From Family Circle, 9-14-99

Triumph Over Tragedy

By Janna L. Graber

As a new school year begins, families, friends and neighbors around Littleton,Colorado, heroically work together to make their community feel safe again. Here are their stories of inspiration—and hope.

Loving Her Neighbor

Even though Gina Schreck's 15-year-old son, Jacob, was unharmed in the Columbine High School shootings on April 20, she and her family remain shaken by what occurred. She says the gunmen shot and killed two kids from their neighborhood and wounded several others.

But for Gina, the tragedy also hit a bit closer to home— Eric Harris, the student who police say masterminded the assault, had lived just one street away.

"We turned on the news and were shocked to see our street on national TV. How could we have missed this about one of our very own neighbors?" asks Gina, 35.

Yet after talking to others in her community, Gina says, it became clear that although the Harris family had been in the neighborhood for several years, few neighbors really knew them. In fact, she says, not many in the quiet upper­middle-class neighborhood knew each other at all. "I read a survey that said that fewer than 10 percent of people can name the four neighbors who surround them," says Gina. "How can you reach out to someone you've never met? So often we wave to our neighbors, but we don't really know them."

Says Gina, "l decided it was time to make some changes. I wanted people to get to know each other. That way, when help is needed, they will have someone to go to. Bringing a neighborhood together is something anybody, anywhere can do," she says. "It's a simple thing, really, but it can make a difference."

Gina, the mother of four children, began searching for ways for her neighbors to come together. Then one night at the Colorado Community Church she attends, Hank Salmans, a retired police chief, spoke about an intriguing program he had started two years earlier. It's called WINN (We're Involved Neighbors Now). Gina and her husband, Kirk, 40, who together run corporate training and public speaking programs, decided to establish WINN in their own hurting community.

"WINN hopes to help create a friendlier, safer neighborhood, where we actually have a sense of community— knowing who the neighbors are, where they live," says Gina. "When you know each other, you take care of each other more."

The concept is simple and easily adaptable to different neighborhoods, she says. One family per street volunteers to become an "ambassador" to the neighborhood. They hope to develop strong relationships not just between neighbors but also with local religious leaders and police of officers as well.

"Long ago, people knew the cop who walked their beat," observes Gina. "But now the police are strangers to us."

As new ambassadors, the Schrecks began in May by meeting four new neighbors. Then they worked their way down the street, seeing at least one new family a week. Eventually, they hope to have 10 people represent the 100 families in the neighborhood. One of those neighbors was Barb Lovato. "We'd lived on the same street for six years, but had never met," says Barb.''l'm so glad Gina came down and introduced herself."

WINN also hopes to offer information about com programs and classes. "So if someone is going through a divorce we can say, well, here's a great divorce support group," says Gina.

Meanwhile, Gina was busy planning their first block party, creating a softball team and inviting local teens to their home. The couple welcomes kids to play stree-‑hockey in front of their house. "You know where they are and what they are doing," says Gina. “We want our home to be the neighborhood sanctuary."

Says Hank Salmans, "I hope and pray that this tragedy will serve as a wakeup call to people about the importance of the neighborhood."

For now, Gina and Kirk seem to be inspiring some neighborly love. 'We've hugged and cried with neighbors we had only waved to before," says Gina "There's been such a positive response."

Calling for Change

During the frantic hours that Columbine parent Linda Cuesta waited to find out if her son had escaped the shootings, Linda says, "I promised God that if my son were safely returned to me, I would become a strong voice against weak gun laws."

Says Linda, a 45-year-old mother of three who owns a catering business, "My most important job is to be a mom. And as moms, it's our job to be protective of our kids. We can't ignore those instincts when it comes to guns."

Linda and a friend, Sharon Ulric, had already become concerned about easy access to guns earlier this year, even before the shootings. When two bills liberalizing gun ownership were introduced in the Colorado legislature, "Sharon and I told each other that we couldn't sit idly by and watch one more mom bury a baby. We had to do something."

Using a very simple tool—the telephone—Linda and Sharon devised a way to mobilize thousands of women and men to help tighten gun-control laws not just in Colorado but in other states as well.

'We decided that we could call a few friends—moms we knew from soccer, choir and church. Our goal was to inform our friends about pending legislation that would affect our kids." Each person called then agreed to phone two others.

Hundreds became involved. "We were astounded at how excited people were, and how empowered they felt," Sharon says. "If we could do this, then two housewives anywhere could do it."

When the Columbine tragedy occurred, however, Sharon and Linda knew their work had taken on new meaning. The pair called on the phone tree again to help stop passage of those earlier bills. As a result, one elected official received over 400 calls in one day. The bills were eventually shelved.

Along with 200 other volunteers, Linda and Sharon helped the Colorado Coalition Against Gun Violence sponsor a silent protest on May I at the National Rifle Association's convention in Denver.

It was there that Linda decided it was time to speak out publicly. "I used to be polite," she told a crowd of about 8,000 at the protest. "I tried to understand the need for citizens to own guns, to own arsenals. But I'm not polite anymore. I want the NRA out of this city and out of this state," she says.

"Their right to bear arms is directly opposed to my light to keep my kids safe," says Linda.

Keeping Kids Safe From Guns

It was a parent's worst nightmare. Two gunmen were reported on the rampage at Columbine High School, and Tom and Linda Mauser's 15-year-old son, Daniel, was missing. The couple spent agonizing hours looking for Daniel, hoping he would call and waiting for him to come home. He never did. Then, finally, the dreadful news came. Their only son, a straight-A student, had been killed.

Losing Daniel was devastating.

"Daniel was a gentle kid who would never hurt anyone," says Linda. "He wasn't afraid to hug us." Indeed Tom, a manager at the Colorado Department of Transportation and Linda, a homemaker, had enjoyed hiking, swimming and playing games with their son and younger daughter, Christine. "Daniel loved helping Christine with her math homework. They were very close," says Linda.

"He knew I followed current events," says Tom, "and he'd often discuss issues with me." In fact, just two weeks before the shootings, Daniel had mentioned the Brady Law to his father. "He noticed that the law had loopholes, that private sales in many states go through without background checks," says Tom. It is the memory of that conversation that motivates the Mausers.

Immediately after Daniel's death Tom attended an anti­gun rally -- carrying a heartbreaking sign that read, MY SON DANIEL DIED AT COLUMBINE. HE'D EXPECT ME TO BE HERE TODAY. He told the thousands gathered, "Something is wrong in this country when a child can grab a gun so easiIy and shoot a bullet into the middle of a child's face."

Says Tom, "We love the freedom to bear arms, but in countries with more gun restrictions, they have freedom from fear."

The Mausers have created a Web site honoring Daniel's life that also lists ways for people to work for gun control legislation in their own communities. "I'd like to let people know how they can be involved," says Tom. "I feel there are people out there who want to do something, who are fed up with gun violence." Says Linda, "We still have another child we want to protect. And we don't want this kind of tragedy to happen to anyone else."

For more information, see the Web site at http://www.danielmauser.com.

Listening to Teens

       Chris Billman knows what it's like to feel alone. Two years ago the 16-year-old fell into a severe depression and attempted suicide. “Loneliness can build," says Chris. "I needed more interaction—someone to talk to."

Chris found that someone in an adult youth pastor who took the time to listen. "We'd go out for ice cream and talk," says Chris.

Today, Chris is such a firm believer in adult and peer mentors that he joined the planning board of a unique coffeehouse-style youth center called Project Listen—the brainchild of 35-year-old Aricia LaFrance. Aricia, a former psychotherapist, previously had worked with hundreds of teens. But when the Columbine massacre occurred in her own state, she especially wanted to do more to reach teens who feel alone.

Located in a donated space just a mile from Columbine, the center opened two months after the shootings. Ten neighborhood teens painted and helped furnish it with flea market purchases. And more than 50 businesses have donated food, furniture and appliances. One paid director has been hired—Aricia, also a director, draws no salary.

Project Listen is a place where there is someone to talk to. It is staffed by a director and trained volunteers from 3 to 10 p.m. daily. Kids can meet, have a free soda, play pool, sake art classes or just hang out, she says.

"We needed a hate-free kind of place that would offer positive alternatives for kids," says Aricia. Although Project Listen targets kids between the ages of 8 and 18, it especially hopes to touch those who are struggling for acceptance, including kids on probation.

The center is not the first major volunteer venture for Aricia, a mother of two. In 1995 Aricia left her full-time job and began the Angel Foundation – a nonprofit organization dedicated to giving moms special classes in parenting and stress-reduction techniques.

Aricia will continue running the Angel Foundation, but she plans to make Project Listen a priority. "I wanted to find a way to give kids the motivation to search out the positive," says Aricia, "to create a place in our area where kids would be heard and guided."