime.
Happy Living installed a fence days before at the request of city officials to prevent loitering by unhoused individuals, VanDan said. This same fence was used to shatter the center's windows, she said. Additionally, the alleged suspect also used an orange construction road sign to destroy signage on the corner of Evans Avenue and Abilene Street that sits across the center's parking lot and listed all of the Asian organizations housed in the center.
Still, VanDan could not help but consider that there could have been racial bias behind the incident, given the spike in hate crimes committed against Asians since the pandemic began.
"We thought 'Maybe it would be better to not put this back up so that people don't know we are here,'" VanDan said. "Our minds definitely went there. Is this because we are an Asian serving organization?"
But the support from community members, both online and those that offered to help clean up shortly after the incident, has helped the center wrestle with the tension of either retreating into the shadows or reclaiming its purpose for Aurora's AAPI community.
"When this initially happened we actually felt like we wanted to retreat and almost hide from it," VanDan said. "It was truly the power and support of the community that has allowed us to rise above this horrific incident."
VanDan has spoken with the city of Aurora to discuss a process for fixing the signage using funds they have raised. The hope is to collaborate with the community on a sign they can all be proud of.
"The community really came to us and wanted this opportunity to help," VanDan said. "We're really thinking about what that can look like now, to really be more proud and visible in this space for our community."
CPR News reporter Ben Markus contributed to this report.
