What is The NEST?
The NEST provides a safe, child-friendly environment that eases the emotional trauma experienced by children during the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases. http://www.nestcac.org
The mission of The NEST is to strengthen our community's response to child abuse and neglect through prevention, intervention, education and advocacy.
The Nest's goals:
- Minimize trauma suffered by the child due to multiple contacts with different community professionals
- Provide families with referrals for needed services
- Maintain open communication and case coordination among the agencies involved in child protection efforts
- Develop and promote prevention education programs for parents and care givers
- Make available specialized training to enhance professional skills to effectively respond to child sexual and severe physical abuse
- Educate mandated reporters of their legal responsibilities under Colorado law
- Provide an educational component to enhance community awareness and understanding of child sexual and physical abuse
"Shawn Gregory is a good friend of the Nest and has generously offered a unique and interesting way for people to contribute to the Nest's cause." TG
What is the Colorado Trail Race CTR?
The CTR is 470 miles and 65,000' of elevation gain winding through the Colorado Rocky Mountains from Denver to Durango. Approximately 300+ miles of singletrack at elevations ranging from 5500' to a gasping-for-breath 13,200'. The CTR is a monster! There is no entry fee, no support, no registration, and no prize money. http://www.climbingdreams.net/ctr/ There are strict rules against any kind of help, it must be completely self supported.
There are a small amount of mountain bikers who have finished the race and a very small amount that have completed it on a singlespeed. A lot can happen to a racer and their bike in 470 miles. Any rider with the best equipment, best training and best plan can still not finish, but that's what makes it exciting.
What is my motivation for helping The NEST?
While I was preparing for the CTR I was thinking about how lucky I was to be able to participate in this event. Knowing that there are plenty of kids, through no fault of their own, that may never know the thrill and enjoyment of riding a bike I decided to use the race to benefit kids. I do this crazy stuff for no particular reason aside from the personal reward of accomplishing a goal, but this time I wanted it to benefit a much more worthy cause. The obvious choice was The NEST. It is difficult to talk about the abuses these kids have lived through. You just don't want to believe someone could that to a child. While we deal with tough days in our lives most of those hardships don't compare to what these innocent kids have gone through, and will continue to go through, as a result of these abuses.
Please help out the kids by donating?
100% of all the donations go directly to The NEST. They have setup a special Active account for donations. http://www.active.com/donate/nest Thank you!
Follow the race online?
Most endurance racers carry a GPS tracker call a Spot and progress can be viewed online.
- Visit the CTR website at http://www.climbingdreams.net/ctr/ and scroll down to the "Main Tracking web page with links to individual racers, split chart and storyboard" under "Race Contact & Links".
- Go to Shawn's personal Spot tracking page http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0TDqS7W8bYxIEIqxXuJH9VvnJRGQNZySA.
- Subscribe to my blog or check it frequently for updates as well.
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| The ctr setup |
