FORT COLLINS, Colo. (Jan. 4, 2018) – Throughout the month of January, Big Al’s Burgers and Dogs, located at 140 W. Mountain Ave. in Fort Collins, will be collecting donations for ChildSafe, a local nonprofit that provides therapy for children who are victims of sexual abuse. To donate, customers can place loose change in the restaurant’s “Big Change Jar.”
Since Big Al’s Burgers and Dogs opened in June 2010, they have donated nearly $100,000 to local charities through their change jar. Each month, employees decide on an organization to be the recipient of all change jar proceeds.
Since 1986, ChildSafe has been helping individuals find their voice and inner strength to put them on a path to healing. They also work to educate families and loved ones on how to provide the right support for traumatized children.
ChildSafe was founded out of a need for a comprehensive, community-based response to child sexual abuse. Executive Director Valerie Macri-Lind remembers it this way: “We began the program with ten victims and their families as part of our private practices, and we soon realized that there were far more children and families needing this service than we had ever imagined…”
In 1998, the organization was converted to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit so they could pursue grant funding for the growing number of clients with limited financial resources. Since that time they have operated as a nonprofit organization governed by an active board of directors who provide oversight, governance, and fundraising.
Today, ChildSafe is Northern Colorado’s only comprehensive outpatient treatment program for child and adult victims of childhood abuse, particularly child sexual abuse, and their non-offending family members. They treat over eight hundred clients every year.
Our program combines group, individual, and family therapy to heal the trauma from sexual abuse. They also provide in-service training and consultation to area professionals and community groups on child sexual abuse issues
Learn more at childsafecolorado.org.