Phil Castle, The Business Times

Judian Wyatt can recite the statistics for the number of children and teen-agers HopeWest serves through its counseling and grief programs in Western Colorado.

But Wyatt, a youth counselor with the Grand Junction-based organization, prefers another metric. “It changes lives, and I love looking at it this way.”

That makes an annual holiday benefit HopeWest stages to raise money for those programs all the more important.

Debbie Horwitz, senior vice president and chief development officer at HopeWest, said the holiday show  and the support it engenders raises about half the $500,000 budgeted each year for HopeWest Kids programs. “Our community comes together to make it happen.”

Those programs are in turn part of a mission to provide hospice, palliative care and grief support services in a large area of the Western Slope.

The HopeWest holiday show was staged for the first time in the Colorado Mesa University Center ballroom with performances on both a Saturday and Sunday. The event included lunch, a silent auction and a show featuring entertainment and fashion.

Horwitz said HopeWest took over the show 14 years ago. Before that, the event served as a benefit for the St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation. The HopeWest holiday show has become a popular event among participants who attend every year, she said. “It’s a tradition. There’s this sense of kicking off the holidays.”

It’s also a good time for a good cause, Horwitz said, in supporting HopeWest Kids programs.

Wyatt said those programs have served a total of more than 500 children and teens so far in 2023 through individual and group counseling as well as school groups. HopeWest also offers camps and retreats for children and teens.

By one estimate, one in 13 children in Colorado will experience the loss of a parent or sibling by the age of 18, Wyatt said. Those experiences can be even more traumatic when they involve suicide, homicide or drug-related deaths.

Every child grieves in a unique way. But they all need validation what they’re experiencing is natural and normal, Wyatt said. They all need to tell their stories and for someone to listen.

Art, music, sports and other activities offer yet another important part of support services, Wyatt said. And that’s to experience fun. “We have a heck of a lot of fun.”

For more information about HopeWest, including HopeWest Kids programs, visit the website at www.hopewestco.org.