MONTROSE – On Saturday morning, April 26, over 350 runners will take to the trails of Montrose’s Baldridge Park and the Uncompahgre River Corridor. The event is the Fifth Annual Run for Shelter, organized by Montrose’s running club, the San Juan Mountain Runners, as a benefit for Hilltop’s Tri-County Resource Center and local chapters of the international organization Girls on the Run.

Along with the annual Chicks with Picks benefit, the run is one of the largest fundraisers for the Tri-County Resource Center, which provides services to victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault in Ouray, Montrose and Delta counties.

According to Becky Ela, program coordinator for Tri-County, the run raised over $6,000 last year. She said that the money goes toward operating expenses for the organization, as well as toward client expenses – “everything from toilet paper and laundry soap to client food – things to support people while they are in the safehouse.”

Tri-County provides a range of services for women, children and a small number of men who suffer from domestic violence ranging from physical violence to emotional, psychological, even spiritual abuse.

“A lot of people think domestic violence is being smacked around, but that’s not the definition at all,” Ela said. She said that withholding medicine or money, calling names, even forbidding the partner from going to church can be forms of abuse. “By far what we see the most are psychological and emotional abuse,” she said.

Tri-County provides safehouses in Montrose and Delta for victims and their children who are trying to escape domestic violence, as well as legal and general advocacy to help people rebuild their lives. A bilingual advocate is available to assist the Latino population, and a 24-hour crisis line connects victims to advocates in times of need. In addition, specially trained nurses are available to examine victims of sexual assault and to provide assistance and support to women who wish to report the assault to law enforcement agencies.

Ela said that in 2007, Tri-County housed 103 women and 112 children in their safehouses and provided advocacy to a total of 1,280 people, 11 of whom were from Ouray County. Their service area covers 3,025 square miles, and they do the job with a staff of one part-time and four full-time advocates and two program managers.

With such a large rural area to serve, Ela said, “our biggest challenge is to make sure people know how to reach us.”

Of the 350 runners who will toe the starting line on Saturday, about 200 will be girls who are part of Girls on the Run, an international program for girls in third, fourth and fifth grades that trains girls for a distance run while teaching them about self-esteem, appropriate personal boundaries and healthy living.

“If we can teach girls when they’re young how to take care of themselves, then hopefully they won’t be our clients when they grow up,” Ela said. Girls from Montrose and Silverton will participate in Saturday’s Run for Shelter.

Runners can register for the Run for Shelter online at active.com or at smjr.com, or can pick up forms at City Market or at Hilltop’s office at 540 South 1st Street in Montrose. Race day registration is from 7:30-8:30 a.m. at Baldridge Park. Starbucks will provide brunch, and Montrose radio station The Blast 103.7 FM will broadcast live from the park. For more information about the Run for Shelter, call 970/249-8536.

For more information about Hilltop’s Tri-County Resource Center, call 970/252-7445. The 24-hour crisis line is 970/626-3777. To find out more about local chapters of Girls on the Run, go to girlsontherungv.com or call the Grand Junction office at 970/257-9267.