BY PEYTON GARCIA | @CITYCASTDENVER

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Coping With The Tragedy In Texas

I would imagine that for most of us, it’s hard to focus on any news right now other than what’s coming out of Uvalde, Texas: On Tuesday a gunman opened fire at a local elementary school. He killed 19 children and two adults, and injured more than a dozen others.

But instead of rehashing the tragic actions of an evil person in today’s newsletter, I want to talk about what we can do to help —  help the victims, help the impacted community, and help each other.

Donate to the victims: This GoFundMe portal features several verified campaigns raising money for the victims and their families. GoFundMe will continue to update this page as more fundraisers are opened and verified.

How to talk to your children: The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) offers some easy-to-use guidance on how to talk to the children in your life when something like this happens. It includes signs of trauma to be on the lookout for, and how to offer comfort and support. 

Resources for students and teachers: The NCTSN also has some guidance for teachers on how they can engage with their students following an event like this that can make school feel like an unsafe environment. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association (SAMHSA) even breaks down its advice by grade and age.

Resources for PTSD: An event like this might trigger post-traumatic stress for some individuals. The SAMHSA offers an abundance of resources for survivors of disasters or traumatic events.

Prepare for the future: As much as we’d like to believe this won’t ever happen again, it can. The American Psychological Association has resources to help communities try to prevent future mass shootings through prediction, prevention, and policy.

Educate yourself and take action: Colorado Ceasefire is an organization dedicated to reducing and preventing all forms of gun violence. Know the facts and learn how to advocate for real change. 

Know what your state officials are doing: The Colorado Office of Gun Violence Prevention was created to foster public awareness campaigns, educate Coloradans about the state and federal gun legislation, and continue the research on gun violence in the state.

Do something now: Local nonprofit RAWtools takes unwanted guns off the streets and turns them into gardening tools. 

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🚩 On An Important And Related Note

I have to address a City Cast Denver episode from earlier this week titled “Do ‘Gun-Free’ Zones Really Keep Denverites Safer?” On our show and in our newsletter, we do our best to showcase a wide variety of perspectives on the issues that matter to Denverites most. But in our effort to do that with this episode, we failed to include the necessary context on Denver’s recent concealed carry ban. We appreciate those of you who wrote in to push us to learn more and, frankly, get this one right.

So rest assured, we heard you, and we are working on a follow-up episode. And we’d appreciate your input, too. What do you think about Denver’s work to get rid of guns? Are there programs or policies you think we should be talking about? Leave us a voicemail or text us at 720-500-5418. Or email us at denver@citycast.fm.

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More News You Should Know

🗳️ It’s Primaries season: Here are the important dates you needs to know:

• June 6: Your last chance to change or withdraw your party affiliation 
• June 13: Webb Building vote center opens 
• June 20: All Denver vote centers open. (Find the one nearest you.)
  This is also the last day to send mail-in ballots. 
• June 28: Primary Election Day. Voting ends at 7 p.m.

For more info, check out this voter checklist from 303 Magazine. 

🐾 Denver’s homeless pets are STILL at critical levels: I feel like I’ve been saying this a lot lately, but Denver’s animal shelters are overrun with stray and surrendered cats and dogs right now. So much so that Denver Animal Shelter is temporarily dropping its adoption fee from $100+ to just $5. Consider adopting from this list of precious pups and kitties looking for a home. [Denver Animal Shelter] 
🐒 Why is everyone talking about monkeypox? More than 100 cases of the rare disease have popped up across Europe, Israel, Australia, and North America. The first confirmed US case related to the current outbreak was reported in Massachusetts last week. So far, there have been no cases confirmed in Colorado, but here’s what you should know. [AP via Denver Post]

🍺 Save Bar Bar, Denver’s diviest dive bar: At least, that’s how City Cast host and “Old Denver head” Bree Davies described the venue to me 😉 She recently stumbled onto this GoFundMe campaign with a goal of $10,000 to help keep Bar Bar’s doors open.

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Hope In A Rose 🌹

“If indeed these roses were planted by the incarcerees and cared for by the incarcerees, then they were witness to that history, and they’re still with us.” — Ryan Warner

A New Story of Resilience Blooms at Camp Amache
During World War II, the US government incarcerated more than 10,000 Americans of Japanese descent at a concentration camp in the middle of desolate, hardscrabble southeast Colorado. It was an ugly chapter for our state. But recently, Colorado Public Radio’s Ryan Warner has been following a surprisingly heartwarming story that bloomed out of that dark time — the story of the last Amache rose.  

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