Wednesday, March 21, 2012

28 Hours of Hope

This is a re-post from last year, but it's as relevant now as it was last year.  I know money's tight all over the place, but this is a most excellent charity that does a whole heap of good for abused children.  --GunDiva

In the three years or so since I've been blogging, I've seen bloggers who have never met face-to-face pull together to help little girls with cancer, mommies with cancer, people just having a rough time who need a shoulder to cry on and have seen the bloggers stand together, strong, through good times and bad.

I've been lucky enough to participate in the blogging community and have been blessed enough to help some of our fellow bloggers.

This time, I'm asking for help.  Not for me, but for abused children in Larimer County.  I was lucky enough growing up that my mom got us out of a potentially abusive environment.  She took the beatings for us until she said, "enough!" and got out.  She had a very wise counselor at the time who told her that she was going to get out of the marriage no matter what - she either gathered her courage and left, or she'd get out of it in a pine box.  There were no options.  He also explained that wife beaters don't stop with the wives - they move on to the pets and the children and when he killed her, who was going to protect the kids?

People knew about the beatings Mom was recieving, but what is there to do?  Our close neighborhood friends knew, but, you know, what happens behind closed doors, how is it their business?

We kids knew.  Hell, Dad would line us up on the couch in birth order and command us not to move when the beatings commenced.  We knew, but we didn't say anything.  It was our own dirty secret.  If we told, we'd be the ones getting the beating.  Selfish, I know, but we were kids.  Dad was a big, strong firefighter.  What chance did we have against him?

Silence was our enemy. 

We didn't tell. 

The neighbors didn't tell. 

The teachers didn't tell.

Silence.

Thank God for Mom's counselor.  I don't know if she told or if he figured it out.  He was a smart man.  Smart enough that he knew the patterns of abusers.  When Dad started in on Junior, the youngest of the four of us, Mom realized her counselor was right and got out.

There are a lot of kids nationwide, not just in Larimer County, whose parents aren't as strong as Mom is.  There are a lot of kids for whom Silence is their enemy.

They don't tell.

Their neighbors don't tell.

Their teachers don't tell.

Silence...








...it's killing our kids.

The Good Morning Guys at K99 sponsor the 28 Hours of Hope every year in an attempt to break the silence and raise money to help abused children in Larimer County.  They will stay on the air for 28 consecutive hours, taking calls and pledges from the community and Country Music celebrities.  They will go on the air at 5:00 am tomorrow morning and will continue to be on the air until 9:00 am on March 23rd.  Jeez, and I complain about working fifteen hours straight - these guys will be working non-stop for twenty-eight hours for a cause they believe in.

RockCrawlinChef and I will be making a donation and I'd like to ask each of my followers to make one, too.  It doesn't have to be a lot.  Even $1.00 on your credit or debit card will help.  The change in your car's ashtray or change jar will help.  To donate, click here.  You can make a donation on-line, over the phone, or via mail.

If you can't afford to donate, then do something about the Silence.  If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected, tell someone.  Break the cycle of Silence.  All it takes is a phone call to break the cycle - either to the police department or social services.

And, please, please feel free to steal this post for your own blogs or link to it.  The more exposure we can get, the more we can help the children and break the Silence.

5 comments:

ACountryCowgirl said...

I did my donation:) It wasn't much, but like you said a lot of people not doing much....does A LOT!!!!!! I to grew up in an abusive home and no one ever said anything or ever helped, even other family members said it wasnt' their buisness. IT IS EVERYONES BUISNESS IF INNOCENT PEOPLE ARE BEING HURT!!! Thank you for posting this. I will ad it to my blog!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this, GD. I made a donation as well.

GunDiva said...

Thank you! Every little bit helps.

RCC and I didn't make a huge donation - we gave the equivalent of going out to dinner one night this month. Good for the kids in Larimer County, but also good for our waistlines :)

Rachel said...

Child abuse sucks. I am so glad that your mom got you guys out of that situation. Someday I hope my mom will share about her sacrifice too.

Way to go with the public education about what is NOT right.

Unknown said...

My step mother beat the crap out of me every summer I went to see them. I think it's the reason I'm such an overprotective momma now. I don't ever want my kids to have to deal with something like that.