24-HOUR CRISIS LINE
2018
SPAN celebrates the shelter’s 10 year anniversary. SPAN Shelter opened in 2008, with 27 beds and increased the organization’s capacity to house survivors for up to six weeks by 60%. Since opening its doors, the shelter facility has provided 92,802 night stays to 2,711 adults and 985 children. Hundreds of thousands of meals have been prepared in its communal kitchen, and over 4,000 individuals have walked on shelter’s carpet.
2015
SPAN partners with West End Tavern to celebrate the third year of the JUL-IPA Festival. In 2015, JUL-IPA was held at The Millennium Harvest House and was the start of a great fundraising tradition and partnership between SPAN and The West End Tavern. To this day, we continue to celebrate JUL-IPA with Big Red F while raising funds for survivors of domestic violence.
2010
SPAN legal advocacy director Veronica Horn presents the Boulder Police Department with the Annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Award. This appreciation is awarded to law enforcement officers that have demonstrated outstanding support and service to survivors of domestic violence in the community.
2009
Elizabeth De Money, former SPAN education specialist, holding an elementary school bully-prevention curriculum that SPAN created.
2008
24/7 confidential shelter is built, housing 27 residents at a time (donors, board members and staff gather to celebrate the opening of the new shelter).
2006
SPAN receives a check from Foothills United Way to support the new shelter relocation project (the new shelter was completed in 2008).
2004
SPAN celebrates 8th Annual 5K Pledge Walk, Walk The Talk, an annual pledge walk to take steps towards ending violence in the Boulder community. SPAN partnered with El Centro, AMISTAD, Boulder Asian Pacific Alliance and Colorado Indian Education Association to raise money for each organization.
1999
The Colorado legislature passes the first laws to provide state funding for domestic violence programs. Similar legislation was first introduced in the early 1980s. As a result of the legislation, SPAN applied for and received a grant to create a part-time Crisis Line Support position at the shelter.
November 1997
Anne Tapp, Boulder County Safehouse shelter program director from 1991-1997, becomes the new executive director.
1996
Safehouse collaborates with the Boulder County Rape Crisis Team to create a Peer Education Program for educating teens about dating violence, sexual assault and sexual harassment. This is now the Peers Building Justice (PBJ) program with MESA.
1993
SPAN breaks ground on the SPAN Outreach Center. The Outreach Center was built from the ground up with the intent of serving domestic violence survivors on an outreach basis. One of the first public domestic violence outreach centers in the state, the center’s architect, Steven Walsh, designed the building with an eye toward safety, intent and warmth.
1989
Boulder County Safehouse celebrates 10 years of service to the community.
February 1982
400 people attend the 1st Chocolate Lovers’ Fling at Hilton Harvest House.
November 1980
Shelter named Boulder County Safehouse.
October 1979
Safehouse facility is fully operational, offering 24-hour services. In its first year, safehouse has a staff of three and 25 volunteers.
1979
Boulder County Women’s Resource Center becomes the official owner of ‘Safehouse,’ a home for women and children in crisis situations.
May, 1975
Boulder County Women’s Resource Center begins a volunteer-based program of emergency housing for women. After five months, the 10-12 emergency providers were exhausted by the high volume of requests for shelter, serving 800 women in just one year.
When SPAN first opened its doors to the community in 1979, it was difficult to envision the significant impact our program would have on the lives of so many women and children throughout our local community.
In the first year alone, our handful of volunteers were inundated by the incredible volume of requests for shelter, ultimately serving 800 women throughout our first year. From the beginning, SPAN has provided advocacy, support and education to more than 330,000 survivors over the past 40 years, including providing a safe shelter at a confidential location for more than 15,000 women and children in crisis situations.
By making community commitment our priority, we’ve evolved from a staff of three with 25 volunteers into the robust organization committed to ending violence against adults, youth and children we are now. Today, SPAN continues that legacy, commemorating 40 years of commitment to the local community.
During that time, we’ve grown from one fully operational 24-hour service facility to so much more, including;
- a much larger shelter
- 24-hour crisis and information hotline
- legal and counseling services
- anti-violence education and an outreach center
- cementing our commitment to community organization and support
Since 1979, we’ve worked tirelessly to help survivors overcome any obstacles on their path to healing, hope and new opportunity.
Our growth can be attributed to our history of working with our community and program partners to ensure that anyone impacted by domestic or dating violence has access to the support and services they need. And we couldn’t have done it without your ongoing support.
Thanks for helping us to end domestic violence — together.
Help Us Celebrate!
Join us all month long at West End Tavern for JUL-IPA.
Kick Off Party, Brewery Wars: Monday, July 1st 4-6 PM $15
Rooftop Party: Sunday, July 28th 1-4 PM $35
