Colorado

It has been a busy couple of months in Colorado. Colorado AgrAbility has been in possession of a grant from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation to assist those with spinal cord injury or TBI to locate resources in their community and form peer support groups. As Colorado has many such cases on their open files, they created a PowerPoint presentation and researched materials on forming such groups. They then marketed state-wide and, along with one of their farmer clients, hosted workshops around the state. The last of the workshops was just completed in December. The events were judged as being worthwhile. CO AgrAbility found great acceptance and engagement from their audiences. However, it took more work than originally thought. CO AgrAbility will probably not re-write that grant for the future.

From the workshops, staff heard a pretty neat story. One attendee was the wife of a cattleman client. Following some injuries, he had decided that he could no longer do what he loved: to ranch. So, he sold off his cattle. By happenstance, Candy in the CO AgrAbility office had called him to check up on his status. He informed her that he had decided he could no longer handle cattle and had sold his herd. She advised him that AgrAbility had a veteran-specific grant that might help. Jim Craig went to see the client. Using the veterans grant, he was able to purchase a cattle handling system and a portable generator/welder. With those items, he was able to get set up, weld the system, and repair corrals. He then went out and bought some cows. His wife informed us that he was a new man. More importantly to her, she found much improved mental health because her husband was once again vibrant and thriving. He had recaptured his identity and his lifestyle.

Submitted by Jim Craig