Ten Years of Faith-Fueled Action to End Gun Violence!
March 2025 Digest
In this edition of the Digest:
Want to Host a Safe Storage Event? Here's how
Central Regional Meeting Set for April 6
Firearms Legislative Updates from the Advocacy Team
Help Save Young Lives: Volunteer for the HIP
Guns To Gardens Denver Community Church on March 22
Support CFCU through a Community Donation
Step Out of Yourself, a poem by Allyson Sawtell
Our Featured CFCU Volunteer: Susan Cooper
CFCU March Calendar
New Resource for Hosting Safe Storage Giveaways
— Based on the Success of the Longmont Gun Violence Reduction Team
Looking for a congregational project to engage your members; raise awareness about gun safety in your community; and protect lives? Consider hosting a Safe Storage Giveaway.
Improperly stored guns can end up in the wrong hands—both large and small- of those we all agree shouldn’t have them like:
Criminals - Denver Police Department’s statistics show that 1,221 guns were stolen in 2023 alone, mostly from cars.
Family members struggling with suicidal thoughts – 90% of youth who died by firearm suicide found the gun in the home
Children - From 2016 - 2021, there were 43 unintentional firearm deaths in Colorado; 11.6% were among children younger than 9
CFCU helped pass legislation requiring safe storage of firearms in homes and vehicles and followed up by promoting trigger lock and gun safe distribution activities. Through broad-based community collaboration, The Longmont Gun Violence Reduction Team has successfully raised the funds to distribute gun safes for homes and vehicles with a special focus on Veteran’s Day events. (Veterans experience a disproportionately higher firearm suicide rate in Colorado and the nation.) They’ve distributed over 200 safes at these events.
Ann Noonan with Longmont United Church of Christ - First Congregational UCC has written up the tips for their successful Safe Storage Giveaway events covering how to: market these events; raise funds; secure safe storage devices; and manage logistics . Just click here for a copy of this invaluable resource. (Create link for copy below) Ann is available to answer questions at Gvreduction@ucclongmont.org. CFCU can help by publicizing your event in our monthly Digest.
Use the button below to see and download the protocols and begin to create your own safe storage event.
Are you a Friend of CFCU who lives in Central Denver? Are you connected to one of the member congregations in CFCU’s newly defined Central Region? (See the list below.)
If the answer to either of these questions is: YES; we want YOU to join us on Sunday, April 6, at University Park United Methodist Church at 1:30pm. We’ll gather in-person to build community and provide support for one another during these times of uncertainty. We’ll review CFCU’s current activities and work together to develop plans for improvements and new initiatives.
Whether you are an experienced gun violence prevention advocate or new to working on this issue, you’ll find this meeting informational and inspiring! Please click hereto sign up to receive a Registration Link when it is published.
Here is the list of CFCU Congregations in the Central Region
Kirk of Bonnie Brae United Church of Christ, Denver
Messiah Community Church, ELCA
Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church, Denver
Mountain View Friends, Denver
Our Savior’s Lutheran Church
Park Hill Congregational Church
Sixth Avenue United Church of Christ
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
St. Barnabas Episcopal Church
St. Paul Catholic Community of Faith ECC
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Temple Emanuel, Denver
Temple Micah, Denver
University Park United Methodist Church, Denver
Wash Park United Church of Christ at Mosaic, Denver
Article submitted by Cheryl Fleetwood, Central Presbyterian Church
Regions have been determined by legislative districts in order to allow congregations with common legislators to join efforts in promoting common sense gun laws.
Don't see your congregations name on this list?
Here is the list of all current CFCU congregations listed by region. Watch for more details about the other regional meetings. Dates to be announced soon.
Update on Firearms Bills, 2025 Legislative Session
Below is a list of bills that the Advocacy Team has been working on during this legislative session and their status (as of February 27th). It’s been a busy session, and it’s not quite half over. For all but two of the bills (SB25-034 and HB25-1128), we’re hoping you received a Rapid Response Network (RRN) Alert. Please let the Advocacy Team know if you didn’t receive an RRN Alert by emailing: advocacy@cfcu-co.org. For the other two bills, the Advocacy Team contacted the members of the legislative committees conducting the hearings to voice our support without sending out an RRN Alert.
If you’d like to learn more about a bill, the ones below or any other, here is the link: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills. Just enter the bill number, sponsor, or keyword into the search box.
If you’re interested in volunteering with the Advocacy Team, even if it’s only during the legislative session which ends on May 8th, please email us at: advocacy@cfcu-co.org. We’d welcome your help!
For recent data on gun violence in Colorado that may be useful to you in advocating with legislators, please see our report, Profile of Gun Violence in Colorado.
Article submitted by Stephanie Greenberg, Congregation Bonai Shalom
The entire list of firearm related bills currently being considered in the legislature are available through the link below. You can read about their current progress and our Advocacy Team's information about them.
Help Save Young Lives and Promote Community Safety: Volunteer for the HIP (Handgun Intervention Program)
HIP begins its 12th cohort on Monday night, March 31 from 4:30 - 7:00 at First Mennonite Church. CFCU volunteers have been involved with this life changing and lifesaving program since its founding in 2021 and now make up over 80% of the program volunteers. HIP helps youth convicted of first time, non-violent firearm offenses chart a new and safer path through education/training, community support and individualized planning. Upon successful completion of HIP and probation, their record is expunged.
Volunteers need to sign up as soon as possible. If you would like to volunteer or just have questions, please contact
As a Community Accountability Board (CAB) member, volunteers meet with youth, their family members and other community volunteers to learn together; build a trust relationship; and develop a plan for a future without guns. HIP builds on a series of educational programs presented by: The Conflict Center; Denver Police Officers; Health Professionals; and LYRIC: Know Your Rights. Susan Cooper, a member of B’nai Havurah just completed her second HIP Cohort. Click here to learn more about what she did and why it was such a meaningful experience for her. (See a feature article about her at the bottom of this Digest.)
Schedule:
Monday nights from 4:30PM – 7:00, starting March 31 to May 12
There are seven sessions and it’s important for volunteers to attend all the sessions.
Location: First Mennonite Church, 430 W. 9th Ave. Denver, 80204
Program Partners: HIP is offered through the partnership of Denver Juvenile Probation, Denver Juvenile Court, Denver District Attorney’s Office, State Public Defenders Office, Colorado Youth Detention Continuum, Denver Youth Violence Prevention Action Table, GRID (Office of Community Violence Solutions), Colorado Crime Survivors Network Inc. The Conflict Center recently joined this effort. CFCU is honored to be part of this collaborative effort.
Article submitted by Alana Smart, Congregation B'nai Havurah.
Please help us spread the word. Download this flyer, print and post it in your local coffee shop, your congregation newsletter or bulletin board. Share it with friends and neighbors!
Does your faith community support worthy causes through special offerings? CFCU recently received over $750 from one such offering. Green Mountain Presbyterian Church in Lakewood allocated part of their special offering to CFCU.
We are so grateful for these funds, and encourage other faith communities to consider a similar special offering to support the work of CFCU.
Your donation will help us to:
Unite faith communities and amplify our voices in the prophetic work of speaking against the culture of violence proliferated by firearms
Participate in public health efforts that reduce gun-related deaths and injuries
Provide faith-based resources for congregations, for preaching and praying about issues of gun violence.
Advocate for evidence-based gun laws and inform you about advocacy opportunities, especially during the legislative session.
Examine issues of gun violence and their causes through the lens of faith and provide programs and events to reduce harm.
And provide the working funds for such things as our website, our digest, our data base, our informational materials and programming.
If you would like to know more about how to gift CFCU through a special funds account, please contact Rory Clawson (mailto:projectmanager@cfcu-co.org)
Article submitted by Rory Clawson, Epiphany Lutheran Church
Step Out of Yourself
By Allyson Sawtell (Friend of CFCU)
From her book “We’re All In This together: Not Ordinary Devotions”
Step out of yourself.
Leave your skin behind
(oh, and all the rest, the messy bits)
Be pure spirit.
That doesn’t work for most of us, does it?
We are of earth, after all, of matter. Embodied.
Even as we are also of stardust and spirit, we are rooted in matter.
And matter is built on the interplay of relationships, molecule by molecule.
Still, step out of yourself.
Your solitary self.
Your one being.
See, who you truly are:
Rooted in stardust, dirt, rocks, grasses, forests–connected to them all
Connected to each other.
Claim who you truly are:
Not just a unique glorious “I”, but part and parcel of “we” and “us.
While I shared a commitment to wanting to impact gun violence I wasn’t as drawn to some of the legislative activities that the havurah was working on. I have to admit, my cynicism around the proliferation of guns in our society as promoted by the gun manufacturing industry left me feeling pretty hopeless about the possibility of making a real impact. And then I heard about the Handgun Intervention Program.
To back up a little. . . I have always held a strong belief in giving people second chances. Throughout my working years, I worked in different aspects of the juvenile justice and criminal justice systems and later became a secondary math teacher, even then choosing to teach in a juvenile correctional facility and then a public alternative school.
So, learning about HIP which combines the idea of giving youth a second chance and in doing so hopefully bringing about a reduction in gun violence excited me. While this program isn’t going to “solve the issue” of gun violence, I find I’m more effective in dealing with this issue on a micro level – one on one with a youth who’s found themselves seeking safety in possessing a gun, than in trying to figure out how to combat the larger problem of gun proliferation.
I’m currently in just my second round (or cohort) in the HIP program. In each round I’ve been paired with a young man who’s been found in possession of a handgun. We’re not told the specifics of their case, and actually are instructed not to ask them for details. I’ve heard that some youths choose to share those details but so far neither of the ones I’ve connected with have done so. And while we’d always like to know more, I think our real purpose as a volunteer (CAB) is to be there as a support to the young people, who are going through this fairly intense program which involves weekly educational sessions. One of these educational sessions is meeting with a victim impact panel, and there is always time for us to check in with them and offer support and encouragement.
The young man I’m currently working with has turned out to be quite a good “match” for me. In one of our early sessions he shared that he’d dropped out of school a few years ago and been working with his father who has his own welding business but he was thinking of going back to school to get his GED. Those words were magic to my ears as my last job was teaching GED math at EGHS. So, I’ve been able to help him make connections at Emily Griffith and he told me the last time we met that he’d gone to orientation and attended his first day of classes. He could have done all this on his own, but I think having my support helped him make this transition back to school knowing that he’s got me and the other CABS cheering him on.
What HIP seeks to do is to help young people find another avenue to feeling safe without possessing a gun, and in that process to know that they have the support of family, community and “the system” that so many of them fear.
Please consider a donation to CFCU during the upcoming year. Your donation will help us to circulate important gun violence prevention news through publication of the Digest
Wednesday, March 5 - 1 pm Outreach and Engagement Team Meeting . Please contact Cheryl Fleetwood (membership@cfcu-co.org) for more information.
Tuesday, March 11: 1:30 - 3:30 Executive Committee on Zoom. For more information please contact Alana Smart (publichealthstrategies@cfcu-co.org)
Tuesday, March 18: 3 - 5 p.m. Steering Committee Meeting on Zoom. For more information please contact Alana Smart (publichealthstrategies@cfcu-co.org)
Thursday, March 20, 10 AM - 12 PM. Communications Meeting on Zoom. For more information please contact Daryl Foelske (dfoelske@gmail.com)
Wednesday, April 2, 10 AM -12 PM: Public Health Strategies Meeting on Zoom. For more information please contact Alana Smart (publichealthstrategies@cfcu-co.org)
Sunday, April 6, time to be announced: Central Regional Meeting at Central Presbyterian Church. Please contact Cheryl Fleetwood (membership@cfcu-co.org) for more information.
If you are not currently subscribed to the Digest, but would like to be, please email Rita Niblack (communications@cfcu-co.org).
