Colorado City elementary principal seeks community support after student loses father

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• A sixth-grade student from Colorado City lost his dad unexpectedly and his principal has stepped in to help.
• Principal Natalie Hammon highlights Gabe's resilience and selflessness despite his hardships.
• Colorado City community raises $5,000 to support Gabe and his great-grandmother's rent.

COLORADO CITY, Ariz. — During his time of grief, a sixth-grade student at Cottonwood Elementary in Colorado City is learning that he has a community that loves him.

At the end of last month, Gabe Hoffman, 11, learned that his father, who was living in Alaska, had passed away.

KSL has been asked not to disclose the details pertaining to his father's death as well as the circumstances surrounding Gabe's mother who has not been able to raise him. Cottonwood Elementary principal, Natalie Hammon Zitting, however, received permission to speak about Gabe, and said that she wanted to bring attention to a student who she said has defied the odds since coming to her school a few years ago.

"Like every child, Gabe had things to learn," Hammon Zitting said. "But even then, there was something about him that made me want to keep looking beyond the behavior and understand the boy underneath it."

Over time, Hammon Zitting said she started to see a boy who loved others and wanted to be loved. She said that he would often come to her office and ask if there was anything he could do to help, even though he came from a home life that often seemed helpless.

"Gabe came to us as an Alaskan American little boy whose background and experiences were different from what many of our students had known," she said. "He had moved around throughout his childhood and was trying to find a place to belong once again."

Gabe has been raised primarily by his great-grandmother Jamie Hoffman, who said that Gabe is "coping better than expected" with the loss of his father, adding that he often says, "I can't believe my daddy's gone."

When Hammon Zitting received the news that Gabe's father had passed, she said it also came with the news that Gabe still wanted to come to school.

"His (great)-grandma called us and told us what happened and she said he'll probably miss the rest of the week," Hammon Zitting recalled. "So, we got our crew together to make a plan. Well, he showed up to school because he wanted to be around his friends and people. It's hard to do that alone."

Hammon Zitting said that not only had Gabe shown up to school the following day, but he did so "wearing his dad's old shirt," and "trying to manage emotions he wasn't sure he was allowed to feel."

"I asked him what we could do for him and didn't ask for something for himself," Hammon Zitting said. "He didn't ask for money, clothes, or anything that might make his own life easier. He asked us to do something nice for his (great)-grandma."

"I have thought about that answer over and over," she added. "Here is a child who has just lost his father, who worries about the woman raising him, and who is still thinking about how to make her life a little better."

Witnessing the selflessness of an 11-year-old boy, caused Hammon Zitting to want to take action, and even though Gabe didn't ask for anything, she, along with the school counselor spent the day with him.

"We went and got ice cream for breakfast and hot chocolate and (Gabe) said, 'I know it sounds terrible, but this is the best day of my life,'" she recalled. "That day, people took time to tell him how important he was and I told him, 'Gabe, right now there's a lot of hype because you're getting attention, but next week is going to be really hard and the following week is going to be really hard, but we'll still be here for you.'"

Hammon Zitting also reached out to the community of Colorado City for help raising money to help Gabe's great-grandmother pay rent. She also decided that she would match any donations that were made through Venmo or Cash App. So far, $5,000 has been raised, including Hammon Zitting's donation.

"I'm totally amazed and surprised and thankful for all the support this town has been giving us," Gabe's great-grandmother said. "I've never been any place that has been so supportive and I appreciate it so much.

"We lost my husband two years ago and Gabe still talks about him," she added. "It's been tough on him, but he's an amazing young man. He's worried about other people and how we're all going to get through it. He's wonderful and he's so kind."

Hammon Zitting said that she has been in the process of typing up all the names and messages from people who have donated and offered support, so she can share them with Gabe to let him know how much people care about him.

"I just wanted to show him that these names may mean nothing to him, but 60 names on a piece of paper show how many people care about a kid they've never met," she said. "Sometimes we get caught up in the news and we really should highlight some of these amazing kids that come through our system that life hasn't been easy for."

Hammon Zitting said that she hopes to continue to raise funds through her Venmo (@hammon22) and a GoFundMe* that she said she will use to continue to use to pay Gabe and his great-grandmother's rent.

"Gabe Hoffman is not remarkable because of the hardships he has experienced," she said. "He is remarkable because, despite those hardships, he continues to choose connection, kindness, and growth. He is still a child. He still needs guidance, support, and people who will show up for him. He deserves the chance to be known for his future, not defined by his past."

*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited into the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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