For many years I wondered what exactly I was here for, what my purpose in life truly was. I finally decided that all I really wanted to do was make a difference, I knew I couldn't change the world but something in me believed that if I could make a difference in just one life then my life would be a life well lived...

A year ago I became a trained domestic violence and sexual assault advocate for the San Miguel Resource Center, and today I was invited to attend their annual luncheon.

During the luncheon they talked about how far we have come in making our communities aware, there is help out there, nobody has to go it alone, and I am very proud to be a part of that education process.

What I didn't expect though... was being named Advocate of the Year. I'm still in shock, being recognized with such a great honor was enough to leave me in tears.

Thank you so very much....

Education is one of the most powerful tools we have in the battle against domestic violence and sexual assault. Educating yourself and using that knowledge to educate others empowers the whole community to take their stand.

Advocates serve a very important role in ending domestic violence and sexual assault in their communities. They are there to educate, assist, and help connect people to the resources they may need to deal with obstacles and difficulties in their lives.

The San Miguel Resource Center will once again be offering free Advocacy classes in the West End of Montrose and San Miguel Counties.

Advocates can be male or female, they can come from any background imaginable. All that is required is a desire to make a difference. Though you must be at least 18 to become an advocate, some high school students may wish to take the course to fill volunteer hours if needed.

Advocates who complete the course will be eligible to serve on the 24 hour crisis hotline or to volunteer in a number of ways throughout the community. Advocates can volunteer as much or as little as they choose, or they may just take the class for education and personal enrichment with no obligation at all.

Classes are a full 40 hours and will be held at the Nucla Town Hall beginning on October 27 and run until November 12th. The classes are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 9, and will include one Saturday class on November 7th from 9 to 3.

The San Miguel Resource Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating domestic violence and sexual assault. Though they are based in Telluride, Colorado, they serve many of the surrounding communities, and are always seeking men and women who are willing to make a difference.

Once again Classes begin at the Nucla Town Hall on October 27, and will run Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6PM-9PM, with one Saturday class on November 7th from 9AM to 3PM. A total of 40 hours.

To register call:

Megan (970) 728-5842 Ext 3#
or
Angela (970) 864-2274

You may also email advocates @ sanmiguelresourcecenter.org if you would like more information, or to register for the classes.

I hope to see you there!

I’ve often joked that Nucla is the dirty secret of Colorado. It’s not that we are doing anything all that sordid, but rather people like to forget us. There are three roads branching off of the highway that lead into Nucla, and only one of them is marked. When I find a map of Colorado I look for Nucla, and more often than not it isn’t there. Naturita is usually there, sometimes Uravan (which doesn’t really exist anymore) but when it came to Nucla? “Shhh, we’d rather not talk about it.”

Nobody knows why this came to be, it just happened like all things do in a small town, somewhere way, way, back before any of us can remember, someone decided that was the way it was going to be, so that is the way it is. Outsiders often lump Nucla and Naturita into a single town, but to local residents that distinction has always been a major deal. In the past mistaking a Nucla person for a Naturita person would lead to dirty looks at the very least. Between the two towns there are less than 1500 residents.

Even our own county forgets we are here sometimes. It is nearly a two hour drive to get to our county seat, and using the main road we have to pass through two other counties before looping back to our own county. Montrose is still a small town by many standards, not as small as us, but still small.

When government services cut funding, we are usually the first area they cut. We no longer have a social worker in our area. Instead personnel from Health and Human Services drive down once a week. A representative used to come up from the Department of Motor Vehicles once a week too, but he stopped a few years ago. We don’t have local law enforcement, though we have in the past. Montrose County contracts out services to us, supplying us with a few full time deputies and the occasional nod from the Sheriff. We do have a representative from Vocational Rehabilitation that comes down once a month to meet with clients, but many services are overlooked entirely.

Our grocery store closed it doors last spring when the previous owner suffered financial difficulties, there are rumors that it will reopen sometime this fall under new ownership, but with only two stores in the area it made a huge impact on local residents. The store was Nucla’s main source of tax revenue, and what little money did flow into the town from this source will be at least halved this year.

Last Christmas my mother spoke with a woman who came to Nucla from Telluride with a group of kids. The woman said she wanted the kids to see what it was like to be poor, so she chose our community to illustrate this. While people all over the country, and even the world are talking about financial hardship, people in Nucla have already been there. We’ve been there for a long time, and for us it is nothing new.

I’ve thought about this a lot as people talk about crashing economies, rising gas prices, and corporate bailouts. Some people even go as far as announcing the oncoming of a second great depression. I don’t doubt it, but I don’t worry about it so much either. I guess I already figured out that people in the city will have to learn to live without a lot more than we will.

We’ve had a median income of $28,000 for a long time now. We still know how to grow our own food, we know what it is like to live without conveniences that others take for granted. We still live close to nature, and we still know how to use it to survive. It will hurt us too, it already has, but we have survived economic hardship for so long that the news of more economic hardship isn’t really news to us.

Above all we still have something the sprawling urban areas have lost, we have a sense of community. We might have to draw a little closer now, but we will make it. There are many reasons I choose to live in a small town, and this is only one of them.

So maybe we aren’t such a dirty secret these days, as others are having to learn to live the way we already do. Maybe we are just choosing to be a well kept secret now, maybe we like it that way.