A 'Word of Thanks' from Next: Find unwanted horses new, loving homes

Coloradans’ love for animals is part of what makes this state special. Or so we like to say.

The reality is that when once-beloved domestic horses are too old or too injured to be ridden, they're often abandoned to be euthanized or sold for slaughter.

But there are Coloradans working to find homes for beautiful horses that have a lot of life left after someone has decided they're disposable.

Your Word of Thanks micro-giving campaign this week supports Colorado Horse Rescue, which saves horses that are destined to die and finds them new, loving homes.

Caring for horses is expensive. That’s why Colorado Horse Rescue strives to find a good home for each horse with no judgment for the prior owner.

Two-thirds of their horses are surrendered by former owners. One-third are saved from kill buyers at auction, where the non-profit bids against people planning to ship the horses to slaughterhouses.

The folks at Colorado Horse Rescue said something about their work that was particularly striking: When the dogs we love are too old to hike with us anymore, we don't euthanize them. But pet horses that can't be ridden are often cast aside and killed.

Together, we can support this group in their work. Like every week, we ask you to consider just a $5 donation and Kyle will match the first fifty of those.

And as always, thank you!

If you're interested in giving, you can donate here.

5/11/22: Bridging the Gap

When young Coloradans age out of the foster care system, they need assistance to succeed.

Maybe this means career counseling or help finishing their education. For the foster kids who age out of the system as parents, it might also mean they need help with childcare to focus or work or school.

Mile High United Way’s Bridging the Gap program specifically supports former foster kids going through this transition. This project helps find safe and stable housing for the young people who need it and gets them the extra sustained support they need.

Bridging the Gap has an eight-year track record of helping in this way, but one of their biggest challenges is finding the housing. They just purchased a 25-unit building and young people are moving in this month. Bridging the Gap's coaches and counselors will be on site at the building.

We can help this group do even more.

Teenagers leaving foster care may wonder if the world -- if Colorado -- cares about them. Bridging the Gap proves we do. Bridging the Gap tells teenagers coming out of foster care that their community wants them to succeed, and we're in alongside them for the long-haul.

Let's boost Bridging the Gap’s work through Word of Thanks.

Like every week with this micro-giving campaign, we ask you to consider a $5 donation to support a non-profit doing important work in Colorado. Kyle will match the first fifty donations of $5.

We’ve raised more than $8.9 million for nonprofits since 2020. As always, thank you for your support.

If you're interested in giving, you can donate here.

5/4/22: Week 100 of Word of Thanks 

We didn’t know what Word of Thanks would become when it launched in 2020, but today marks Week 100 of the micro-giving project (if we can even call it that anymore).

This Next community has already come together 99 times to support a non-profit doing great work in Colorado and raised $8.9 million in the process. You’ve helped victims of destructive wildfires, pets in need, people experiencing homelessness and so much more.

Let's do something special for your 100th Word of Thanks campaign.

This week, we are partnering with a group of women in our community who do something similar to us. They pool their donations to make a large impact for non-profits.

They call themselves Impact100.

In Week 100, we will give and they will give. And we’re going to highlight three nonprofits at one time. This is a chance to give to more than one cause with a single donation and each dollar will be evenly split among these groups:

• The Learning Source helps adults in our community learn English, or get a GED, or improve their math skills. It provides a pathway to self-improvement to get a better job, prepare for college and succeed in Colorado. (Learn more about them here.)
• Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado rallies volunteers to take care of this state's beautiful natural resources. From Denver to the Western Slope, they plant trees, work on wildfire restoration, protect habitats for wildlife and build trails. (Learn more about them here.)
• Mi Casa Resource Center supercharges ideas into entrepreneurship, helping women, minorities, immigrants, and families with limited resources as they they succeed in education, new careers, and starting their own businesses. (Learn more about them here.)

These groups have three different missions to improve our state.

Like every week, we ask you to consider making a $5 donation and Kyle will match the first fifty of those.

Unlike every week, Impact100 will give $100,000 of what they raise to one of these groups and split the rest of the donations they raise between the other two.

As always, thank you for doing this with us. Let's hope for at least 100 more!

If you're interested in giving, you can donate here.

UPDATE: You raised more than $35,000!

4/27/22: Helping Hands

Your 98 previous Word of Thanks campaigns have helped in nearly every corner of Colorado, but this week, we’re going somewhere new.

The nonprofit Las Animas Helping Hands is one place in southeastern Colorado where our neighbors in need can go for whatever emergency assistance they require, whether that is food, help with an energy bill or affording a prescription.

In one case, a woman came to them asking for help to purchase just a $20 auto part from a junkyard that her son could install, but neither of them could afford.

That’s the kind of work Helping Hands has been doing in the Bent County community for more than a decade. They guess they help one in five people there.

Additionally, the all-volunteer nonprofit provides budget counseling to get people on a path toward self-sufficiency.

The number of families coming to Helping Hands for emergency assistance has been increasing an additional 40-50% per year, the nonprofit says, as families continue to experience the drought, loss of employers and jobs, and rising energy and healthcare costs in southeastern Colorado.

In Week 99 of Word of Thanks, we can help this group continue their mission.

Like every week since we started this group micro-giving project in 2020, we ask you to consider even just a $5 donation and Kyle will match the first fifty of those.

This Next community has raised more than $8.8 million for nonprofits doing great work in Colorado. We’ll see what we do this week together.

As always, thank you.

If you're interested in giving, you can donate here.

UPDATE: You raised more than $24,100!

4/20/22: Veterans Community Project

There’s a new development starting construction in Colorado this week, and they’re looking for only one kind of resident: veterans who don’t have a place to live.

The Veterans Community Project will be a safe place for veterans to transition out of homelessness and get help with addiction and mental health challenges.

This is happening in Longmont. Picture a village of 26 small homes on two acres surrounding a community center. Homes for single vets. Homes for families.

Each place will be fully furnished with items the veterans take with them when they transition to permanent housing. But first, they receive the personalized support they need to address the root causes of their homelessness.

This is all in an environment that honors their service to our country and offers understanding and support.

Veterans Community Project built one of these villages in Kansas City, providing one on one support to help veterans out of homelessness and guide them for a year after they leave the village.

They’re close to raising enough money to fund their village in Colorado -- close enough even to start construction this week -- and we can help get them across the finish line so that veterans experiencing homelessness can begin their journey to a more stable life.

Every Wednesday since June 2020, Next’s Word of Thanks micro-giving project has helped a different nonprofit doing great work in Colorado, and this Next community has raised $8.8 million so far. Let’s see what we can do this week for the Veterans Community Project.

Like every week, we ask you to consider a $5 donation. Kyle will match the first 50 of those.

As always, thank you.

If you're interested in giving, you can donate here.

UPDATE: You raised more than $31,400!

4/13/22: Brothers Redevelopment

Plenty of Coloradans are having a difficult time finding a new place in this housing market.

There is a way older Coloradans and people with disabilities can stay in their current homes, and we can help.

Every Wednesday through Next’s Word of Thanks micro-giving campaign, we support a nonprofit doing great work in Colorado. This week, we’re highlighting the home modification and repair program operated by the Brothers Redevelopment non-profit.

This project can help people who need help stay in their homes by making necessary repairs and improvements. Their team takes on 300 of these projects a year, adding accessible features to homes like wheelchair ramps and roll-in showers. There are also safety improvements like plumbing and electrical repairs, and exterior maintenance, too.

The non-profit spends about $5,000 on each of these home modification and repair projects. It’s money well spent if it means someone can stay in their home safely and comfortably.

Like every week, we ask you to consider a $5 donation, and Kyle will match the first fifty of those. For every $5,000 we raise together, another Coloradan will get help.

These home modifications can prevent someone being forced to leave a home they love. These home repairs can make sure those homes are safe. Let's see how many more projects we can add to this year's to-do list.

As always, thank you.

If you're interested in giving, you can donate here.

UPDATE: You raised more than $41,400!

3/30/22: Ralston House

Many Coloradans likely know the work of Ralston House, the non-profit where kids go after they've been abused or witnessed violence. 

It's the place where trained, compassionate experts help them share their story, find justice and begin healing. It's where kids in our community go after suffering the unthinkable.

"Some day we won't be busy and that will be wonderful," said Don Moseley, the head of Ralston House. Unfortunately, they've been busier than ever in the last year.

The non-profit works with law enforcement agencies, human services and district attorney's offices in the 1st and 17th judicial districts, which cover Adams, Broomfield, Gilpin and Jefferson counties. 

It typically conducts more than 1,000 forensic interviews and medical exams for children and teens annually.

Ralston House also provides education and outreach to the general public on ways to prevent child abuse.

Through this week's Word of Thanks campaign, we can help this non-profit keep doing their important work. Like every week with Word of Thanks, we ask you to consider a $5 donation. Kyle will match the first 50 of those.

As always, thank you.

If you're interested in giving, you can donate here.

UPDATE: You've donated more than $30,000!

3/30/22: Animal Friends Alliance

Coloradans love pets so much that we love other state's pets, too.

There are animals that have done nothing wrong except for being up for adoption in a state that still euthanizes significant numbers of adoptable pets. The lucky ones get transferred here to Colorado, to a place that guarantees they'll find a home.

Animal Friends Alliance is a non-profit in Fort Collins dedicated to finding a home for every pet that comes into their shelter. They transform animals' lives, so they can eventually transform people's lives.

This group has been around for 15 years. When the call comes in that there are adoptable pets somewhere that just need a chance to live long enough to meet the right owner, Animal Friends Alliance can bring them here for care.

If for any reason a person cannot keep a pet they adopted from this shelter, Animal Friends Alliance will take back the pet, too.

They also have plans to expand with a special focus trying to keep animals out of shelters to begin with through a low-cost vet clinic and a pet food pantry for low-income families.

If you're interested in giving, you can donate here.

UPDATE: You've donated more than $49,700!

3/23/22: There With Care

When life is upended by a child's life-threatening diagnosis, an entire family feels the weight of that.

There With Care, a non-profit with its headquarters in Boulder, helps families with the surge of expenses that come with having a seriously sick child.

After a referral from hospital social workers, There With Care comes in with gas cards to cover the cost of driving to and from treatment all the time, grocery deliveries and even emergency rent assistance if one parent has to stop working to take care of a sick child.

There With Care told us the "significant and unexpected" increase in the cost of gas and groceries lately has impacted their work. Additionally, there's a significant surge in demand for help because of immunocompromised kids getting sick during the pandemic.

The non-profit has done this work for 17 years in Colorado, helping hundreds of families each day. They can do more with our help.

We ask you to consider a donation of even $5. Like every Wednesday, Kyle will match the first fifty of those.

As always, thank you.

If you're interested in giving, you can donate here.

UPDATE: You've donated more than $27,000!

3/16/22: Project C.U.R.E.

For the first time, your Word of Thanks campaign will benefit people outside of Colorado, but so many of you were intent on helping in Ukraine. So, with the help of a Colorado non-profit, let's do it.

There are few Coloradans in a position to directly help Ukrainians during the war. Project C.U.R.E. is doing it. This week, donations will support this the Centennial-based non-profit that's sending medical supplies to Ukraine.

For decades, Project C.U.R.E. has sent medical supplies and equipment to places around the world where they're desperately needed. That has long included Ukraine.

They've gotten out two shipments in since the war started, with four more leaving this week. These packages include tourniquets, items to treat blunt force trauma and even full ICU beds than can be set up and operated wherever needed.

Project C.U.R.E. has contacts keeping the supply lines open, even as the war rages, so they can save lives in Ukraine. They also have a backup plan if the borders close to pivot to helping Ukrainians in refugee camps in Moldova and Romania.

You raised more than $428,000 to send medical supplies to Ukraine.

If you're interested in giving, you can donate here.

UPDATE: You've donated more than $429,000!

3/9/22 | YMCA of Northern Colorado: For the 1,000 families who lost their homes in the Marshall Fire, summer camp plans for their kids was just one more thing to think about; one more potential expense.

Each year, YMCA of Northern Colorado offers financial assistance to 500 kids so that they can have a wonderful summer camp experience. In 2022, they decided to expand that to another 250 young Coloradans affected by the fire, meaning 750 kids get a summer camp experience that otherwise might not be possible.

YMCA of Northern Colorado knows some families affected by the Marshall Fire didn't need financial assistance. Others did. They plan to work one-on-one with each interested family to see what it'll take for their children to get to camp this summer. Also, none of these camp slots will come at the expense of the 500 other young Coloradans getting financial assistance.

You raised more than $28,000 to send these kids to camp.

3/2/22 | La Puente: The San Luis Valley is one of the most beautiful places in Colorado, but we also know poverty persists in parts of that area.

La Puente is a non-profit that has a history of helping people living in the Valley. They have a shelter for people experiencing homelessness, food programs for people in need and resources for people to get clothes and toiletries as needed.

And, because temperatures often go below 0 degrees in winter, La Puente was getting up to 10 calls a day in early March from people looking for heating assistance. Hundreds of families rely on wood to heat their homes, while others might use propane -- both come at a cost.

La Puente often provides heating assistance, but they ran out by this point in the winter. Organizers said families were going unserved for this reason; one woman even told them she resorted to taking apart her fence for wood for her stove. 

You donated more than $55,000 so that people in the San Luis Valley could heat their homes. 

2/23/22 | Voluntad: We've talked about human trafficking before, and the value of training people to spot the signs. But what happens to the victims after they escape? When they first set out to create a new life, victims may not have a phone, money or even identification.

Founded in 2004, Voluntad is a Denver-based nonprofit that wants to empower and support survivors. They say there's an increase in demand for their work. 

Voluntad steps in to find victims a safe place to stay, job training and child care, if needed. They also connect these victims with employment opportunities and mental heal support.

You donated more than $27,000 to help Voluntad provide survivors with a new start in life. These donations went to directly funding the immediate needs of people who have escaped labor and sex trafficking.

2/16/22 | KIND: Kids who don't get the dental care they need are more likely to miss school because of pain and embarrassment, and are more likely to struggle in school when they're there. 

Proper dental care for a kid can turn their life around.

For more than 100 years, Kids in Need of Dentistry (KIND) has had the same basic mission -- get to kids who need oral care and help change the trajectory of their lives. Their mobile dental clinics go to high need schools and neighborhoods to meet families where they are, with oral care that is patient, understanding, culturally competent and affordable.

You donated more than $31,000 to support KIND.

2/9/22 | Foundation 1023: Events like monster wildfires, mass shootings and the pandemic inevitably take toll on first responders and on their families.

Foundation 1023 is a non-profit that provides peer support for first responders and confidential funding for them to seek emotional and mental health support to deal with PTSD, anxiety and depression that stems from their work. Many first responders have mental health support available through work, but there's often a stigma associated with identifying yourself in the office as someone who is struggling, and there can be a fear of professional repercussions.

Foundation 1023 provides a confidential way to get support for both the first responder and their family, and they offer this service across Colorado.

You raised more than $26,000 to support this group.

2/2/22 | HOPE of Longmont: There are Coloradans who spend cold winter nights in their cars, and there are people helping to make that temporary situation safer and easier. HOPE of Longmont, a non-profit that operates a shelter for people experiencing homelessness, also has a safe parking program.

The SafeLot Safe Parking program is preferred by some people who can't bring pets into shelters or are worried about being in that environment. Organizers in charge of the program also say they may be people who left housing to avoid having an eviction on their record and need to save a few weeks’ worth of wages to get a new place.

Whatever the reason, HOPE provides a safe, secure place for people to sleep in their cars, as well as hot showers and warm meals. Knowing many have pets they don't want to leave in cold cars when they go to work, they even arrange doggie day care, so people can go to work without worry.

Additionally, HOPE's caseworkers help connect people with services and housing.

You raised more than $55,500 to support HOPE's work.

1/26/22 | RedLine: Four of the people killed by a shooter in Lakewood and Denver in late 2021 were creative artists, and the loss to the creative community was immense.

The idea for this week's Word of Thanks campaign was inspired by the work of:

• Alicia Cardenas, a well-known muralist and advocate for indigenous artists.
• Alyssa Gunn-Maldonado, an artist and yoga instructor.
• Danny Scofield, a tattoo artist in Lakewood.
• Sarah Steck, an aspiring graphic designer who tried to highlight ignored voices.

Redline is a non-profit contemporary art center in Denver with a strong history of supporting artists with emergency grants, workspaces, training and even help to find housing on an artist's pay in Denver. Their goal with this fund was to honor and preserve the work of artists of color -- with a particular focus of Alicia Cardenas -- and to help artists honor the lives lost by doing more of the work they loved, which creates positive social change in Colorado. We had the opportunity to honor them and to support artists who are upholding their legacy of uplifting Coloradans who are marginalized.

You donated more than $13,000 to the cause.

1/19/22 | Hope Communities: Next viewers stepped up immediately to help after refugees fled the collapse of Afghanistan. But these refugees also needed help to put down lasting roots to be self-sufficient and successful in Colorado.

The Hope Communities non-profit has a history of aiding families in way that allows them to move beyond a cycle of poverty. They help people find affordable housing and meet their goals. They wanted to do the same for Afghan refugees.

Lainey Hashem is Hope Communities' navigator who works with resettled Afghan families in only the way someone who speaks their language and knows their culture can. She helps them find the resources, training and services they need to become connected with life in Colorado. As more people from Afghanistan arrived, there was more demand for Lainey's navigation services than Hope Communities can meet. They wanted to raise money to bring on additional staff with the language and cultural skills to help our new neighbors thrive. You raised more than $51,000 to support that effort.

We highlighted Hope Communities in late 2021 but paused this particular Word of Thanks campaign when the Marshall Fire broke out, and we turned our attention to the immediate needs of the victims. We restarted this campaign on Jan. 19.

1/12/22 | Humane Society of Boulder Valley: The Marshall Fire directly impacted more than a thousand families who lost their homes, but the fire also made a huge impact on pets.

The Humane Society of Boulder Valley helped care for rescued pets and for pets that got hurt. They also stepped up to provide long-term boarding and foster care options for families forced from their homes and into places where pets aren't allowed.

Additionally, the non-profit even covered the expense of pet deposits for people suddenly forced to pay extra to keep their pets with them in rental housing, and they provided pet food and supplies for displaced families.

Still, the Humane Society of Boulder Valley wanted to do even more for Coloradans if Next viewers' Word of Thanks donations could help the cause.

First, they wanted to offer free boarding services for affected families whenever they need it in the coming year if they end up living somewhere that they can't have their pet. And for all the families that lost pets in the Marshall Fire, donations will cover the adoption fees at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley if they choose to bring the love of a pet back into their lives.

You raised more than $229,000 to make that possible.

12/31/21 | Boulder County Wildfire Fund: Just before the end of 2021, the most destructive fire in Colorado’s history tore through parts of Boulder County. Knowing recovery would be long and difficult, Community Foundation Boulder County organized the Boulder County Wildfire Fund, meant to meet short and long-term needs of Coloradans impacted by the Marshall Fire.

This group is transparent, local and deeply-rooted in Boulder County. In fact, their staff lives in the community and they were impacted by the fire themselves. They will be in it for the long haul for these victims. They have a long track record of working with a wide variety of community groups to ensure crisis support can last for years. You donated $2.2 million.

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