Planned Family Justice Center Gets A Boost From The Broncos
DENVER (CBS4) - The Denver Broncos are not only scoring big on the field, they are coming up champs off the field as well.
The Broncos have pledged $150,000 from Broncos Charities to the Rose Andom Center, which will be Colorado's first Family Justice Center dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence.
"There is no family justice center in the Rocky Mountain region," Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said. "There are 80 of these across the country but we don't have any."
Services and support for domestic violence victims are currently scattered across different organizations in Colorado. Morrissey says this discourages victims from reporting their abuse.
"A victim now may have to go to 20 different places and fill out 20 different intake forms in order to get the services they need. The problem is we lose [the victims]," he said.
Morrissey believes the Rose Andom Center will be a solution to this problem.
"Domestic violence is hard. What we are saying with the Rose Andom Center is that it shouldn't be hard to get help," he said.
Rose Andom, the woman the center is named after, has experienced domestic violence twice.
"One of the last times (Andom) ever laid eyes on her father, he was holding a gun to her mother's head when she was just a little girl," Morrissey said.
Like most people who have been abused or witnessed abuse, the cycle repeated itself. Andom married an abusive man.
"(He) starts to put her through the same things that she saw, the same signs, the same control," Morrissey said.
A concerned relative urged Andom not to return home and informed her that McDonald's was hiring. She worked her way up quickly there and then started her own franchises of the fast food restaurant.
"Anybody who flies through DIA, if you stop at the McDonald's at any of the three concourses, you are doing business with Rose Andom," Morrissey said.
Andom donated her first million dollars toward the creation of the justice center. Morrissey said Andom also committed to an annual endowment.
The Broncos have also committed to ongoing collaboration. Morrissey said Keith Bishop, the Broncos' vice president of security, has been involved with the center since last year, well before NFL's current controversy over the Ray Rice domestic violence incident.
The problem, Morrissey says, is bigger than football.
"This is really a watershed moment in our community and our society to address this horrible situation that has gone on for generations and generations," he said.
"I have 65-year-old men tell me: 'Get it built, Mitch, because I was one of those kids.' "
According to the Rose Andom Center's website, $6 million has been donated so far. The center needs $7.5 million to reach its goal. The center is expected to be completed early next year and will be located at 1330 Fox Street.
LINK: roseandomcenter.org
- By Sneha Antony for CBSDenver.com
