Waggle Family Magazine, Summer Issue 2020, Final

Waggle

Family Magazine

Body Image: Using Social Media to Build a Positive Online Space P.18

COVID Kindness and Community at Longmont United Hospital P.8 Will Reopening Schools Be Safe?

P.6 Complimentary Copy

Summer 2020 | Vol 6.1

Imagine! Works To Help People With Disabilities Stay Active This Summer Pages 4 & 5

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SUMMARY Letter from the Publisher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Longmont United Hospital Foundation (ad). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Longmont Museum Programs reinvented for a safe and entertaining education from home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Imagine! Works To Help People With Disabilities Stay Active This Summer— Cover Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Will Reopening Schools Be Safe?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Having Fun on Purpose?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 COVID Kindness and Community at Longmont United Hospital. . . . . . . . . 10 Sandman Landscapes (ad). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Yvette Morton Wellness Coach (ad). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 KJ Financial Solutions (ad) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 How Can More Cost Less? Secrets From A Mortgage Broker . . . . . . . . . . 12 What You May Not Know About The Vance Brand Airport . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Boulder Country Day School (ad). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Lucy Ann Clark — Technology Empowerment Coaching (ad) . . . . . . . . . . 14 Meet Your Makers! Local Artisans, Creators and Passionate Entrepreneurs. . . 15 Longmont Museum Moves All Summer Camps Online. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Mama Dee’s Birth Photography (ad) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Blooming Massage (ad). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 What is School Safety? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Body Image: Using Social Media to Build a Positive Online Space . . . . . . . 20 Teena Moore Phototgraphy (Ad). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Do I Really Need a Home Inspection? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Letter from SVVSD Superintendent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Culver’s Restaurant (ad). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Sound Well Music Therapy (ad). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 The Uncertain Future is Still Our Children’s Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 A Time Capsule of Our Hometown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Bravehoods: Making A Difference One Hoodie At A Time.. . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Temple Grandin (ad). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Rebekah Romero Photography (ad). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Longmont Meals on Wheels: Feeding and Connecting the Community. . . . . 29 I Cannot Forget that My Daughter is Black—A White Mom’s Perspective . . . . 30 You’re Not a Bad Mom: You’re Just Craving Connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 A Woman’s Work—A Timely Fund For Local Women In Need. . . . . . . . . . 32 In The Black Accounting and Business Consulting (ad). . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Just One Smile—Human Connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Celebrating Connections with Children, Youth and Families Services. . . . . . 35 Longmont Driving School (ad). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Waggle Family Magazine—Reserve Your Ad Space for Next Issue (ad). . . . . 38 Celebrating Connections: Diane Groff, Networking with Heart. . . . . . . . . . 39 Wonderful Eats—Restaurant Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Education Foundation for the St. Vrain Valley: When the Community Comes Together, It’s Amazing! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Wild About Community…The Wild Plum Way. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Silver and Gold—Friendship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 The Rising Youth Suicide Epidemic & How You Can Help . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Sober Af Entertainment: Safe Entertainment Opportunities For Those Choosing To Live Sober . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Take-Out Takeover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Happiness Through Horses—There's Alot Riding On Our Kids. . . . . . . . . . 48

Waggle Family Magazine Longmont, CO 720-984-3044 Waggle Media: We publish five times throughout the school year.

Owner/Publisher—Rikki White Advertise with Waggle Family Magazine contact@locowaggle.com (720) 984-3044 Please visit https://www.wagglefamily.com/buy-an-ad Direct all inquires, address changes, and to join our mailing list please email contact@locowaggle.com

FROM THE PUBLISHER Hi Waggle Family, COVID-19 has turned our daily routines, lives, and businesses upside down. These are unprecedented times. Luckily, Waggle was made for times like these. We created Waggle Family Magazine with the mission of connecting local families to the best local nonprofits and businesses. We know that when families, nonprofits, and businesses are connected our entire community can thrive- even in such uncertain times. We are excited to share our summer issue with you and hope that each of you will find resources within these pages which will make you feel connected to our community.

As part of our commitment to supporting our community, our Summer Issue is going to follow a different format. Each month, we will be rotating new articles from local nonprofits and notices from our local businesses into the magazine. We’ll also be posting each new article and advertisement on our social media and local community pages so that you will know when new content is added. We have adopted this format so that we can get the most up-to-date information out to the community.

Please be sure to follow us on your favorite social media channel and share our articles and ads with your friends and family. All of the ads and links in this digital version of Waggle Family Magazine are clickable. Be sure to click on them to get the most up-to-date information from our advertisers and contributors.

MEET THE TEAM

Owner/Publisher: Rikki White Graphic Designer: Lucy Clark Copy Editor: Yvette Morton Photographer: Rebekah Romero Advertising Manager: Rikki White Social Media Manager: Riley White Director of Morale: Rosie Joe —>

Waggle with us! https://www.facebook.com/waggleSt.Vrain https://twitter.com/CoWaggle https://www.instagram.com/wagglestvrain/ https://www.pinterest.com/WaggleStVrain/

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TO ADVERTISE WITH WAGGLE FAMILY MAGAZINE CALL (720) 984-3044 or contact@locowaggle.com https://www.wagglefamily.com/buy-an-ad

Our theme for this issue is Hometown Summer.

One of the wonderful surprises that have come out of living in the time of COVID-19, is that we have each been forced to slow down. We are spending more time with our families, eating at home more, and getting creative finding ways to stay entertained and connected. All of these things invoke a feeling of nostalgia. So for this Hometown Summer, we hope that each of you is able to throw some burgers on the grill, run through the sprinklers, and enjoy the beautiful weather that summer brings to the Front Range.

Thanks (as always) for reading and sharing,

Rikki

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Helping Longmont Achieve Optimal Health Wellness We Are

and

Surrounding Areas

and

OUR PRIMARY CARE SERVICES INCLUDE: • Family Medicine • Adult Primary Care • Pediatric Primary Care

• Preventive Care & Screenings • Sports Medicine • Geriatric Care

LONGMONT UNITED HOSPITAL and CHPG PRIMARY CARE SOUTHWEST LONGMONT are growing to support the needs of our community

Antony Pearson, Chief Medical Officer at LUH Dr. Antony Pearson joins Longmont United Hospital as Chief Medical Officer, coming to us from Banner Health, where he served as Chief of Staff and Regional Hospitalist Director for more than 12 years. He has a well-known, history of providing care and leadership in the Longmont community.

He attended St. John’s University in Minnesota for his Bachelor’s degree and went on to complete his Medical degree at the University of Minnesota in Duluth. After completing his residency at Baylor College in Houston Texas, he moved to Longmont and joined a private practice group of five internists in 1995. In 2002, he joined the Longmont Clinic, where he practiced internal medicine and was the Chairman of the Medicine Department for Longmont United Hospital. In 2007, Dr. Pearson joined McKee Medical Center as a hospitalist and in 2017 became their Chief of Staff. Dr. Pearson is Board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine. He has held a wide variety of committee leadership roles and presented at medical conferences on numerous topics throughout his career.

James Doyle, MD, Gastroenterology Dr. Doyle treats general gastroenterology concerns including peptic ulcer disease, celiac sprue, liver disease, pancreatic disorders, biliary disorders, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, IBS, colon polyps and cancer, GERD, eosinophilic esophagitis, Barrett’s syndrome, and H. pylori. He has a special interest in small bowel bacterial overgrowth.

Tanja Lindsey, MD, CHPG Primary Care Southwest Longmont Dr. Tanja Lindsey, MD believes in a holistic approach to medicine, treating each patient as a whole person including mind, body, spirit and emotions. She is also an advocate for building a team of trust, open communication, mutual respect and responsibility with one another.Dr. Lindsey cares for patients of all ages, from newborns to the elderly including acute injuries and illnesses. She also provides preventive care, screenings and management of chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and COPD.

CHPG Primary Care is accepting new patients.

To schedule an appointment call 303-649-3500, visit www.centura.org 2101 Ken Pratt Blvd, Ste 200, Longmont, CO 80501 4

Supporting Outstanding Care at Longmont United Hospital

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S E P T E M B E R — D E C E M B E R : K I D S A N D A D U LT S !

Longmont Museum Programs reinvented for a safe and entertaining education from home

Due to the ongoing restrictions from COVID-19, the Longmont Museum has reinvented much of its programming to take place from the safety of home.

“This isn’t the fall any of us expected, but this season’s inventive lineup is testament to silver linings,” said Kim Manajek, director of the Longmont Museum.”

For children, the Museum’s Discovery Days early childhood education program is shifting to monthly athome craft kits. The kits include an easy-to-understand guide to help support learning, individual bags of supplies needed to make three thematic crafts per week in the monthly bundle, and instructions and photos of completed craft examples.

Adult classes are also moving online with the popular Art & Sip program.

The Museum has created custom supply kits in thematic bundles for Thursday night series on watercolor painting, acrylic painting, boho holiday décor, and more.

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2020 marks the 20th anniversary of the Museum’s annual Día de Los Muertos celebration, a community event typically attracting more than 8,000 people. This year, the Museum has created a virtual event for the community to celebrate Day of the Dead from home. There will be live-streamed performances from Las Dahlias singing Mexican trio, Grupo Folklorico Mexico Lindo, dance, mariachi, poetry by bicultural community leader Laura Soto, and more on Sunday, November 1.

The Museum’s Stewart Auditorium will continue to live broadcast free programs every Thursday night to Facebook Live, Longmont Public Media, and Local Comcast Channel 8/880. Highlights include programs on race and social justice, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Colorado’s Poet Laureate Bobby LeFebre, the Annual Holiday Show as a web-a-thon, and the launch of a new talk show: The Longmonster.

“Facebook Live has become a popular platform to stay connected with our community virtually the past several months,” said Manajek. “Broadcasting our programs from the acoustically-excellent Stewart Auditorium allows us to provide high-quality education and entertainment without the risks that physically gathering in large groups brings at this time.”

A small number of free, in-person tickets to Stewart Auditorium programs are available to Museum members only, with extensive measures in place for safety and distancing.

The Museum’s galleries continue to be open, with many precautions in place and limited hours. The contemporary art show “Because the World is Round” is on view through September 12, and the Día de Los Muertos 20th anniversary exhibition opens October 2, featuring community altars along with the artwork of Tony Ortega. They are also hosting a handful of distanced in-person programs this fall, including historic downtown walking tours and a special, site-specific performance

by Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance.

Advanced registration is required.

Visit longmontmuseum.org to download the full Fall 2020 Newsletter from the homepage and to learn more about and register for programs or call 303-651-8374.

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COVER STORY

Imagine! Works To Help People With Disabilities Stay Active This Summer Written by Scott Wendelberger

Imagine!’s mission is to create a world of opportunity for all abilities.

Fulfilling that mission comes in many shapes and sizes. This time around, it’s a 6" tall, handcrafted sanitizer holder with a warm stain finish.

Imagine! owns and operates a number of Group Homes in Longmont that serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and has put a sharp focus on preventing a COVID-19 outbreak in these residences. “Individuals with developmental disabilities are at a higher risk for contracting the virus, especially when they rely on hand-over-hand assistance to remain safe and healthy,” said Shannon Kluth, Imagine! Director of Service Operations.

Imagine! needed a creative strategy to keep our employees and residents safe and sanitized at all times.

Enter Aaron Corder, Imagine! Maintenance Specialist, Longmont resident, and man of many trades. He was asked to construct 50 hand sanitizer holders, giving each group home a handful of holders to mount on their walls. With a background in woodworking, Aaron took this assignment to heart and set up a robust holder making system in his garage.

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“We all know plastic breaks first,” said Aaron. “I wanted these to be a decoration rather than an eyesore.”

Aaron unpacked his miter saw, workhorse benches, folding table, and a benchtop sander, then formed a one-man assembly line to measure, cut, sand, and apply the stain."

The stained wood gives them a warm feeling, as opposed to cold grey plastic. “They look like they have always been here and fit right into the styling of the house,” said Imagine! Group Home Supe r vi so r Paula

“As soon as I made one, my wife said ‘you’re gonna make us one for the garage, right?” laughed Aaron. Which he did, of course. “I like to create.

It was fun that they gave me the freedom to do my own design. My dad taught me how to woodwork when I was young. After we made my first box, I was hooked.”

The tricky part of this project was that the maker couldn’t install his own product. Because of COVID-19 safety measures, Aaron wasn’t allowed into the group homes, so he pre-drilled each holder and provided instructions and hardware for essential employees to mount them.

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McCormick. Their versatility allows for multiple sizes of bottles, and even to hold something else if necessary.

“My favorite part about working at Imagine! has always been doing something helpful for the clients,” said Aaron. “Creating something that makes them a little happier or

just helps with their daily routine is very rewarding for me.”

Thank you, Aaron, for your craftsmanship helping to support your fellow Longmont citizens!

“Imagine! provides ser vices designed to incorporate people with developmental, cognitive, and physical challenges into the fabric of their communities.

Services include educational and therapeutic services, job training and placement, recreation and le i su re ac tivitie s, opp o r tunitie s fo r communit y living, behavioral health ser vices, technology solutions, and support for families.” Learn more at https:// imaginecolorado.org Scott Wendelberger oversees Direct Services Marketing for Imagine!, a Boulder County nonprofit organization that serves individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Visit imaginedirectservices.org for more information.

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E D U C AT I O N

Will Reopening Schools Be Safe?

By Kelly Nichols

This month parents, district administrators, and legislators are faced with the decision of whether to send children back to school in the midst of a global pandemic. After being told to maintain distance from other people, how can filling a building with twelve to twenty or more humans per classroom possibly be safe? If any environment has a reputation for the rampant spread of viruses, it’s our schools.

But COVID-19 appears to be different.

“Usually for respiratory viruses, children are the first and most substantially affected," says Dr. C. Buddy Creech, associate professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. "This has really been a flip of that, where it’s our adults, and particularly older adults, that have been more affected."

Data compiled by the CDC from January through May shows that children, especially those under age ten, are far less likely to become infected. Contact tracing across households has suggested a risk of less than 15% that an infected child will transmit infection to family members.

Some health experts suggest that infection rates have been lower in kids because, during this data collection period, kids were relatively isolated at home while their parents left the house to work or shop. Once kids are back in school, they may “catch up” According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), children learn best when they are in school and isolation

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could be more harmful to them than catching the virus.

The AAP offers guidelines for opening schools safely that include hand washing, social distancing, and wearing masks. But editor of Reason magazine, J.D. Tuccille argues, “Keeping kids masked and separated in a learning environment intended for groups makes sense only to those who have little experience with schools—or children.”

Despite the AAP’s recommendation for schools to reopen, a few interviewers are asking what medical professionals are choosing to do with their own children.

Dr. Creech said in a July 13 interview, "I have no concerns about sending my child to school in the fall,” citing that younger students do not appear to transmit the virus.

Dr. Rajesh Nandy of the University of N.Texas Health Center said if he had to decide based on “today’s data” (7/13/20) he would not send his third grader back to school. According to statistics, the virus reproduction rate is 1.4 and any number above a 1 means that the virus is still spreading. “I’m not

willing to risk my children,” adds MD Laura Emmick of Boston who won’t send her kids back to school without a vaccine.

Under the guidance of Boulder County Public Health, the Saint Vrain Valley School District announced their updated 2020 plan on August 4. All schooling will be virtual until the last week of September when district officials will evaluate and make decisions from there.

Families are now facing the most difficult school decisions in American history as they try to balance educational, economic, and health/safety factors.

No matter what our neighbors decide, let’s choose to support each other as we work to navigate this challenging time.

Kelly Nichols is an experienced math and science tutor and the coauthor of “Beyond the Dragonhead”, a YA historical fiction Viking adventure novel. Find educational resources on her website at: www.mindto.org or email her at nicholpack7@gmail.com.

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SUPPORTING THE COMMUNITY

Having fun on Purpose?

By Tomas Perez

Our motto at Community Cares is “Having Fun on Purpose!” We are a grassroots nonprofit, with the purpose of engaging the community in fun events which support local programs that serve children and emergency human needs.

mentoring and encouragement, educational opportunities, scholarships, and a transportation program.

We believe we are all in this community together. When almost every corner of our world is fighting an unseen and now known virus; it becomes hard to think about gathering to have fun.

The “Cars that Care” Pine Car Derby is inspired

by PEARL’s Transportation Program, servicing 100+ cars of single-parent families during monthly Car Clinics ensuring parents can safely and consistently get to work, daycare, medical appointments, by working with local auto shops and PEARL’s volunteer mechanic teams.

It is with this perspective Community Cares is extending an invitation to local businesses and the community, to help create hope; to have fun… on purpose!

The “Cars that Care” Pine Car Derby is one way we can help. The fun is created as sponsors, racers, compete in racing model pinewood derby cars that they build from provided kits or local youth can be assigned to build a car and race for donors.

Our event benefits the Pearl Group of Longmont.

Founded in 2008, PEARL was established to help single parents and their dependent children move toward self-sufficiency by providing a variety of programs, including

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Community Cares is revving up to help. Please consider joining us. Register at: www.oldtownmarketplace.com

Tomas Perez is a Colorado native and current president of the board of directors for Community Cares, Ltd. He is also the owner of the business, Old Town Marketplace; an indoor shopping center located at 332 Main Street in Longmont.

His professional experience with nonprofit administration includes Executive Director of the Minority Resume Exchange developed by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, Campaign & Marketing Director of the Boulder County United Way (now known as Foothills United Way) and Community Relations Director for the Longs Peak Council, Boy Scouts of America. He recently served as volunteer Treasurer on the board of directors for the Firehouse Art Center in Longmont.

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COMMUNITY

COVID Kindness and Community at Longmont United Hospital By, Cindy Noble

The Coronavirus changed so many things that we are accustomed to in our lives. The big things include not going to work, not sending our kids to school, not going to church, not eating out, not shopping. But we miss the little things: the smiles we can’t see behind the mask we are required to wear, a friendly handshake when greeting someone, the hugs we used to look forward to.

We, at Longmont United Hospital, share these new everyday challenges as well as unprecedented changes at work with caring for patients, communicating with families, and taking care of colleagues. Routines have also changed; from entering the building, to dressing for work, to cleaning up anything and everything both at home and work.

COVID Kindness is a blog about some of the gifts the hospital has received that put a smile on the faces behind 10

the masks and warm the hearts of the receivers. These kindnesses included meals and snacks for those too tired to prepare their breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It was not just the food but the care that came with it.

Gifts came from unexpected sources, each with their own special story. From the neighborhood HOA providing financial assistance for meals, the 13-year-old boy making 3D mask ear guards, and the young adult choir singing outside the Emergency Department.

Family and friends purchased meals at their favorite eating establishments to help the restaurants and to brighten the days and nights of the healthcare workers. Cash gifts were donated for additional meals, urgent financial care for employees, “HEROES WORK HERE” signage, gift cards for employees, and more.

COVID Kindness is the 3,000 plus meals donated to LUH workers over the past three months. It is homemade masks by the hundreds, and pies delivered to homes of LUH healthcare workers exposed, or who contracted the virus. It is groceries shared by ROUND Pantry for those with no time or energy to shop. It is 375 pairs of Crocs and the Air Force Thunderbirds doing a flyover in tribute to the work being done at hospitals throughout the state. It is handmade cards and posters, and bracelets with heart-stirring messages of love, hope, and blessings. As Mark Twain said, “To get the full value of joy, you must

have someone to divide it with”. For more doses of daily COVID Kindness, see our blog at https://sites.google. com/view/luhcovidkindness/home Longmont United Hospital has served our community for 61 years with professionalism, compassion, and care. The staff is blessed and humbled by the way the community has acknowledged them with compassion during this pandemic.

The Longmont United Hospital Foundation proudly supports the outstanding care provided at Longmont United Hospital. We continue our work to provide financial support to benefit the people, programs, and facilities at Longmont United Hospital. For information on how you can help continue these good works – contact us at LUHFoundation@ Centura.org or call 303.651.5021.

Donations can be made at www. luhcare.org/foundation.

Cindy Noble has loved her work in the non-profit arena in Longmont for over 20 years. She has been the Director of the Longmont United Hospital Foundation for 3 years. She was previously the Executive Director of the Longmont Community Foundation and A Woman’s Work.

She is passionate about supporting her community and the people she has the blessing to work with and for.

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Yvette Morton is a Nationally Certified Health and Wellness Coach and toolsBoard needed to move you toward your goals.

Discover how health and wellness coaching can enhance your wellbeing, through self-directed, lasting changes, aligned with YOUR values.

Contact me at yvette@yvettemorton.com to set up a free 30 minute strategy call

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HOME AND FINANCE

How Can More Cost Less?

Secrets From A Mortgage Broker Apart from buying in mass quantities, buying more usually costs more. As a mortgage broker, I am passionate about helping home buyers qualify for “more” house, for less cost. In order to get the biggest bang for your buck, focus not on negotiating a good price (which might save you a few thousand dollars), but on increasing your credit score (which can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars).

Most buyers have no idea that their credit score impacts more than just their mortgage interest rate. Credit scores also determine which loan programs you qualify for, how much down payment you need, your homeowner’s insurance premiums, and in the case of less than 20% down payment, how much you will pay in private mortgage insurance (“PMI”) every month. With these five different factors affecting your monthly living expenses, it is very prudent to invest in your credit score. However, for many people, the secrets to improving their credit score might as well be rocket science. So what are the basic steps?

First, if you plan to buy a home in the next year or so, have a mortgage lender pull your credit report now.

Yes, this hard inquiry on your report could bring your score down two to five points initially, but the benefits for score improvement and awareness are far greater than the costs of a few points and finding out too late that you do not qualify. By getting your credit report now, your score will have time to naturally recover those points back before you apply for your mortgage loan. You will also know your current score and what steps you can take to increase it.

The higher your credit score the more money you will save over the life of your mortgage loan. Waiting 12

to pull your credit when you are already applying for a mortgage, leaves you no time to improve your credit. Changes to your credit score take time. Mortgage lenders use a scoring algorithm specifically for mortgages, but those apps on your phone do not. Credit scores can be as high as 850, but ideally, shoot for a minimum of 740 for the best rates and programs. If you do not have a credit score or recent credit history, then getting your credit report now gives you time to build a credit history.

Now that you have a copy of your credit report, you can see four key things: late payments, collections, utilization, and types of credit. Late payments can disqualify you from a mortgage, so it is important to assess if you have any late payments, how serious they are (30, 60, or 90 days), and whether they require you to wait before applying for a mortgage. Set up automatic payments to avoid future late payments; you will thank yourself later. For collection accounts, there are limitations on the types and amounts tolerated when qualifying for a mortgage. A credit repair specialist can be helpful in negotiating the balances down and for fighting the legal battle for you.

Simply paying the balances of your collections can actually tank your credit score, making those collections look fresh and recent, so never just pay the collectors without first consulting a credit repair specialist.

For credit utilization, ideally, you want to add up the credit limits of all credit cards and use no more than 10% of the total credit available to you. The more cards you spread that 10% over, the more points you can earn over time. Types of credit are important to your score too. Showing that you have a responsible history with credit cards, student loans,

mortgages, and auto loans can boost your score. Not having a history of different types of credit could also disqualify you from a mortgage.

But again, you pulled your report in advance, so you have time to work on these areas.

Things to avoid…closing accounts, applying for new credit or credit limit increases, or again, paying off a collection account without consulting a credit repair specialist.

As our housing market begins to reopen from this shutdown, the supply of houses for sale will increase, the competition from other buyers will return, and the forecasts for mortgage rates predict lows not seen since the caveman. Prepare, my friends.

The time is now! Join the ranks of homeownership, who statistically have 30x more net worth than renters.

When the stock market tanked this spring, those invested in it felt the pain. On the flip side, investments spent in the housing market not only didn’t flinch, but also, proved their weight in gold with a place for shelter. Invest in yourself by investing in your credit score. If rocket science/ credit score algorithms are not your specialty, I am happy to help. More can be less!

Brought to you by John Nichols and Heather Berry. Lokation Realty, Longmont, Colorado Genevieve is a mortgage broker for American Liberty Mortgage, Inc. in Denver, and is passionate about helping home buyers and current homeowners with their mortgage needs in the state of Colorado. Living in Golden, she enjoys all the adventures that the mountains have to offer with her dog Zoe at her side.

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COMMUNITY

What You May Not Know About The Vance Brand Airport

City of Longmont Vance Brand Municipal Airport

By David Slayter, C.M. and Marijke Unger

Our local Longmont airport was originally named Longmont Municipal Airport and was located far from existing homes and businesses at the time. Its dedication ceremony was held on October 28, 1945, and featured then Colorado Governor John C. Vivian, music by the Longmont High School Band, as well as air races, parachute jumps, and various aerobatic acts. In 1988, the airport was renamed Vance Brand Municipal Airport in honor of Astronaut Vance Brand, a Longmont native who commanded the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975, as well as missions on the space shuttles Columbia and Challenger throughout the 1980s.

Today, Vance Brand Airport is more than a place to fly and enjoy aircraft. There are several aviation businesses located at the airport, including maintenance, restoration, fueling, flight instruction, skydiving, aerial mapping and GIS, hangar rental, aircraft rental, sales and brokerage services, military and aerial firefighting practice and staging, Young Eagles flights, aerobatic training and demonstrations, and an aviation-themed mobile cafe. While there are several reasons people are drawn to the airport, the mobile cafe seems to be one of the top draws during their operating season (May – October).

This vibrant airport serves the Longmont community in valuable ways beyond being a key point of access for business flights, recreational aviation, and other aeronautical pursuits. Pilots based at Vance Brand Airport give back to the community yearround, volunteering their time, training, and aircraft in a variety of ways: • Pilots N Paw: Volunteer pilots fly to save lives of innocent animals scheduled to be

euthanized by flying them to other parts of the country where they are adopted.

• Light Hawk Conservation Flying: Volunteer pilots fly for conservation efforts including tracking endangered wildlife, environmental data collection, and scientific aerial imaging.

• Angel Flight – West: A group of volunteer pilots who donate aircraft and piloting skills to help families get vital treatment otherwise inaccessible because of financial, medical, or geographical limitations.

• Civil Air Patrol - Vance Brand Cadet Squadron: Conducts search and rescue missions and assist with community events.

• Volunteer helicopter owners and pilots who assist the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department and Longmont Police Department with search and rescue missions.

• Volunteer aircraft owners and pilots assist the City during emergencies, such as the 2013 flood, by giving officials a bird’s-eye view as the situation unfolds.

• Volunteer pilots flew thousands of pounds of hops from the Western Slope to breweries in Longmont for beer production over the course of 10 years.

Additionally, the airport has been successful as an economic engine for the community. Recently, the Colorado Department of Transportation – Aeronautics Division completed an economic impact study of the airports in Colorado and found that in 2018, Vance Brand Airport contributed an impact (direct and indirect) in excess of $68 million in business revenue, through 490 jobs with payrolls totaling over $24 million.

This was an increase over the 2012 data of

David Slayter, C.M., Airport Manager David has served as Airport Manager since 2015. He is a commercial-instrument rated pilot and holds a degree in Professional Aviation with concentration in Aviation Management from Louisiana Tech University. David’s aviation experience spans over 30 years.

$40 million more in business revenue, 286 more jobs, and over $15 million more in payroll, or an increase in business of more than a 145% due to the airport.

The airport has a viewing area along Airport Road where people can enjoy watching aeronautical activities from a close-up vantage point. At this location, you can find a mock-up of the runway with an informational sign of what you are viewing, along with a recently added model of a control tower. While the airport does not have an actual control tower, this was added to include an aircraft band radio and speaker so the viewing public can hear the radio transmission of the pilots taking off and landing. The tower project is near completion, with only the radio and speaker needing to be installed. This project was coordinated, supervised and completed by two young men on a quest to become Eagle Scouts, sons of a local pilot who flies for a local business, and who is also a pilot for a local non-profit organization, the Can’d Aid Foundation, which coordinated and assisted with relief during the 2013 flood. Can’d Aid also assists in relief efforts for natural disasters in other parts of the country, sending canned drinking water to impacted areas, and runs a robust portfolio of what they refer to as “do-goodery.”

Keeping aviation alive and growing is vital to our community, as well as throughout the nation and globally. Our historic and active local Vance Brand Airport strives to inspire the young, or the young in you, to take wing and discover the beauty of flight. The sky’s the limit!

Marijke is a passionate aviatrix and ATP-rated pilot based at Vance Brand Airport since 2005. In her spare time, she flies a two-seat aerobatic aircraft right-side-up and upside-down and all around, is a volunteer pilot for both Pilots N Paws and LightHawk, and an avid aerial photographer. In what she refers to as her “real, grown-up job,” she works as communications manager for the City of Longmont, where she loves serving the community she’s called home for 20 years.

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ARTS IN THE COMMUNITY

Meet Your Makers!

Local Artisans, Creators and Passionate Entrepreneurs Written by Jennifer Bridge and Nikki Knez of Branded Beet

Featuring: Sugarhill Studio

When owners Sarah and Tanner Hill found themselves with extra space in the storage barn on their 10-acre farm, they knew it had more potential than it was currently serving. Sarah, a photographer herself (she is the owner of Sarah Hill Photography), recognized Longmont’s need for a fresh creative space. With her husband, she set to work, transforming the barn into an inviting natural light photography studio. This 1,000 square foot space, with its tall ceilings and gorgeous light, is the perfect blank canvas for local photographers, artists, and makers of all types.

How did you come up with the name Sugarhill Studio?

Longmont is famous for its old Sugar Mill that, for about 60 years, was the primary producer of beet sugar for Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska. We can actually see the old mill from our property, and with our last name being Hill, it was a fun play on words that just felt right!

Who did you create Sugarhill for?

Many of our clients are photographers who rent the space for a variety of session types, but we also appeal to local families looking for a fun and unique setting for family photos. Throughout the year, you’ll also find us hosting small events and a variety of workshops – everything from calligraphy, yoga, and cocktail creation classes to photography workshops for all skill levels.

Jennifer Bridge and Nikki Knez are the co-founders of Branded Beet, a local content creation studio offering branding photography and social media strategy to small businesses in and around Longmont. They are a regular contributor to Waggle Family Magazine, highlighting the creative community of Longmont If you have ideas for a business or artist we should feature, please email them at brandedbeet@gmail.com.

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We are always looking for local creatives to collaborate and share our space with.

Our main goal is to provide a beautiful, natural light space where people can create! We keep it fresh by routinely switching up our sets and adding new elements, but also neutral enough to allow for creative freedom. Plus, since the studio is located on our private farm, rentals include access to our outdoor space... making it unlike any other studio nearby. Oh, and we have goats – everyone loves the goats!

What advice would you offer someone considering a career in the creative industry?

You’ll have the urge to compare yourself to everyone else; we all do... but ask advice from the people you trust most.

Go with your gut, but be smart about it. Start small and take baby steps until you see results. It’s hard to hold back from going all-in at first, but you don’t have to! Dip your toes in and see what happens and be confident you’ll be able to jump in headfirst soon!

Tell us why you love what you do.

We LOVE seeing what others create in the studio; there is so much local talent! We’re all about ’Community over Competition’ and feel that we have such an awesome creative community here in Longmont!

What do you want the community to know about your business?

This space is YOURS! We want to know what YOU as clients want to see in the studio, what props you’d like, and what kind of sets you’d love to shoot in. Our ears are always open, and we are always looking for feedback.

We look forward to seeing you at the studio!

—

Sugarhill is located at 11774 Quail Road in Longmont.

For booking inquiries, email info@sugarhillphotostudio. com or visit sugarhillphotostudio.com

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THINGS TO DO

Longmont Museum Moves All Summer Camps Online June–July, Ages 3-16

By Joan Harrold

Stay Safer at Home while having fun in the Longmont Museum’s innovative, online camp programs!

Our programs deliver the creative, hands-on learning you’ve come to expect from the Longmont Museum.

The Longmont Museum virtual summer camps will allow children ages 3–16 to explore popular themes such as STEM, the Wild West, Visual Arts, Outdoor Skills, Pop-culture, Fabric Arts and Sewing, Movement and CircusTricks, a Wizard’s School, and Classic Arts and Crafts. Each camp will be held online in a secure meeting room with activities planned away from the screen.

during camp. These will be picked up outside the Museum the week prior to camp.

To learn more about our upcoming virtual summer camps and to register, please visit https://www. longmontcolorado.gov/departments/ departments-e-m/museum/education/kids-camps-and-classes/summer-camp or call 303-651-8374

Joan Harrold has been the Marketing and Development Director at the Longmont Museum for 5 years. For additional information about the Longmont Museum, visit their website at: https://www.longmontcolorado.gov/departments/departments-e-m/museum

Camps range in cost from $125 $185 per week, and last between one to three hours per day. The cost of all camps includes a custom kit of supplies to use for guided hands-on activities from home

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COMMUNITY

By Molly McClish

What is School Safety?

Most often when school safety comes to mind or conversation, we gravitate to the more extreme cases of school violence. These are of course horrific reminders about the threats our children may face at school. However, there is a critical aspect of safety which is greatly overlooked but impacts our children every single day, has lasting and permanent effects on their lives, and their academic success, and sadly the damage often extends into problems in adult life.

School climate and culture have the greatest and most profound impact on the well-being of all students.

This is especially true as children begin the process of differentiation and look to their peers to gauge their sense of value.

When this happens, the impact of what your child experiences and witnesses every day has more power and influence than what you give them at home. Of course, the home environment is extremely important, but even if the home environment is supportive and loving, a negative school culture will have an impact that may be difficult to counter at home. To clarify how that is a safety issue, let me share my own experience.

Just over three years ago I was an English teacher at Grand County High School in Moab, 18

Utah when my 13-year-old daughter died by suicide. Although I had always been an advocate for the importance of mental health, I quickly learned, in the most inexplicably horrific way, that it is by far the MOST important issue of safety in schools. What students learn or hear about themselves, their value, their importance, happens all day every day.

Not to downplay school shootings or other forms of physical violence in any way, but the frequency of those is not daily. The culture and environment that students face is constant and is compounded by the fact that the world our children face today is vastly different because of technology. They are often bombarded by more of the same negativity and cruelty after school via social media.

At the time of her death, Lily was Student of the Month for her tolerance. She identified as a lesbian (not completely out because she did not feel safe) and she witnessed the discrimination and bullying of a transgender friend and a generalized negative (sometimes hateful) attitude toward those who are LGBTQ+ on a daily basis. Even as Student of the Month, she did not feel safe to talk about what she was seeing, and what

I would later find out, was what she was experiencing herself.

What I came to realize in the months after her death was that the culture in the school was toxic. Discrimination of LGBTQ+ students was ignored and even accepted and there was a normalization of bullying, especially of these students who are at more significant risk for suffering. Regardless of being honored as Student of the Month, she did not feel that it was safe to report what she was seeing and experiencing because she had no faith in the school to actually address it.

She feared it would get worse, saying “I will not get on their bad list”. It was apparent that Lily had no faith in the school’s handling of bullying or discrimination. Tragically we were in discussion about how to address these issues when she took her own life.

The causes of suicide are generally quite complex. Lily’s case was no different. There were numerous small things that were happening in the days and months around her death. Her age also played a huge role, and her stage of development made it difficult to see past the present moment - what she was seeing and feeling was viewed as what she would face forever.

However, after spending the past three-plus years reviewing, interviewing and dissecting

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continued p. 16

continued from p. 15

every corner and every piece of information that I could, it is quite clear that the number one, most prevalent area of her life which had the most negative impact on her was the culture she faced in school every day.

Since her death I quit my job, knowing I would likely lose it as a result of pushing for the change I knew our district had to make in order to create a safe environment for ALL students. Discrimination against LGBTQIA youth in Utah is deeply institutionalized, ignored, and often delivered with a smile or a prayer. There were many areas where our local school district and the state board of education were failing to ensure that school was a safe learning environment for marginalized students and most especially for LGBTQIA youth. When bullying is ignored or normalized, or when the methods, policies, and practices of addressing it are inadequate and ineffective, you have a toxic school culture.

The power and impact of this cannot be overstated. It can damage our children to a point of inability to learn, it leads to many other school problems such as attendance or other violations of class/school rules, but most critically, it can swallow them.

While the district has made some huge changes, they still have a lot of work to do. But, it helps to know that the students face a different environment than when Lily was alive. If only they had made these changes before her 19

suicide, I do believe she would still be here. I created a website to help other parents, teachers, school staff, and concerned community members create change in their schools before there is a crisis like suicide. There are many resources specific to LGBTQ+ youth, and critical components which must be in place to have a safe and healthy learning environment where ALL students are valued and their well-being is of the utmost importance In reviewing the St. Vrain Valley School District, I was pleased to see the Wellness and Climate Inventory. Surveying or asking kids how they are feeling is the only way to know how our children are experiencing their school culture. Good surveys such as the Inventory used by SVVSD, are the key to understanding what students actually face, and feel. These should be

used to guide policies, training needs, discipline decisions, priorities, and accountability.

Praise your board members for this achievement!

However, ask them how they are using it to create a culture of respect and responsibility to one another. For information on the other components which must be implemented for a school to truly be safe for ALL youth go to www.lilyshopeforkindness.com.

Ask if your schools are doing these things. Get involved.

Don’t assume that they are safe if there are no shootings happening. They are immersed in an environment that will either lift them up or let them down.

Molly McClish lived in Moab, Utah for over two decades. During that time, she served the community through a few different businesses.

She was serving her third year of teaching at Grand County High School when her 13-year-old daughter Lily McClish died by suicide.

Since then she has advocated for greater safety for all students, especially LGBTQ+ youth who face much higher rates of bullying. She created Lily’s Hope for Kindness as a resource for people in her own community, and anywhere, to work for critical changes needed in schools; as well as offering resources for parents of LGBTQ+ and of self-harming/suicidal youth. In 2019 she moved to Oregon as a matter of survival. She works daily to bring greater kindness and love into the world.

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Body Image: Using Social Media to Build a Positive Online Space

Introduction By Yvette Morton

These observations are from a college senior about social media use during the pandemic and how it has influenced and challenged her thinking about body image. While recognizing that social media is not going to go away, she offers insightful observations and suggestions to help users modify social media use for healthier mental and physical well-being.

Article By Olivia Morton In the mornings, I wake up to a sunsoaked room. Peaceful is what I would call it. I look to my right and pick up the piece of tech beside my bed to turn off my alarm. Lingering in the digital world, I check to see what I missed online in the 6-8 hours I slept.

Scrolling through image after image, I struggle to see past the posts’ perfection, digitally altered images of beauty and life. Instead of getting out of bed, I stay, huddled under my weighted blanket, and trapped beneath the weight of my thoughts.

As a young adult during the Covid-19 pandemic, I’ve spent a lot of my time online. I have begun to notice the amount of time I’ve lost comparing myself and my life to the images and experiences of others. What am I spending those several hours looking at every day? Once I started analyzing the information I was intaking daily, it was no wonder that social media often left me feeling sad and drained.

Many of us live in a slightly different world online than we do in person. We either share the rose-tinted versions of our lives or the darkest corners. Often though, we only see the "beautiful." The content can be deceiving, and I think it is inadvertently meant to be so.

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When I post photos on my Facebook or Instagram, there is always a subconscious need to show people that I am doing well.

I began to wonder how my thoughts and feelings are being influenced by what I am viewing online. I followed several accounts centered around fashion and design. In the world of fashion, we don’t see much diversity in the people or the body types represented. I was also spending a lot of time comparing myself to the people I was seeing. This realization led me to reevaluate who I was following and make the decision to unfollow some of those accounts.

Studies show that people’s perceptions of body image can change drastically, even by only being exposed to pictures of different body types for a short time. If we see models and bikini photos, we may begin to believe that we should look or dress like them. With the introduction of the model Twiggy in the 1960s, we saw a considerable change in the portrayal of women and what body types are "valued" in our society. Issues with body dysmorphia and eating disorders can originate from continually seeing these types of images. Around 80% of women are reported to be dissatisfied with how they look, compared with 34% of men. Additionally, 50% of teen girls and 30% of teen boys exhibit unhealthy weight control behaviors.

As I have gotten older, I am learning to understand the effects social media has on me. I have begun to analyze the information I am consuming on those platforms and why I post in the first place.

Here are a few tools that have helped me utilize social media more healthily and improve how I view myself and the images I take in.

1. Pay attention to who you follow. By actively choosing who you do and do not follow, you are making the decision to create a more positive space for yourself online.

2. Notice your thought processes and the conversations you have with yourself when viewing these images. You can begin to modify the way you see things and create a positive conversation in your head.

3. Take a break! Sometimes we don’t realize how much time we are spending in a negative space. It’s good to take a step back once in a while to care for yourself. It will also give you the chance to notice whether you have cultivated any unhealthy habits with social media.

4. Do things that make you happy. Make goals for yourself. Cultivate a lifestyle you care about and use social media as a tool to help you grow.

It’s important to remember and value the amazing differences, goals, and specialties we all have as human beings.

The digital world is only growing, and we will never be able to get away from the altered images and the false reality portrayed. However, we can choose to create a positive online experience that feels relevant to our lives.

Yvette Morton Ed.S, MA, NBC-HWC is an educator and Nationally Board Certified Health and Wellness coach who guides clients through a self-reflective process to identify values, create new habits and feel empowered to achieve goals for lifelong wellbeing. She works with all ages, and is particularly interested in supporting young adults as they move through this exciting and sometimes challenging stage of life.

Learn more at http://www.yvettemorton.com or yvette@yvettemorton.com

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HOME

Do I Really Need a Home Inspection?

by Don Steele

I have been a Certified Home Inspector since 2004. As such, I often get home buyers and sellers asking the question, “Do I really need a home inspection”? In 16 years of inspecting homes, I have never done a home inspection where multiple issues have not been found.

To start with, the average home has increased in complexity. The days of homesteaders building a log cabin in the woods are long past.

Even the most basic “tiny homes” being constructed today have many complex variables and issues that affect the safety and comfort of the occupants.

It is often the case today that homes are built with energy conservation being the primary design criteria.

Trying to save energy is important to everyone, but can they spot the sources of lost efficiency? Is the insulation installed properly, or have some mistakes been made? A home inspection involves testing the doors and windows, as well as looking for insulation being properly installed and up to acceptable standards.

Homeowners are often familiar with potential hazards like mold or radon, but very few can spot a serious electrical problem. Faulty GFCI outlets can make a homeowner feel protected, but they may not operate

as designed. This could cause serious injury or even death to someone not aware of the situation. Finding dangerous electrical wiring is a very common occurrence. Checking the wiring and function of the safety devices is part of the home inspection. Checking the electrical service, and looking inside the electrical panel are also critical to the safety of the occupants.

The roof and attic areas can be extremely dangerous for anyone without the proper training and equipment.

Falling from the roof can happen very easily and without warning, and the attic is not a place for anyone without experience and knowledge.

During an inspection, walking the roof in a safe manner is the most effective way to find issues that could cost thousands of dollars in damage to the home. Attics are very dangerous and must be checked to find leaks, pests, and wiring issues.

Perhaps the most important reason to have a home inspection is to learn about your investment. Buying a home is often the most expensive investment that people will make during their lifetime. A home inspection is a great way to learn and familiarize yourself with a home before such an important purchase. Personally, I enjoy having clients walk through the inspection with me. Answering questions and

Don Steele is a NACHI Certified Home Inspector and president of Steele Consulting Services LLC. He can be reached at 303-895-8935. Learn more by visiting his website: www.steeleconsservices. com

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The damaged sheathing in an attic.

Broken tile on a roof.

The main electrical panel wiring.

demonstrating features makes the home inspection experience an unexpected benefit for the client.

The question “Do I need a Home Inspection” is always easy to answer.

Having a Certified Home Inspector perform an inspection prior to a home purchase, is always needed.

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COMMUNITY

Dear St. Vrain Valley Community

By Don Haddad, Ed.D.

As we begin the 2020-2021 school year in a challenging time of uncertainty, I want to take a moment to recognize the strength of our community and the support we have received from our families, teachers, staff, business owners, elected officials, and many others who understand the strong nexus between public education and the advancement of our nation and world.

As we begin another school year in these unprecedented times, we could not be more proud of our students, families, teachers, and staff for coming together to make the first day a success.

Click here to see what the first day was like in St. Vrain Valley Schools https://vimeo.com/449070942

I believe that public education is one of the most important institutions within our society, serving as the foundation to our economy, public safety and national security, public health, and so much more.

Our students today are entering a complex, highly competitive workforce, unlike anything previous generations have experienced, and it is essential that we provide them with the knowledge, skill, ingenuity, confidence, and capacity to advance and compete on a global scale.

Last spring when we first closed our schools to in-person learning, our teachers, staff, and parents worked incredibly hard to reimagine learning in a remote environment to support the continued academic and emotional growth of our students, and more importantly, keep them connected to their classmates and school communities. During that time, we had consistently high engagement through our online learning platforms and I could not be more proud of how our teachers, staff, and families supported students during this difficult transition.

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Additionally, over the summer months, we have continued to engage with thousands of students and families through our innovation and STEM camps, the Community Resource Center, summer meal distribution sites, and our Mobile Innovation Lab book tour that distributed over 3,000 books to St. Vrain Valley Schools students. We’ve also had hundreds of teachers and staff engaging in professional development to continue advancing their own knowledge and skills designed to best support our students. Our 2016 bond projects have also continued during the past several months, including opening a brand new building for Mead Elementary School, breaking ground on a new elementary school in Erie, adding classroom space to several schools, opening a new cafeteria at Longmont High School, beginning the construction of a new auditorium at Lyons Middle Senior High School, and upgrading building HVAC systems alongside other renovations and repairs.

While we may be physically distanced during this time, the enthusiasm for learning, collaboration, and student success remains strong across our community.

As we begin the new school year, we will continue to work very closely with our county and state health agency partners, as well as our comprehensive task force, to navigate the complex and continually evolving coronavirus pandemic and its impact on our community and schools. I want to thank everyone for your continued partnership and support, and while this year is not beginning in the way any of us had planned, we do intend to phase in a learning model that includes in-person instruction as soon as we believe it is safe and feasible to do so.

A year ago, I never would have envisioned that we would be facing the challenges we are experiencing today, but I can’t imagine a more committed community of teachers, staff, families, students, and community leaders to come together and ensure that we advance through this, and become stronger as a team and system. Take care, and I wish you and your family the very best during this challenging time.

Don Haddad, Ed.D. is the Superintendent of the St. Vrain Valley School District. This revised August Superintendent’s update is being re-printed with permission.

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INSPIRING

“The Uncertain Future is Still Our Children’s Future” What We Teach Them Today Will Matter Tomorrow

By Monica Fitzpatrick

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted us all in many ways. In addition to adults, children also had their lives turned upside down when their classroom communities were suddenly dispersed. I hope that we are caring for young people today in a way that prepares them to be pioneers of their uncertain future, inhabiting this precious blue marble we named Earth for many healthy years to come.

It is true that we never stay in one place. Things are always changing. We will move through this pandemic, and there will be a future. The challenges of 2020 will not be the last hurdle you or your children face. We must spend the time today teaching them what they will need for tomorrow.

The most important skill we can teach our children today, especially in a time of crisis, is resilience. The content we teach to students in school means little if we do not also foster within them the tools to overcome challenges.

It doesn’t matter if a child can answer a test question correctly if they don’t also learn to ask good questions.

Their SAT score will be forgotten, but what is remembered will be their willingness to learn from their mistakes. We must nurture their love of themselves, and their curiosity about the world around them.

As you are home with your children this summer, be reminded that they too are feeling challenged.

Allow this to be an opportunity to instill the lifelong skill of resilience.

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5 Simple Ways To Become More Resilient

1. Believe challenges are opportunities for growth. It is within these challenges that new learning happens.

2. Have kindness towards yourself when you make a mistake.

3. Be curious!

4. Look for love and gratitude in your life often, it is always there.

5. Be mindful of and care for yourself; your body, mind, and heart.

Mooka Classrooms, a series to teach young people resilience through yoga, mindfulness, and growth mindset practices, is online this summer! Book your virtual private family or small group series today at www.mooka.org. Be sure to join our mailing list to be the first to hear about in-person small group classes as we navigate summer possibilities.

Monica Fitzpatrick is an Educator, Owner of Mooka, and Owner of Elevated Yoga Studio. Monica teaches children, families, and educators self-awareness skills through yoga, mindfulness, and growth mindset practices.

Discover more at www.mooka.org or email monica@mooka.org.

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F E AT U R E D

A Time Capsule of Our Hometown

By Teresa Meyers

When I was a kid, my mother always told me that tough times build character. As an adult, I’ve realized that this doesn’t apply only to people, but to the communities in which they live, too. When tough times hit, how does your community respond? What does it become as a result of those shared trials?

How are the residents and the city altered by significant challenges?

We k n o w o u r hometown is resilient; the terrible flood in 2013 laid to rest any doubts on that score. But, the COVID-19 Pandemic is a challenge we haven’t faced as a community since the 1918 Spanish Flu, and it will undoubtedly change us. Our community is currently living through one of those rare times in which we know — even as time is passing — that this is a historical moment. What will happen and who we will be on the other side of this crisis remains to be seen, but what we are experiencing right now will be remembered and retold and referred to for the rest of our lives.

Because we tend to best remember what we record, the Longmont Public Library is spearheading a Citywide StoryCorps initiative, #StrongmontStories, Sharing in Place, to create an oral history of the COVID-19 experience in our hometown.

StoryCorps, the recording platform we’re using, is an independently funded 501(c)(3) organization that promotes the preservation and sharing of humanity’s stories through informal interviews and personal narrations that are recorded and archived in the Library of Congress.

As Librarian Devon Smith explains, “We are doing this project to remind one another of our shared humanity, to strengthen and build the connections between people, to teach the value of listening, and to weave into the fabric of our culture the understanding that everyone’s story matters. At the same time, we are creating an invaluable archive of the COVID-19 experience for future generations.”

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Recording a StoryCorps interview is easy and fun. Just download the StoryCorps app onto a desktop computer or any portable device, including a smartphone. Share your own story, or interview a family member, roommate, friend, or neighbor. Upload the audio or video recording to the #StrongmontStories Community page on the StoryCorps app.

Sample questions are provided, and guidelines for submissions are outlined on the #StrongmontStories page. Participation in this project is open to anyone who lives, works, goes to school, or otherwise participates in the Longmont community on a regular basis. So, if you identify as a “Longmonster,” your voice needs to be included in #StrongmontStories!

Also, sometimes a picture – or an object – is worth a thousand words. Residents with photos or objects (how about those vacuum cleaner bag facemasks?) that document the experience of these extraordinary times in Longmont can contact the Longmont Museum’s Curator of History, Erik Mason, at Erik.Mason@longmontcolorado. gov, and help the Museum build an archive of #StrongmontStories materials.

To join the #StrongmontStories Community Page and see complete instructions on recording your pandemic experience, visit the Library’s web page, #StrongmontStories Oral History Project at http://bit.ly/StrongmontStories.

Now is your chance to record the history we’re living through. Help us tell future generations that in 2020, our hometown was #Strongmont.

Teresa Myers handles marketing and communications for the Longmont Public Library, and loves telling people about all the great things the library has to offer. Learn more at https://www.longmontcolorado.gov/departments/departments-e-m/library

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INSPIRING

Bravehoods: Making A Difference One Hoodie At A Time.

By Allison Yacht

“If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.” I am the mosquito.

When you’re going about the daily business of your life as a busy mom and business owner, you occupy your mind with a million little worries: Did I sign the permission slip? Are my clients happy with my work? Did I feed the dog this morning? You never stop to think, “What if a hurricane hits our life today?”

But that is exactly what happened when we learned that our 5-yearold daughter had cancer. Suddenly, every single other worry that was zipping around my brain disappeared.

Words can’t adequately describe what it’s like to see your child that sick. As parents, we’re used to having the power to help our kids. It felt maddening to know we couldn’t make her cancer all better.

Her physical pain wasn’t the only thing that made me feel helpless. I also had to watch my formerly active, outgoing kid lose her spark along with her hair. The hair loss hit her really hard and she became incredibly self-conscious. We tried everything, but what finally worked was a simple lightweight hoodie she could use to control who saw her head.

By the time we were done with the treatment we had the idea for BraveHoods, but I was in no position to do anything about it. We took a year to recover and we talked about how we could give back and make a difference to other families. Just like other organizations had done for us, we wanted to create a small bright spot for kids with cancer and their families.

I am not a doctor, I am not a nurse, and I can’t cure cancer. But I knew we could make a difference and I also knew that I was never going to be interested in someone’s database problems again. So, we set

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about making BraveHoods a reality.

We started in 2013 as a one-for-one non-profit organization; which means for each BraveHood sold, one is gifted to a child fighting cancer and their sibling/s. We send our BraveHoods to hospitals and nonprofits and ask them to distribute to kids that need a pick-me-up. Additionally, we have a form on our website so parents can request one for their kids.

To date, we are proud to have donated over 6,700 BraveHoods to kids all over the country. We look forward to a day when cancer has been eradicated and we can close our doors, but until then we will keep on keeping on.

When this started, I certainly didn’t think I could make a difference to anyone other than Merry, but we are doing it! With the help of our amazing supporters, we have given comfort and hope to kids (and parents) who really need it.

Oprah says, “To move forward you have to give back”.

I couldn’t agree more. It is often hard to find ways to make a difference, but I can promise you, just start and the rest will follow.

Allison Yacht is the founder and executive director of BraveHoods, a nonprofit organization located in Longmont. BraveHoods gifts comfort to kids fighting cancer with lightweight hoodies to help kids feel some control over their baldness resulting from treatment. raveHood also sells t-shirts, and for each one sold, one is donated. BraveHoods has gifted almost 7,500 hoodies to kids all over the country. www.bravehoods.org

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TEMPLEGRANDINSCHOOL Growth From Strengths

TEMPLEGRANDINSCHOOL Growth From Strengths

Now Enrolling for In-Person Learning This Fall Temple Grandin School is more than just a school – it’s a community. We provide a safe, supporting environment for neurodiverse students. Get to know us at templegrandinschool.org.

SERVING STUDENTS IN 5TH-12TH GRADES

3131 Indian Rd., Boulder, CO 80301 • 303-554-7363 • info@templegrandinschool.org

TEMPLEGRANDINSCHOOL Growth From Strengths

TEMPLEGRANDINSCHOOL Growth From Strengths

Now Enrolling for In-Person Learning This Fall Temple Grandin School is more than just a school – it’s a community. We provide a safe, supporting environment for neurodiverse students. Get to know us at templegrandinschool.org.

SERVING STUDENTS IN 5TH-12TH GRADES

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3131 Indian Rd., Boulder, CO 80301 • 303-554-7363 • info@templegrandinschool.org WaggleFamily.com—Check out the Local Articles and Resources—Please Share with Friends and Family

COMMUNITY

Longmont Meals on Wheels: Feeding and Connecting the Community

by Katie Wiser

Longmont Meals on Wheels delivers hot, nutritious meals to qualifying homebound older adults, individuals with disabilities, and those returning from a hospital stay. We also serve a community lunch at the Longmont Senior Center, accommodate many special diets, and provide frozen meals for the evenings or weekends too. Whether an individual worries about having money for food after all of their expenses, tires while standing to cook, doesn’t have enough of an appetite to cook for themselves, or finds managing their special diet difficult, it doesn’t matter–Longmont Meals on Wheels can help!

Longmont Meals on Wheels is also more than a meal! The agency checks on our homebound neighbors every day. While Longmont Meals on Wheels volunteers deliver the daily meals, they also look for anything that seems different from usual.

Volunteers report back to agency staff and all concerning reports are followed up on. Meals on Wheels staff then checks on the client, informs their contact person, or calls emergency services.

To become a Meals on Wheels client, someone who is older, struggling with a disability, or just returning from a hospital or rehab stay, only need call the agency to sign up.

A Longmont Meals on Wheels staff person will interview them during the call to determine whether the person’s needs fit with the agency’s mission.

Staff will also ask questions regarding finances to determine what fee they will pay. Meal delivery will start the next business day.

The community meal at the Longmont Senior Center is for folks 55+. This meal is drop-in and also offered on a sliding scale. The agency does not require proof of income but may require a doctor’s note as proof of need, especially for younger clients.

Jay and Susan, a married older couple, have been clients of Longmont Meals on Wheels for more than five years.

Jay’s health is failing, and Susan is his primary caregiver. Susan is more able, but still needs help with food since caring for Jay takes much of her time and energy. Jay fell last fall and was in the hospital and then in a rehab facility.

Susan continued to receive meals, so that she could help with Jay’s recovery program as much as possible. Jay is in and out of physical and cognitive rehab now, but when he is home, Longmont Meals on Wheels continues to serve him too.

Meals on Wheels turned 50 last year, and since 1969 has served more than 2.6 million meals in Longmont, Niwot, Hygiene, and Lyons. The agency is

growing quickly, having grown 6% last year and 10% the year before.

Every day Longmont Meals on Wheels serves 512 meals on average, making it the third largest Meals on Wheels program in the state! Because of this incredible growth, Longmont Meals on Wheels needs volunteers and donations. Anything helps! For our contact information and to learn more, visit us at http://www.Longmontmeals.org, or call us at 303-772-0540.

Katie Wiser is the Development & Communications Director at Longmont Meals on Wheels and has been with the agency since 2012. Before coming to Longmont Meals on Wheels, she was a technical writer in the for-profit sector. She believes in giving back to the community and helping where she can and has volunteered here and there for more than 25 years, beginning as a special-needs swim coach in high school. She lives in Longmont with her husband, 5-year-old daughter, two dogs and four chickens, and she keeps trying to attract pet mason and leaf-cutter bees to her yard.

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CONNECTION

I Cannot Forget that My Daughter is Black A White Mom’s Perspective

By Kelly Nichols

Fully engulfed in trying to meet the physical, mental, social, and emotional needs of my children, there were things I routinely forgot about them. This is life in the trenches for mothers caring for young kids.

Until someone asked about the scar on my son’s forehead or commented that he was unusually tall for his age, I forgot.

Buried in the all-encompassing role of mom, such insignificant details seldom crossed my mind.

To my own surprise, I found that this same phenomenon occurred regarding the deep bronze shade of my younger daughter’s skin.

Sixteen years ago, my husband and I adopted an African American baby girl.

She immediately became part of the family, and I soon found myself forgetting that her skin was significantly darker than mine.

Data from human gene analysis substantiates the biological insignificance of skin color. Outward physical appearance accounts for only a tiny fraction of human genetics, about one hundredth of one percent.

Though appearance constitutes the basis for what we call race, scientists have found no consistent genetic markers for it. This means that distinctions of race are cultural/political and not genetic.

Unfortunately, this does not mean that we can ignore the issues surrounding race. No matter how much I love my daughter and want the world to see the person wrapped in beautiful bronze skin, that is not always reality.

Our four older children talked openly about their youngest sibling’s skin color throughout her early formative years. I sometimes needed to guide the discussion, but I did not discourage it. Little did I know then, that this would turn out to be a good decision.

Many adoptive parents avoid the topic of race, choosing instead to be “colorblind”.

According to grown minority adoptees

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and their advocates, this is a “terrible mistake”. Even young children exhibit behaviors built upon racial bias. Our lighthearted family discussions forged a pathway for the openness needed later in more serious conversations.

Although my daughter’s skin color should be an insignificant aspect of her outward appearance, it is one that I cannot allow myself to forget. Doing so would be detrimental to her safety and well-being. As tempting as it is, ignoring racial issues won’t make them go away.

Taking time at home to discuss racism before incidents occur can help prepare a child to handle it, and may even save their life. This is obvious for black parents.

I am still learning.

For the first eight years of my daughter’s life, we lived in a rural town on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. One could count the total African American inhabitants with a single digit number.

And three of them were children adopted into white families.

I remember a discussion with my kids related to their social studies assignment.

My daughter was about four years old when one of her siblings made a comment regarding the uniqueness of her skin color.

I told them that the majority of people in the world had darker skin than he and I, and about one-fourth have skin as dark or darker than hers. I’ll never forget their astounded faces as they stared back at me in silence.

Eight years ago, we moved to a medium size city but still a predominately white, middle class area of the United States.

Motivated by recent events in the news, some caring, white friends have called my daughter to ask if she’s doing alright.

She actually laughed at this. The struggles of inner city dwelling minorities that we

see portrayed by the media are not a part of her everyday life. That’s not to say that she hasn’t faced any racism.

My husband and I have seen the disappointment and hurt after she has heard someone make a negative racial comment or an adult has assumed ill of her based on her race. We can listen and comfort her. But we will never truly know what that feels like. I am thankful that the occurrence of these incidents has been rare in our community.

She is a strong and confident young lady, and she tends to “shake it off” and move past it quickly. But I know the resulting pain and apprehension exist deep inside her and probably always will.

Although negative influences regarding race pervade our society, my great hope is that they will not define her.

So let me tell you about my awesome daughter. She is well liked by her teachers and her peers. She plays basketball, sings in the school choir, and participates in her youth group at church. Though some schoolwork is difficult for her, she earns good grades. She is a supportive and encouraging friend who has a gift for making a positive difference in the lives of other people. Oh yeah, she’s also taller than me and has darker skin.

Kelly Nichols is an experienced math and science tutor and the coauthor of “Beyond the Dragonhead”, a YA historical fiction Viking adventure novel. Find educational resources on her website at: www.mindto.org or email her at nicholpack7@gmail.com.

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PA R E N T TO PA R E N T

You’re Not a Bad Mom:

You’re Just Craving Connection

By Emily Oba Waldeck When I was pregnant, other mothers routinely warned me of the isolation awaiting me. I assumed they were referring to single friends I’d lose as my social life evaporated, but that wasn’t what they meant.

The gutting loneliness of modern-day motherhood comes from going it alone, without the web of women who once held, bathed, fed, kissed, counseled, massaged, and guided us during the most vulnerable time in our lives. Without such weaving of womankind, I found myself in the bewildering position of having never been around a newborn until I birthed one of my own.

Motherhood awakened in me a visceral knowing that how we raise children in this culture is painfully unnatural. Maternal-activist Beth Berry echoes this: “The fact that so many mothers experience high levels of anxiety, loneliness, overwhelm and stress, on a daily basis, is not simply par for the course… It’s a red flag of collective maternal distress.

It’s evidence that something’s wrong with the circumstances within which we are mothering.”

In the absence of basics like intact communities, living wages, affordable healthcare, or parental leave, mothers find themselves making one compromised,

counter-intuitive choice after another. We know instinctively that something’s wrong with the way we’re parenting… and we assume it’s us. When we can’t keep it together, we internalize these societal shortcomings, believing instead we’re “just a bad mom.”

The heart-wrenching experience of falling short of your expectations doesn’t mean you’re a bad mom. It’s your body’s way of telling you that having to choose between work and kids, disposable or cloth, organic or affordable, isn’t just disempowering–it’s traumatizing.

Trauma doesn’t have to be obvious or overt (as with abuse or neglect) to qualify as trauma. We know that chronic stress (the likes of which is considered “normal” for most Americans) is damaging to the body. Worse still, is the imprint it leaves on our children’s brains.

During the ultra-impressionable zero-tothree age, even seemingly insignificant stressors can permanently change the structure, chemistry and function of the brain, taking root in the most unconscious, “reptilian” parts of our grey matter.

These earliest neural connections are the hardest to change later in life, thus investing in a child’s wellbeing during this critical window has powerful economic implications; every $1 invested yields a $7 return over the course of their life in terms of contributions (or costs) to society.

Emily is a writer, designer, dancer and mother of one. She is currently serving as Creative Director at Family Village, the Longmont-based childcare-coworking-community cooperative that’s becoming the talk of the town for parents in search of sanity and sanctuary. Her passions include envisioning a mother-centric future and leveraging social technologies to out-sexy the status quo in service of women worldwide. Learn more at http://www.familyvillagelongmont.com

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In his work with traumatized children, world-renowned psychiatrist Bruce Perry has concluded that the key to resilience in the wake of trauma is positive connection with healthy people. When parents are well, kids are well.

We know this from living it. Loving, supporting, and encouraging our kids when we feel rested, resourced, and respected is easy, but throw in any of a million everyday stressors (parenting solo, pumping in a bathroom stall, comparison with or criticism from fellow moms, working when we don’t want to, not working when we long to, struggling with our changing bodies, birth injuries, tight finances, children with special needs, etc.) and all Instagrammable-idyllics fall to pieces.

Add to the mix a world-upending stressor like a global pandemic and the already brutal becomes heroic. In this time of social distancing, when parental isolation is at an extreme, it’s best to let the fallen pieces lie. Now is not the time to cling to past ideals or expectations. Now is the time for messy, chaotic transformation. What is collapsing now was already broken.

The era of sidelined, marginalized motherhood is over. As we give ourselves over to the labor pains of this great rebirth of our society, may we hold fast to the vision of a future in which the sacredness of life is central to what we resurrect. May our interconnectedness (which is now indisputable) be met with equal measures of intimacy and integrity.

I know just the people who can lead us there. Yes, I’m lookin’ at you, mama.

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N O TA B L E

By Kate Gaddis

The mission of A Woman’s Work (AWW) is: A timely fund for local women– bridging the gap from need to financial stability. AWW helps local women in the greater St. Vrain Valley area, who are burdened with needs that cannot and have not been met by other community resources. Ultimately, our vision is to create a community where women and families have hope for a better tomorrow.

AWW was created in 2003 by local women in the St. Vrain Valley, Colorado to address immediate needs that could not be met by other local non-profits. Our goal is to bridge the gap from need to sustainability with immediate one-time assistance. Over the past seventeen years, AWW has grown from a small fund to a substantial and respected local non-profit which seeks to address the needs of women and their families who face sudden unexpected financial needs that have not, or cannot, be met by other community resources.

The success of A Woman’s Work Granting Program is a result of its simplicity. Grant requests are sent to the Board via email, the Board votes, and generally requests for help are funded within 24-48 hours. In 2019 AWW granted over $200,000 to just

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under 200 women. Research shows that for each woman assisted, up to 14 lives are impacted. Average grants are $1200.

Recipients must be referred by a donor to A Woman’s Work or one of our partners. Partners are individuals from a non-profit organization, church, medical institution, or school. AWW requires that all referrals come through these partnerships. This assures us that the women requesting help have exhausted other sources of community help. Our professional partners and donors act as the eyes and ears of AWW in the community.

They tell the story of the women needing assistance - describing the circumstances and how the grant will help the grantee achieve self-sufficiency. We require that the women we help live or work in the St. Vrain Valley School District boundaries for at least 90 days. Funds are not distributed directly to the client and exclusions include: all matters which can be funded elsewhere; bail, legal fees, medical bills, and credit card payments.

AWW goals remain constant–to increase our capacity to address in as timely fashion as possible the unexpected needs of women in our community. When a woman’s

car suddenly dies and she, the sole support of her children, cannot get to work or get them to school, she needs help immediately! When a woman needs assistance to address unexpected issues like travel for a family emergency or a furnace that suddenly stops working, she needs help at that moment… not six months later. When a woman cannot pay just this month’s rent or utilities because she has a substantial medical co-pay that must be made, she needs help filling that need until she can get back in control of her finances.

We address needs in a way that provides immediate assistance in crisis situations, but also promotes the empowerment of women and future self-sufficiency. To learn more about A Woman’s Work, please visit our website at http://www.awomanswork.org

Kate Gaddis Executive Director Kate’s love affair with A Woman’s Work began long before she was hired as the Executive Director. After returning home to Longmont after college and graduate school, Kate served on the Board from 2005-2012. She was excited to be a part of an organization that allowed her to give back to the community that has given her so much.

Kate is married to her high school sweetheart, John, and they have two children, Grant and Clare. Contact Kate at kate.gaddis@awomanswork.org to learn more about A Woman’s Work.

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HUMAN CONNECTION

Just One Smile

By John Kellow

Dr. Motto, a San Francisco psychiatrist, shared a story about a visit to the home of his patient. His patient was mid-thirties and lived alone in a bare apartment. This patient placed a hand-written note on his bureau. It said, “I’m going to walk to the bridge.

If one person smiles at me on the way, I will not jump.”

IF ONE PERSON SMILES AT ME.

self-reported loneliness. However, after a few years, it rose to levels higher than before the introduction of these devices that had promised true connection (see graph).

Even more noticeable over the past decade is that when at a coffee shop, at work, at school, or at any other places where we could connect with each other, our eyes are usually on

If you have ever wondered how to help someone suffering with any of the plethora of troubling experiences us humans endure, like isolation, depression, loneliness, anxiety, autism, or grief, it is hard to believe that something as simple as a smile could make such a profound difference.

However, the evidence is clear.

We all need to have our lives authenticated in the world. We all need to be seen. We all need someone to look at us and say, “Yes, you there in your current state, depressed or outcast for whatever reason, you matter. You belong in this world.” To prove this point, look no further than Facebook and Twitter.

Likes and Followers are food for the psyche. They’re the authentication we yearn for. They remind us that yes, “I” am here and so happy “You” noticed and validated my existence with a “Thumbs UP!” Digital connections are no replacement for actual human connection. They trick us by mimicking genuine connection, but the connection only lasts a few seconds. Science has proven that digital connection can’t take the place of genuine, open hearted connection.

When iPhones were released, there was an initial decrease in teens’ 34

expression. When we respond to others and they respond to us, mirror neurons help develop empathy and create real connections. A digital interface cannot trigger the action of the mirror neurons.

So, when you’re out in the world, seek someone to smile at. When you do, and receive input back, those are your mirror neurons being stimulated. Something as simple as acknowledging another person goes much further than you might imagine. Just think how much further even it will go when you can add a thank you to the interaction.

With that, you can connect and make a simple and profound difference in their lives.

Dr. Motto’s patient jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge that day. We can only assume no one smiled at him.

our devices. We don’t notice the potential connection, and the potential connection sees us as busy or more honestly, avoidant. None of us notice the person walking to the bridge, longing for just one smile, desperately needing the reminder that “I” am here in this world with “You.” The current digital innovation to create better digital interfaces is for marketing only. The connection that humans need starts with mirror neurons. These are brain cells that create real connections between us. While neurologists are just beginning to understand all the implications of mirror neurons, they do know that they’re crucial to our human connections. What’s certain is that mirror neurons are complex. They require multiple inputs and responses, particularly facial and emotional

John F. Kellow: Facilitator of Change.

John’s classes and talks are woven from over 13,000 psychiatric evaluations across his 25 years of delivering hospital-based mental health care. He’s currently Project Manager for Supporting Action for Mental Health, a St. Vrain based group focused on decreasing stigma and increasing mental health literacy. He teaches Compassion Building; a series of classes he developed, which equips health, public safety, and community service providers with tools to support their own resiliency. He also teaches safeTALK, QPR and Mental Health First Aid (MHFA). He was the 2018 Colorado MHFA instructor of the year. After training and assessing thousands, raising his 16-year-old triplets remains his biggest challenge.

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C E L E B R AT I N G

Rebekah Romero Photography

Celebrating Connections with Children, Youth and Families Services

C

hanging your entire outlook on life is a struggle. When your family is hurting, friends are fighting, and school is overwhelming, every day is a challenge. It’s easy to feel alone, isolated, disconnected.

Finding community in the chaos and purpose amidst competing priorities is something most of us just couldn’t do. But with the help of the City of Longmont’s Children, Youth & Families’ (CYF) many supportive services, that’s exactly what Hector Morena did.

CYF offers licensed counseling, parenting classes, literacy programs, and housing referrals. For 6th-12th grade youth, college planning, tutoring, afterschool and summer enrichment opportunities are available as well. Our services are provided at no cost, and with a few exceptions, families seeking support do not need to meet any income-based requirements. Our goal is to “close the gaps” and simplify access to services for Longmont’s youth and families. Our mission is to “inspire and empower children, youth and families to be active, responsible members of society while strengthening their connection with the community.”

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Accessing our services and programs is simple - Longmont residents need only call or come in to our building at 1050 Lashley Street. All that is required for a youth to join the after school program is a membership form, available through the City of Longmont’s Children, Youth and Families webpage or by picking one up at the Youth Center. From there, youth and families are connected to ser vices and community immediately.

Hector, whose name has been changed at his request, has seen more than his share of difficulties in his brief 15 years. Life at home has not always been easy; he has younger siblings to look out for, there are serious family health issues, and three years ago, Hector lost one of his young cousins to a tragic accident. “He was always there for me, and after he passed, I started losing control,” he remembers. “I felt left behind.”

Hector was hurt, angry, and lost.

Nothing ever seemed to go his way. He

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was held back a grade twice, and kids at school were cruel to him. He got into fights, went through a deep depression, and broke up with his girlfriend. There were a few times when Hector considered ending his own life. Hoping to find a distraction from his

problems, Hector began attending CYF’s after school programs.

The CYF team recognized Hector’s need for encouragement, support, and people

who believed in him unconditionally.

Though Hector didn’t come every day, and some days even ended with being sent home for fighting, Hector kept coming throughout his 6th grade year.

The team at the Youth Center are so glad he did. Last year, Hector decided he was going to change everything.

Inspired by a heart-to-heart with a CYF team member who had finally gained his trust, Hector began his 7th grade year by coming to the Youth Center and immediately focusing on his homework every day.

He started talking to the counselors, therapists, and inter ventionists about how things were going for him, and about what supports he needed. He encouraged his mom to come in as well, connecting her with our parenting classes and food supports.

He even started bringing his younger brothers and encouraged them to go to tutoring. Hector’s own grades went from mostly D’s and F’s to almost all A’s within a matter of months.

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“I’m in a really good place now. The tutors, counselors, and staff at the Youth Center help me with my homework, even if I don’t want to do it. They get me to talk about my problems, even when I think I don’t want to talk. I’ve learned how to ask for help when I need it, and how to accept help too.”

In addition to our staff, CYF has a dedicated team of volunteers who support our youth and our programming via tutoring help, literacy programs, and general mentorship. We’re always looking for adults with or without experience working with youth to help. We offer training in mandatory reporting, trauma-informed care, and healthy youth development practices.

The relationships our people build with our youth are without a doubt the key to our ongoing success.

tutor, “I only got 99 out of 100 on that test you helped me study for. That’s bad, huh?” A hint of a smile graced his face. Even with his 3.6 GPA, his improved mood and behavior, and his success in connecting himself and his own family with the services they needed, Hector still needs a little encouragement now and then. He knows he will find it at Children, Youth & Families, always.

A few weeks ago, Hector came into the Youth Center and said to a volunteer Kyl Caragol is the Youth Program Leader with the City of Longmont’s Children, Youth and Families Division. He has worked with at-and in-risk youth, in out-of-school-time programming for nearly 15 years. In his role with the city, Kyl focuses on building trust and a sense of safety for participants, enabling them to ask for the help they need in navigating the transition from childhood to adulthood. Contact Kyl at kyl.caragol@longmontcolorado.gov.

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S TAT E - C E R T I F I E D

Upcoming Classes Late July - 4 days 7/27, 7/28, 7/29, 7/30

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10/16, 10/17, 10/18, 10/19

30-hour Class Driving Lessons Permit Tests License Tests

November - 4 days 11/21, 11/22, 11/23, 11/24

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Waggle

FAMILY MAGAZINE

Connecting our Community Reserve your space NOW in our next issue. Contact Rikki at (720) 984-3044

Local Businesses | Family | Non-Profits | Schools

WaggleFamily.com 38

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INSPIRING

Celebrating Connections: Diane Groff, Networking with Heart

By Chris O’Brien, Director of Development and Communications, CPWD

How we connect, what we do, and who we know, influences so much of the value and depth of our communities. In fact, a community is essentially supported by the key connections between people, businesses, and places. When it comes to people and connections, some people are deeply woven in, be that because of time, commitment, who they are, or how they show up.

One of those people in the Longmont/St. Vrain community is Diane Groff.

Diane, the manager of the Center for People With Disabilities Longmont office at 615 Main Street, moved to Longmont in 1983 to be a graduate student at CU. She was seeking a Masters in Experiential Education. One of the founders of CPWD, Homer Page, was her independent study advisor.

Mr. Page suggested she volunteer at CPWD. Soon after, Diane was hired as an Independent Living Advisor. This began a 37 year journey with CPWD. To celebrate Diane, the connections she’s made, and the positive impact she’s had in almost 4 decades, we’ll share a couple of stories: In 2003 A Woman’s Work was developed as a unique funding source in the St. Vrain Valley providing financial support for immediate needs to women that cannot be met by other sources.

“I could see the intention of the program and applied for funding for a single woman in town to purchase a bus pass for her son with a disability so that he could have better transportation options and she could have more time to take care of her home and life,” Diane recalls. “They gave us an expanded grant request for a multiple month bus pass and even featured that award as a representative success story

Chris O’Brien is the Director of Development and Communications for the Center for People With Disabilities. Chris has worked with CPWD since August 2013 as a fundraising and communications consultant. His background includes marketing, fundraising for various nonprofit and for-profit pro-social organizations in the community. Learn more at https://cpwd.org.

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in their published materials and trainings.”

In 2007 when Diane had just triumphed over her 2nd cancer experience. She wanted to make a statement about her strength and recovery to inspire other women, and asked A Woman’s Work for advice on how to raise funds for a women’s cancer support network.

They mentored her and granted her a laptop to document her journey around the US. Diane documented conversations with over 700 women who survived cancer.

A more recent story of connection found Diane reaching out to John Kellow, City of Longmont Project Coordinator, Supporting Action for Mental Health (SAM), Diane had noticed the need for mental health support for people with disabilities in Longmont. Last year, John sent a request to his network for ideas on how to share what they are up to with more people in the community.

Meanwhile, Diane had watched a documentary about Rob Krar, an ultra runner and his journey with depression. Diane reached out to Rob about sharing his story in our community.

It took 2 years, but last September, Rob came to Longmont and spoke to a group of more than 120 people at Shoes and Brews about depression, increasing community awareness of mental health supports, and SAM. Diane is an ambassador for Shoes and Brews and friends with the owner Ashley Anderson, which helped with that connection. Back at CPWD, one of her direct reports, Martha Fierro, has become involved in Supporting Action for Mental Health Latino: SAMLA, bringing education and awareness around immigration and mental health to our community. And the ripples continue outward and onward.

We’re very grateful for Diane and what she does at CPWD to support people with disabilities, and equally as grateful for her longstanding presence in the Longmont community as a friend, collaborator, and caring advocate for all citizens. It’s people like Diane who need to be celebrated for the sometimes unseen connections they create that lead to lasting and important wellness in our community. Thank you, Diane.

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T

W O N D E R F U L E AT S — R E S TA U R A N T R E V I E W

By Jennifer Ferguson

ake a moment to think of the most wonderful thing you ever ate. Go ahead, close your eyes and really bring it to mind.

Chances are you recalled it vividly, in full color with the smells, sounds, where you were when you ate it, who you were with and quite possibly what you were wearing, despite the length of time passed from that memory.

Wonderful food creates more than just a moment of pleasure in feeding our bodies. Food is often a connector to the people and places we love, and these experiences become the placeholder for our minds to recall all those wonderful things. As a guided food tour operator, I am lucky to live this every day!

a new favorite that I now crave. If you go during happy hour Tues-Sat 4-6pm, it’s yours for only $3.50 so everyone can get their own.

When you walk into the Summit Tacos “shack”, the music is vibrant and festive and the atmosphere is clean and thoughtfully simple. Order inside, then take your bounty to the picnic tables to enjoy a relaxing meal and feel like you “got away”.

Grab a Mexican beer, Paloma, or tasty margarita with the signature seasoned salt rim, and get out there and make more memories with wonderful eats. Learn more about Summit Tacos at http://www.eatsummittacos.com. Until next time, stop wondering and start doing!

Summit Tacos at 237 Collyer Street in Longmont, is simply wonderful eats. You may have had their authentic Mexican street tacos or quesadillas; so well executed using fresh high-quality ingredients that you notice as soon as the food is put in front of you. But there are other selections to enjoy like their most popular menu item, the spicy Pambazo sandwich, or the mixiote de pollo (steamed chicken in a bag), mole chicken enchiladas, and the brunch favorite chilaquiles.

There are two conversations guaranteed to elicit a strong response, including choice of presidential candidate and favorite taco joint or Mexican food restaurant. My goal here is neither to sway you nor to offer a formal food review.

It’s simply to share some wonderful eats and encourage you to expand your list of favorites. We all have limited time and budgets to try new spots, not to mention we get into ruts and habits and order the same things that we know we love. This leaves dishes like COSTRA at Summit Tacos on the “I’ll try that someday” list. Costra is hiding out in the middle of the appetizer list, but is a griddled cheese dish that is not to be missed! It comes out looking like an enchilada with a wrap made entirely of crispy melted cheddar and jack cheese, a scrumptious melty filling of chorizo, and topped with Mexican crema, nopalitos (sautéed cactus) and picadillo. The cheese alone would be fantastic, but the combined flavors with the chorizo and hints of heat from the nopalito made this

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Announcement Regarding COVID-19 from Summit Tacos: We have decided to bring in-store dine-in to a halt until further notice. We value our customers and want to do our part to keep everyone safe. Please click the link below to order take out or delivery (payment is handled on our website to avoid in person transactions). If you are picking up, please call or text us and we will bring your order out to your car. We are limiting our hours of operation from 12PM to 7PM (Tuesday-Saturday) Thank you all for your support and we look forward to having you all in our restaurant again soon. Gift cards are also available! https://squareup.com/gift/7T5NEWK4SHKCX/order 303-578-8186 (text or call) Learn more about Summit Tacos at http://www.eatsummittacos.com. Until next time, stop wondering and start doing!

Jennifer Ferguson is the founder of Wonder Tours, providing scheduled, all-inclusive, guided food tours into restaurants, breweries, distilleries, bakeries, food trucks and more. Jennifer loves to eat, drink and meet new people. The stories and opportunity to introduce people to what could become their new favorite places inspires her on this entrepreneurial journey. Visit http://www.wondertours.com to learn about upcoming tours, or to create a custom event for your group, business or special occasion.

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C O L L A B O R AT I O N S

Education Foundation for the St. Vrain Valley: When the Community Comes Together, It’s Amazing!

By Michelle Phelan, Education Foundation for the St. Vrain Valley

Its exciting to be a part of the community coming together in support of a meaningful cause. Being part of the effort to help deliver backpacks with school supplies, so students with a financial need can start the school year off right, is rewarding. Right now, many families are looking ahead to warmer weather, and the planning has started in our community to get backpacks to students who need them.

Crayons to Calculators is a collaborative partnership between two organizations, the Education Foundation for the St. Vrain Valley (EFSVV), serving the St. Vrain Valley School District, and Impact on Education (Impact), serving the Boulder Valley School District. These two organizations work together to create a community-wide school supply drive to provide over 11,000 backpacks to students in the Boulder County area, as well as parts of Weld County and Broomfield County.

EFSVV and Impact work together with community businesses and organizations to conduct school supply drives during June and July each year. Supply drives can be internal efforts by businesses for

their employees to bring in supplies to be collected, or for the public to drop off supplies at their businesses.

These generously donated school supplies are then brought to packing sites. Once the school supplies are collected, volunteers fill backpacks with all of the donated supplies.

Crayons to Calculators is made possible because of the collective efforts of the community. We need businesses, organizations, individuals, civic groups, and families to help. This is a great way to be of service to our community and to students who need support.

Businesses ad organizations can also donate funds which are used to purchase backpacks and supplies. Crayons to Calculators is grateful for the partnership with local organizations who are dedicated to supporting students who need backpacks.

These connections with our community are important. When a student, who needs a backpack filled with supplies, can start on their first day of school ready to learn, they do not worry if they have what they need, because an amazing community came together.

Purchasing and getting supplies is only one part of this effort. Volunteering is another way individuals, businesses, or other groups can support the Crayons to Calculators program. As supplies arrive there are many tasks at our packing sites to complete. Tasks include sorting the supplies, restocking assembly lines, packing backpacks, counting inventory, boxing up filled backpacks to be delivered to schools, loading and unloading supply delivery vehicles and much more! Many volunteers are needed in July to start the packing process.

If you would like to learn more about the Education Foundation for the St. Vrain Valley, please see our website at http://www.efsvv.org for more information. Or contact the Foundation at 720-652-8208. Please also visit http://www.crayonstocalculators.org to learn how you can be part of this amazing effort to provide students with a financial need a backpack full of school supplies.

Volunteers are needed to pack backpacks during the month of July.

Businesses and organizations are invited to participate in supply drives starting in June. Thank you for your consideration.

Michelle Phelan is the Community Liaison for the Education Foundation for the St. Vrain Valley (EFSVV). She and her husband Mike have two students in St. Vrain Valley schools. Michelle has been with EFSVV for over a year and a half. In addition to working with EFSVV, she is the Committee Chairperson for a Cub Scout Pack, PTO President for her son’s middle school and enjoys volunteering in the community. Michelle’s family enjoys cooking together, hiking, snowshoeing and cross country skiing. Michelle can be reached at michelle.phelan@efsvv.org.

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INSPIRING

Wild About Community…The Wild Plum Way

By Catherine Blackwell

There are so many ways to support the Longmont community, but rarely do we think about the needs of our youngest members. Ages 0-5 are a formative time in a person’s life, and Wild Plum Center is committed to providing equity through education, taking a multi-generational approach to learning and family well-being.

Parents need to be empowered to be their child’s first and most important teacher. We provide resources that encourage them to advocate for their child’s education, starting at birth.

Since Wild Plum Center is the only program in Longmont serving both home-based and center-based children, we work to meet the needs of over 250 youngsters and their families. Our 20 center-based classes are staffed with a bilingual teacher, who provides Spanish language support. Our home-visit Program is fundamental to meeting the needs of families; providing support to parents and expectant mothers as they learn how to turn their home into a classroom full of potential lesson plans.

Wild Plum Services go far beyond childcare and education.

Through an individualized and comprehensive approach, our programs enhance all areas of children’s growth; physical, cognitive, social/emotional, and language development. Wild Plum also provides students with health and dental screenings, 65,000 nutrient dense meals each year, mental health counselors, speech therapy, and more. Students are not the only ones receiving services.

Caregiver trainings including Emergency Readiness, CPR, Nutrition and Love & Logic Parenting Classes.

Catherine Blackwell is the Community Partnership Associate at the Wild Plum Center, an Early Childhood Education program serving over 250 children and their families. She values the positive impact Wild Plum Center has made over the last 50 years and is committed to bringing awareness to such a noble cause. She believes the future of Longmont is bright and is committed to enhancing the lives of others.

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Wild Plum Center serves the St.Vrain portion of Boulder and Weld Counties at no cost to those who qualify. If you or someone you know is interested in receiving services, visit our website http://www.wildplumcenter.org, or our Enrollment Office at 82 21st Ave., Suite B, Longmont, to find information about enrollment criteria and how to apply.

Wild Plum Center utilizes a Prioritization Criteria to allot points that help determine a family’s needs and serves families based on a points system. Some factors that affect the Prioritization Criteria are family income, homelessness, foster care, single parents, high-risk referrals, pregnancy, and level of caregiver’s education.

Blooms” festival.

If you aren’t in need of our services, but believe in the mission and want to support a noble cause, there are many fun ways for individuals or groups to get involved. Opportunities include volunteering as a student mentor, throwing a book drive for the “Home Library” program, joining the Board of Directors, or hosting a birdhouse painting party for our signature “Birds and

In addition, we are currently looking for monetary donations to help our families continue to have access to the resources they need to be successful. While in school, Wild Plum provides ⅔ of every student’s nutritional needs.

Since our services are now offered remotely, we are coming up with innovative ways to get these essentials to our families, even with social distancing and sheltering in place.

Many of our families have voiced needs for food, formula, diapers, wipes, and other household staples, that they are unable to access or afford. If you can, and would like to support the families, you can make a donation here.

Wild Plum is grateful for the ability to serve Longmont for over 55 years and looks forward to building a brighter future together. If you would like more information about Wild Plum Center, please email Catherine Blackwell: catherineb@wildplumcenter.org.

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FRIENDSHIP

By Angela K. Nickerson

Silver and Gold

We have moved a lot in the last ten years. A lot. Six cities. Three states.

At this point in our lives, I thought we would be rooted. Permanent. But the world has changed. The economy has changed. And many people–like us–have to go where the work takes them.

Moving from place to place is one contributing factor in what has been called a new epidemic in the US: loneliness. Recent studies show that 47% of American adults identify as lonely. Perhaps this isn’t news to you.

Perhaps you are amongst the lonely, too. I certainly have gone through periods of profound loneliness–especially as we have moved state to state.

Exchange phone numbers. Not long after we moved to Los Angeles a woman and her two daughters came to our door selling Girl Scout cookies. We had only been in our house a few weeks, and I was so delighted to see friendly faces at our door. We ended up chatting for a while, I bought some cookies, and we exchanged phone numbers. That small intimacy made such a difference.

Whether you are the new person in a community or you have been around for a long time, there are some simple ways to extend hospitality. These practices can be instituted at work or school, a house of worship, your gym, your grocery store–any place where you encounter people who are new to our community.

Become friends on social media. Sometimes it’s easier for people to reach out on social media. Be sure you friend those new members of your community.

But here’s the thing–we don’t have to be lonely. And there is a great way to tackle loneliness: practicing hospitality–welcoming the people who naturally enter your orbit with intentionality and kindness. You may not become BFFs–but then again, you might. And even if you don’t, your small acts of kindness may help someone else feel less lonely.

Introduce yourself–multiple times. Learning new names, faces, details can be completely overwhelming. Repeat your name and an identifying clue each time you chat: “Hi, I am Emilio. I am Andre’s dad. I know we have met before, but I am terrible with names…” Don’t place the burden on the new person to remember you. Help them out!

Make time for coffee. When someone says, “Let’s grab coffee sometime,” they mean it. Pull out your phone and put something on your calendar!

Explain traditions. Every institution has their own quirks and traditions. For someone new to a community, not knowing can be isolating. For example, my child’s school 43

does a beautiful ritual of acknowledgement twice per year, but I missed the first one, because I had no idea it was something I should attend. Don’t assume that the people in charge have explained it all.

Reach out and let new people know why that event, or tradition, or gathering is important–and how they can participate.

Offer recommendations. People who are new in town have to find grocery stores, dry cleaners, bakeries. But they also need good pediatricians, dermatologists, babysitters, dentists, and hair stylists. When there’s someone new in your circle, offer recommendations. A friendly, “Hey! We love our pediatrician, and if you are looking for one, I would be glad to share her info,” goes so far.

The old camp song goes, “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.” We are often busy, overwhelmed, and stretched thin. Welcoming new people into our communities can seem like a lot of work, but simple kindnesses aren’t a big commitment. And you never know what fantastic person you will meet–or what golden friendship may blossom.

Author Angela K. Nickerson still feels like she is new to town. Between her many moves and her travels around the world, Angela is lucky to have friends across the globe, but she is always looking for friendly faces in coffee shops. Angela writes about restoring old houses, family life, DIY projects, and gift giving at http://www.MidModernMama.com.

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F E AT U R E D

The Rising Youth Suicide Epidemic & How You Can Help

By Jenna Clinchard

Did you know suicide is the leading cause of death for 10-24 year olds in Colorado? And that the Colorado youth suicide rate has increased 58 percent from 2016 to 2019–a number nearly double the national rate?

These statistics are staggering and something we at Second Wind Fund of Boulder County (SWFBC) fight every single day. How? We match uninsured and underinsured Boulder County at-risk youth (19 years old and younger) experiencing suicidal ideation, with licensed therapists in local communities, and cover the therapy session costs. These struggling youth can be seen by one of our therapists’ within a 24-48 hour timeframe, which is essential, because they cannot wait. Referrals are made by school mental health staff and sometimes by other mental health professionals in our community.

Below is a parent testimonial which shares how we help local youth (and their families) better than I ever could.

“I am writing to thank you for the help and hope you have given my son and our entire family. My 15-year-old son

was seen by a therapist within his health insurance plan, and found to be deeply depressed and suicidal. During this time of shock, pain and fear, we were told the health insurance plan did not cover mental health treatment, so for him to be hospitalized or even receive outpatient counseling, we would have to pay full out of pocket.

Having limited financial resources, we were desperate to keep him safe and find outgoing therapy we could pay

for without becoming homeless…

Words cannot express the relief and hope Second Wind of Boulder County offered at a time we so desperately needed help…

As a parent, you feel so helpless and paralyzed with fear that you may lose your child… You watch over your child so carefully from infancy, provide good nutrition, good physical health care, protection from disease,

Jenna Clinchard is the Executive Director for Second Wind Fund of Boulder County. She has a deep understanding of the mental health challenges facing our society and a genuine commitment to helping address them–especially as they impact our youth. Jenna is a firm believer that youth in crisis can emerge from treatment with better resiliency skills and a renewed passion for life. https://www.swfbc.org/

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safety, love, and nurturing, and if you are lucky enough, you still have health insurance for your child.

But what happens when your health insurance provider decides mental health is not something they will cover and this precious child you love so much develops depression? Available, affordable help is in short supply, which is why Second Wind Fund of Boulder County is such a necessity. Without it, I don’t know where desperate parents and kids would go… from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for helping to save my son.”

This is just one example of the more than 765 youth for whom we have provided services since our founding in 2009. In the past two years alone, requests for our services are up over 75 percent, and unfortunately, there are no signs of slowing down.

We welcome all monetary donations to ensure we never have to turn youth in need away. Also, each May, we host a fun 5K run and online auction to raise funds. The race is now virtual, on May 3rd. In addition to individual participation, companies are welcome to sponsor the event or provide auction items. If interested in additional details regarding either of the latter opportunities, please contact me directly at swfbc.org@gmail.com. Thank you for helping us to continue to save our youths’ lives.

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COVER STORY

Rebekah Romero Photography

Sober AF Entertainment: Safe Entertainment Opportunities For Those Choosing To Live Sober Sober AF Entertainment (S.A.F.E) is a community for fun people looking for a safe environment to enjoy music and sports without the use of drugs or alcohol. Our nonprofit was started two years ago with my kids after my then 20-year-old daughter had a scary experience at Red Rocks and wanted to come home early. I knew something was wrong, and it turned out that her friends had all taken ecstasy. She didn’t feel safe riding home with them, and as a parent, I knew that she was in the danger zone. I remember thinking that it was ridiculous that the only culture these kids see at music festivals is this ecstasy lifestyle. At sporting events, it’s the beer pong culture. I’ve been sober for 30 years and wanted to show my kids how to have fun at these events, without drinking or taking drugs.

I got sober in 1989, and at six weeks sober went to see my favorite band, the Grateful Dead. I had seen them 15 times while I was using drugs and drinking. This time was different, and I felt awkward, and like I did not fit in.

I was with old friends and they were kind enough to let me hang with them, but I was now the odd man out. I somehow found a sober support group called The Wharf Rats. They held check-in meetings at the intermission of the concert. It was enough to know that I was not the only one at the show choosing not to drink or get high.

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We came up with the name Sober AF Entertainment because the word Sober has a bad reputation as being boring and lame. The acronym for our nonprofit is S.A.F.E. The AF technically doesn’t stand for anything, even though it could stand for a lot of things.

It brings the edge that we need to show people how to have fun sober.

S.A.F.E is a community that wants people who are living a sober lifestyle to know that they are not alone at sporting events, concerts, and music festivals. We welcome all individuals and families willing to be sober.

During a normal sporting and concert season, S.A.F.E promotes and manages sober sections at major events. We set up sober tailgate parties before the event to connect and engage the community. Typically, we host at least one event per month. Once you get to the event you just look for the yellow balloons. We usually have a large tailgate before the event and then discounted tickets

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so we can all sit together in our sober S.A.F.E section.

Our movement is growing fast, but with the rapidly changing conditions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic,

we’ve had to pivot in order to continue the momentum. We just wrapped up our first virtual music festival, and it was a smashing success! We had 26,000 people join us online, with 48 artists and 24 nonprofits “on-stage” from May 6-10, 2020. We hired some big-name headliners!

S.A.F.E is working hard to create a national “do-it-yourself” sober tailgate movement. We want anyone, anywhere to be able to find a sober tailgate at sporting and concert events. If there isn’t one, we will support them to host it themselves. We are planning for 72 sober tailgates on the same day in September 2020 to honor the 72,000 kids who overdosed and died in 2017 (the year of our inception as a non-profit).

We want to give those families the opportunity to heal, and to be a part of the solution.

We have hosted 62 events in the past two years and have had over 4000 people attend.

Now that we are in the middle of this crisis, we’ve gone virtual.

However, it appears we can reach a lot more people this way. We are looking for people who want to join our movement. Please visit us online to learn more about upcoming events and to get involved: www.Soberafe.com, www.SafeMusicFestival.com, and on Facebook at Sober AF Entertainment.

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AROUND TOWN

TAKE-OUT TAKEOVER

For your health, restaurants, bars and breweries are currently unable to seat guests for a dine-in experience. However, many local eating establishments are still open for delivery and takeout.

Support Longmont

They may be closed to seating, but they still want to feed you! https://www.longmontchamber. org/takeout-takeover/

Follow the link above to find out the status of your favorite eateries.

We’ll do our best to make sure this list stays up to date.

March 20 Update: Great news! Governor Polis announced that restaurants will now temporarily be allowed to sell alcohol for takeout or delivery.

And, remember your delivery services. Longmont Easy Eats, Door Dash, Grub Hub, Uber Eats… they are all delivering too.

Contact the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce, if you would like to add your establishment to the list. (you do not have to be a chamber member)

Retail and B2C Business List

Following an overwhelmingly positive response to the Take-Out Takeover list, the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce is putting together a similar list for retail and B2C businesses to let the community know how and when they can support local business; be it medical professionals, retailers, groceries, self-care, shopping, maintenance or trades people, and craftsmen.

Help us build this list! We are collecting information from members and non-members alike every day to compile a list of retailers in Longmont, but community input and self-advocation will allow us to publish a list much sooner! https://airtable.com/shrKN4OH5rc3KZJ9D

303-776-5295 staff@longmontchamber.org 47

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COVER STORY

Rebekah Romero Photography

Happiness Through Horses— There’s Alot Riding On Our Kids Written by Ali Hockenberry, HTH Media Volunteer

Happiness Through Horses started as a dream of Kim Swaney’s. Growing up in a military family, Kim, her older sister, and her brother with special needs moved frequently from place to place. Kim found solace with animals, and horses were her utmost passion. After many years of volunteering for non-profits, and much soul searching, Kim saw the parallel of bringing her personal experience of having a young brother with special needs and being a mother of children of her own, together with horses. She realized bringing youth with difficulties and horses together as a way to reach kids from various backgrounds with differing needs.

In 2013 Happiness Through Horses was established to bring Kim’s passions to life. She wanted a haven where she could heal the hearts of struggling youth through bonding with horses. “Our goal is to interrupt destructive cycles and behaviors of struggling youth,” is Kim’s mission statement in the simplest form. As one looks around the ranch you begin to see and feel the love she has for animals and kids alike. On the ranch, horses that help heal youth dealing with devastating mental and emotional issues; from dramatic abusive situations to the everyday anxiety that comes with growing up and discovering their voice.

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Why horses you ask? Horses do not hide their emotions. They readily respond to the emotions humans display. For example, an angry individual can cause a horse to shy away and be avoidant. Horses mirror humans’ various emotions and attitudinal states. Therefore, being with horses assists children, teens, and adults to get in touch with their feelings and constructively process them. In doing so, individuals can transform, heal, gain confidence, and learn coping skills to become healthier, happier, and well adjusted.

Happiness Through Horses has grown into a rolling 40-acre ranch located on Colorado’s front range. It has expanded beyond horse therapy to include mini horses, chickens, and goats (2 babies born this month). HTH provides programs to improve self-esteem and mental health, as well as leadership development for the youth they serve. Over 80% of the youth that attend HTH

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are below the poverty line, and HTH provides scholarships for vulnerable youth in the community to participate in equine programs.

By supporting HTH, you can help ensure that vulnerable kids in our communities

importance. Today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders, and HTH ensures that instead of being a menace to society and possibly incarcerated, they are provided a chance to thrive.” Kim shares this as she walks to check on Flip Flop and Tater Tot, her new baby goats aka ‘kids’ that are just hours old.

A summer storm blew in last night and caused a lot of damage to the shelters and fences on the ranch, but Kim doesn’t let it get her down. She knows the value of her cause and does this work for the kids, and the connections these amazing animals bring to them.

have access to the life-changing experiences of working with horses, and a chance to live healthier, happier, more successful lives. “The success of our youth in our Colorado communities is of the utmost

If you are interested in visiting the HTH ranch, volunteering, referring a youth in need, or donating to Happiness Through Horses, please visit our website www. happinesshorses.org/help-us Full Bio can be located: www. happinesshorses.org/our-people

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