If you believe in doing something because it’s the right thing to do, then I hope you will be inspired to follow that path at the end of this article.
In a small Colorado town, it’s hard to imagine violent crime against a young girl. You don’t see it. You don’t hear about it. And yet, it has happened.
This girl could be your neighbor, student, a member of your church, club, or school team. She could wait on you in a restaurant or local shop, be your co-worker. You recognize her walking down the street, at a benefit or local event. You may not know her name, but you recognize her.
When she smiles at you and asks “how are you?” you don’t know what she has been through. You don’t know that she has been brutally raped. In middle school. Abuse that went on for years. The repercussions and crimes against her are so horrifying they cannot be described. You don’t know she has been mentally manipulated by an authority figure into believing she couldn’t say anything to her parents, friends, or other trusted adults. For years. She held it all inside, believing her family would be injured if she told.
To take the innocence of a young girl is a vicious, violent crime. Especially when that sexual offender is a member of your community, your church, your life.
And no one knows about it because a young girl was silent.
Her attacker has been caught but she still has to live through the horror.
Coloradans can come together and help a young girl. Even if you don’t know her name. To gossip about what happened, and who she is, will further perpetuate the crimes against her. To do nothing is another way of turning your back on her. She could be your daughter, friend, best friend’s daughter, or relative, and you wouldn’t know.
This young girl is suffering with pain, embarrassment, and fear. Feelings that are out of her control. She has PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She has asked to go into a hospital that will help her. The program lasts a minimum of 30 days, and potentially as long as 60 days. She just wants to get better.
Her hospital stay will not be covered by insurance. Her parents and friends are picking up the cost ravished on them by a sick individual who will go to trial in spring 2013.
You can make a tax deductible donation to a benevolent fund set up for her, the Jane Doe medical fund (to protect her name). Send checks/cash to: Christian Church, 4655 US Highway 36, Estes Park, CO 80517. You can also donate through PayPal, but it is not tax deductible. PayPal donations can be made to: michellehurni@gmail.com and will be sent directly to the family.
When bad things happen, the residents of Colorado are known for their generosity. This girl and her family are your neighbors and friends.
If you can, make a contribution. If you can’t, please keep this young girl, and others who have suffered, in your prayers. And hug your children. Protect their innocence because this girl could be your daughter.
Evil will always be present, but we can fight it with love, compassion, and prayer.
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