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Jamie Ulrich, Director of the Weld County Department of Human Services (DHS), has done a lot in her career to ensure Weld County families have access to the critical services they need. She usually does this from behind a desk or at the state level every year, gaining insight or giving feedback on legislation that impacts the services DHS provides.
But when it came to promoting Weld County foster care and helping a local nonprofit protect children from child abuse and neglect, she took an even more active and “stylish” approach, modeling a custom dress at the Big Balloon Build’s “balloon fashion show.”
“The whole thing was a great experience,” Ulrich said. “I love to support Life Stories, that’s the number one thing. Secondly, when do you ever get the opportunity to wear a balloon dress? That will never happen to me again! That’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, truly. It was an honor to be asked.”
Ulrich and DHS have seen the work Life Stories Child and Family Advocacy does in the community firsthand and have partnered with, and supported that work, often. Prior to the Big Balloon Build, DHS assisted Life Stories with an annual Save Jane event, which served as an opportunity for community leaders to recognize those children in Weld County who’ve been victims of child abuse and neglect. That support and a willingness to help Life Stories continually promote its mission of helping children live in safe, permanent homes, made it clear that DHS had to be a part of the Big Balloon Build.
“We picked all of these people to participate who are important to our agency, but also important to child abuse prevention and child welfare in general, which is why we picked Jamie,” said Cheryl Brown, Business and Development Manager of Life Stories. “We were excited when she said, “yes.”
Although separate entities, DHS and Life Stories share the common goal of wanting to help children, which made the Big Balloon Build the perfect event for DHS to spread the word about foster care. The Weld County foster care team occupied a booth and provided information to those in attendance about the opportunity to impact a child’s life through fostering and the role of court-appointed special advocates (CASA) in the community. Ulrich said the chance to communicate with people about fostering at such a high-profile event can be invaluable in getting them to think about opening their homes and hearts, even if the final decision to do so comes later down the road.
“It’s a really long process for people to make the decision to foster, and it’s a really important decision, so we get out in the community as much as we can,” Ulrich said. “If nothing else, our goal is to plant that seed of information.”
While there’s no guarantee that planting a seed will lead to fostering immediately, Ulrich explained that putting the possibility of fostering in people’s minds can often lead to more engagement with DHS in the future and eventual foster care placement.
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What makes the Big Balloon Build unique?
Those who haven’t heard of the Big Balloon Build are not alone. The event is relatively new to the United States, and Greeley is only one of two U.S. cities to host it.
The effort began when Allison Dunning of “Balloon Art by Merry Makers,” a business based out of Greeley, heard about the Big Balloon Build two years ago and put in an application to have organizers bring the event to Greeley. The application was accepted, but Dunning had to pick a child-serving agency to be the beneficiary for the event.
“We’ve known Allison for a while as she was at NoCo WIB (Northern Colorado Women in Business),” Brown said, explaining the impact a speech made by Life Stories Outreach Manager Sharon Eberhard had on the final decision. “Allison heard Sharon speak and she immediately went up to her afterwards and said, ‘I have a proposal for you, and I want you to be my charity.’”
The overarching goal of the Big Balloon Build was to help Life Stories — one of only 18 agencies in the country which house both a child advocacy center and a CASA program under the same roof — raise money to continue its work in preventing child abuse and neglect. Equally impactful however, were the memories created and fun had at the event. Smiles were shared and photos taken by families as they admired the balloon art on display. Seventy-five balloon artists came together to create the space-themed balloon installation made up of 125,000 balloons that filled the Welcome Center at Aims Community College. The event also featured local and nationally known music artists.
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Weld County getting the chance to work side by side with these organizations and continue a symbiotic relationship dedicated to helping children in our community was icing on a proverbial bright and colorful cake. It was an experience that Ulrich enjoyed personally and one she believes helped her and the foster care team grow their network professionally.
“It was really cool connecting with people, connecting with some of the balloon makers and the other models I met,” Ulrich said, her comments reflecting both the fun of the event along with the opportunity to introduce others to DHS. “I met a lot of people I’d never met before and a lot of leaders in the community, which was fantastic.”
If anyone’s wondering if Ulrich has found her new calling walking the runway however, well, that’s an open and shut case.
“No, I don’t think I’ll be pursuing modeling full time,” Ulrich said, laughing. “I just kind of did my thing, maybe did a couple of twirls, I don’t know. But no, I think I’ll keep my current career.”
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By Dylan McConnell, Weld County Communications Specialist
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