Immediately Disburse all Donations Collected for All of Us, Shut Down the Colorado Healing Fund, and Start a State-Run Fund for Our Long-Term Needs
An Open Letter by Mass Shooting Families and Survivors of Club Q, Sol Tribe, and Boulder
To:
Gov. Jared Polis
Attorney General Phil Weiser
Secretary of State Jena Griswold
Sen. Michael Bennet
Rep. Elisabeth Epps
Rep. Stephanie Vigil
Rep. Brianna Titone
Rep. Joe Neguse
Colorado Healing Fund
We, the undersigned, represent the majority of victims’ families and survivors of the recent mass shootings that have devastated our communities across the State of Colorado: Club Q, Sol Tribe, and Boulder.
It has been one year since the mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs that occurred on November 19-20, 2022, where five people were murdered, 19 were shot, and dozens more were injured and left severely traumatized. It's been two years since the Boulder mass shooting at King Soopers grocery store where 10 people were murdered on March 22, 2021 and two years since the Sol Tribe Tattoo Shop shooting on December 27, 2021.
In the aftermath of the Club Q shooting, the Colorado Healing Fund collected millions of dollars in donations. Only after the persistent outcry from victims’ families, survivors, and victim advocates did the Colorado Healing Fund decide to release 100% of the donations they collected. On November 15, 2023, the Colorado Healing Fund sent an email to Club Q survivors and victims’ family members stating they would not be holding onto the funds they previously stated they were holding onto for “long-term needs” and they would be distributing the remaining funds. However, this is only after the Colorado Healing Fund put mass shooting victims through a year where many had to constantly beg the nonprofit for help as it arbitrarily approved some requests for financial assistance and denied others.
As they distribute the remaining funds to the outspoken Club Q survivors, the Colorado Healing Fund continues to hold back donations collected for the families and survivors of the Boulder and Sol Tribe shootings. This is yet another inconsistency that shows, once again, that the nonprofit does not follow its own protocol and that its whole model is illegitimate, harmful, and not based on the actual needs of mass shooting victims.
In the aftermath of the Boulder King Soopers’ shooting, the nonprofit again collected millions and held back funds for “long-term needs” that families of those murdered have been denied. Here too, victims’ families have asked for financial assistance to meet current and ongoing needs resulting from the murder of their loved ones and they have been turned down by the Colorado Healing Fund. The nonprofit left them without the financial help that donors intended for those directly impacted by the shooting.
Now that the Colorado Healing Fund claims to have released all the donations for Club Q, they have no justification to hold onto the donations they collected for Colorado’s previous mass shooting victims. Thus, we stand together and demand the full release of all donations directly to the victims’ families and survivors for Sol Tribe and Boulder victims—the survivors and the families of those murdered. We need financial help now and those donations were intended to provide us with the help we so desperately need.
By holding onto those donations collected for us, the Colorado Healing Fund is not helping us. They are harming us. Some of us are on the verge of homelessness and financial insecurity as a direct result of being victims of these shootings. The Colorado Healing Fund should not be holding onto funds for long-term needs when our current needs are not being met.
Second, we demand a forensic audit by an objective, independent certified accountant into the collection and spending of the donations collected for the Boulder, Sol Tribe, and Club Q victims by the Colorado Healing Fund.
The Colorado Healing Fund’s collected amounts rose and fell and then rose again for Boulder, prompting victims’ families of the Boulder shooting to question what was happening. They have asked repeatedly for transparency and have received none.
From the The Washington Post, July 6, 2022:
John Mackenzie, whose wife, 62-year-old Lynn Murray, was one of 10 people killed in a supermarket in Boulder, Colo., last year, strongly criticized the Colorado Healing Fund for its handling of nearly $5 million in public donations. “In no way, shape or form did they provide an accurate account of what they collected. I think they diverted a lot of funds to their own use,” he said. He said he could not document the diversion, but noted that the amount the fund declared to be collected had repeatedly changed, including in quarterly reports in which the amount collected decreased $70,000 from one report to the next
Jordan Finegan, the executive director of the Healing Fund, said the amounts changed because some donations were wrongly counted twice, and that the fund for the Boulder shooting was being audited.
Mr. Mackenzie, who was dying and let the Colorado Healing Fund know via email and on the phone that his time was short, asked the CHF to give his family the final long-term needs donation. The CHF denied him those funds. Mackenzie told many people that the strain of battling the Colorado Healing Fund was adding more stress to him and harming his health. He died only a few months after he was denied. However, the then executive director of CHF, Jordan Finegan, more than doubled her salary.
Questions about the Colorado Healing Fund’s accounting also arose after Boulder families received only $10,000 each from one large $1 million donation and, more recently, rumors have circulated that donations designated for Club Q victims were not recorded appropriately.
No independent audit has ever been released by the Colorado Healing Fund and because of the lack of transparency, the public doesn’t know if one was ever conducted. We are asking for elected officials and the Attorney General and Secretary of State to demand a comprehensive independent audit for the sake of transparency. This is in both the survivors and the public’s best interest.
Third, we are demanding that the Colorado Healing Fund shuts down, dissolves, and permanently ceases their unethical and questionable methods of donation collection and distribution.
With their dissolution, we are also asking that the $1M in consumer fraud settlement money that was used to start the Colorado Healing Fund by Attorney General Cynthia Coffman be invested instead in an endowment for a permanent, government-run mass violence victims’ fund for the long-term needs of mass shooting victims in the state. The State of Colorado should start this public fund following the State of Virginia’s lead—perhaps within Colorado’s Public Health Department to avoid corruption and nepotism, while also following already established and utilized health equity models.
Thank you.
Adrianna Vance, mother of Raymond Green Vance, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Esthella Bell, grandmother Raymond Green Vance, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Ron Bell, grandfather of Raymond Green Vance, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Laura Vandam, aunt of Raymond Green Vance, murdered at Club Q, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Andrew Rump, uncle of Derrick Rump, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Patricia Rump, aunt of Derrick Rump, murdered at Club Q, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Kelly Plante, cousin of Derrick Rump, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Jenni Blackmon, cousin of Derrick Rump, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Craig Blackmon, cousin of Derrick Rump, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Bobbie Jo Kahler, cousin of Derrick Rump, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Machell Helbert, cousin of Derrick Rump, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Angela Engleman, cousin of Derrick Rump, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Austin Johnston, cousin of Derrick Rump, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Brenda Hopkins, aunt of Derrick Rump, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Rosalie Balthaser, aunt of Derrick Rump, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Angelina Jones, aunt of Derrick Rump, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Julia Thames, grandmother of Derrick Rump, murdered at Club in Colorado Springs, CO
Tiffany Loving, sister of Kelly Loving, murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO
Ashtin Gamblin, wounded survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Phylisha Collins, wounded survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Talijah Priester, survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Azaria Lacour, survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
John Arcediano, injured survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Jeremiah Griffith, survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Beyonca Deleon, survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Hysteria Brooks, witness of the Club Q shooting who rendered aid in Colorado Springs, CO
Rain Page, injured survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Svetlana Heim, injured survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Jancarlos Del Valle, wounded survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
James Slaugh, wounded survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Charlene Slaugh, wounded survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Martin Rendleman, survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Dee (Deanna) Renee, survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Drea Norman, survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Del Lu Sional, survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Potted Plant/Wyatt Kent, injured survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Ferris Broderick, injured survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Aj Bridgewater, survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Sean Shelby, survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Jerecho Loveall, wounded survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Christiana Loveall, survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Brianna Winningham, survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Thomas James, wounded survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO, shot once in the chest
Joshua Thurman, survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, CO
Casey Hosch, survivor of the Sol Tribe shooting in Denver-Lakewood, Colorado
Joseph Olenik, survivor of the Sol Tribe shooting in Denver-Lakewood, CO
Jessie Super, survivor of the Sol Tribe shooting in Denver-Lakewood, CO
Andrea Ferko, survivor of the Sol Tribe shooting in Denver-Lakewood, CO
James Maldonado, survivor of the Sol Tribe shooting in Denver-Lakewood, CO
Emily Zinanti, survivor of the Sol Tribe shooting in Denver-Lakewood, CO
Chloe Heffernan, survivor of the Sol Tribe shooting in Denver-Lakewood, CO
Rio J. Wolf, survivor of the Sol Tribe shooting in Denver-Lakewood, CO
Robert Olds, uncle of Rikki Olds, murdered at the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, CO
Jeanette Olds, grandmother/mother of Rikki Olds, murdered at the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, CO
Starr Bartkowiak, mother of Tralonna Bartkowiak, murdered at the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, CO
Michael Bartkowiak, brother Tralona Bartkowiak, , murdered at the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, CO
Chris Garrotto, brother Tralona Bartkowiak, murdered at the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, CO
Kaidyn Garrotto, niece Tralona Bartkowiak, murdered at the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, CO
Lisa Noble, sister Tralona Bartkowiak, murdered at the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, CO
Myra Noble, niece Tralona Bartkowiak, murdered at the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, CO
Kathyee Bartkowiak, aunt Tralona Bartkowiak, murdered at the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, CO
Pierce Mackenzie, son of Lynn Murray (and the late John Mackenzie), murdered at the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, CO
Chuck Hunker, former husband of Jody Waters, murdered at King Soopers shooting in Boulder, CO
Alexandra Eheart, daughter of Jody Waters, murdered at the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, CO
Corey Eheart, son-in-law of Jody Waters, murdered at the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, CO
Radmilo Stanisic, father of Neven Stanisic, murdered at King Soopers shooting in Boulder, CO
Mirjana Stanisic, mother of Neven Stanisic, murdered at the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, CO
Nikolina Stanisic, sister of Neven Stanisic, murdered at the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, CO