STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
The Advocates are about to Color Our World with their annual Color Our World Ribbon Raise and Ribbon of Hope display.
The nonprofit organization hopes to raise money to provide hope, healing and life-changing services for survivors of abuse and their children through their two-part fundraiser.
It’ll include a Color Our World Ribbon Raise from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, June 18, at the Limelight Hotel in Ketchum. There’ll be cocktails, appetizers, an auction and a paddle raise. The auction will include a colorful 60-by-48-inch “Jungle of Emotions” painting by Bibby Gignilliat.
RSVP, bid and donate at https://www.theadvocatesorg.org/.
The evening at the Limelight Hotel will be followed by the Ribbon of Hope display at Memory Park at Main and fifth streets in Ketchum.
Supporters are invited to purchase a Ribbon of Hope with the various colors signifying different price points. The ribbons will be hung on the park’s trees from June 22-29 as a visual reminder of the hope The Advocates offer to those in distress with the backing of the community.
A $100 purple ribbon, for instance, provides one safe night of shelter for a survivor escaping abuse. A $500 blue ribbon equips every eighth grader in the community with tools to build healthy, respectful relationships.
Ribbons of Hope can be purchased at https://www.theadvocatesorg.org/.
A hundred percent of all donations will directly support The Advocates’ services, thanks to Color Our World Sponsors, which include Cox Communications and Tom Archie and Heidi Woog’s InnerHealth MD.
The Advocates offer a 24-hour helpline, crisis shelter, sexual assault services, support groups, counseling, legal services and advocacy and economic empowerment and Skills for Success classes, as well as a prevention and education programs for youth.
It has 22 units of transitional housing apartments for survivors working toward independence.
The Advocates are currently in the middle of building a new facility on River Street in Hailey that will provide more transitional housing for clients and expand its Thrive Kids! early learning childcare.
The building is expected to open in November 2026. Meanwhile, even with all the construction, the Advocates office next door is still open and all the phones are still ringing, said Shannon Nichols, the organization’s communications manager.