Hello my name is Tom Teves / Alex Teves dad.

Behind me are members of the families whose loved ones were killed in the theater on July 20 along with Alex.
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We would like to read a statement, and then we will take your questions.

We have come today to speak as one voice representing the majority of the families who have lost their loved ones in the Colorado Theater Tragedy. We are here because we want the public to know what weve experienced behind the scenes in regards to funds that have been raised using the names and faces of our loved ones supposedly on our behalf and on that of all the victims.

Within days of the shooting, memorial funds were set up to help the families of all the victims. An organization called Giving First, endorsed by Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, began collecting millions of dollars under the name: The Aurora Victim Relief Fund.

To date, Giving First has collected over $5 million from both the public and corporations. We thank everyone for giving. The generosity of the American people is humbling to us all.

We are certain that everyone who donated their hard earned wages intended for 100% of their donations to go directly to the victims, and then each family affected would use those funds for what they most needed to help with their healing process.

Unfortunately, it does not seem to be the case.

In fact, the first disbursement of funds went to 10 area non profits. One was the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance, also known as COVA, which set up a committee that did not include any victim representation to decide who and what expenses the fund would pay.

The other 9 disbursements were given as grants to non-profits in Aurora. In the meantime, the Giving First website continued collecting donations using the pictures and names of our loved ones to motivate donations without our permission promising this would go directly to the victims. However, at the same time, Giving First announced that no checks would be cut directly to the victims.

When we found out about this, we contacted Giving Firsts leadership and voiced our concerns. The initial reaction was that there was nothing to be done. This was consistent with Giving Firsts mission statement. Though this does not seem to be consistent with how they solicited the donations from the public.

We, of course, took exception with that process and pointed out that collecting funds that were to go directly to the victims using our murdered loved ones pictures and names was not right.

We wanted and still want the donations going directly not to just the 12 families who have lost loved ones, but to All of the victims to help everyone heal. Now, we want to be clear. We define a victim as anyone inside the theatre or the apartment complex who has been physically or emotionally harmed or murdered as a direct or indirect result of the cowards actions. We include their family members. It is an extremely inclusive definition.

We agreed with Giving Firsts leadership to give them until Friday August 17 for them to get back to us with a solution on how the victims could have a robust voice in how the monies were distributed.

Instead of a returning our calls to discuss a collaborative approach in how to get money directly to the victims. Giving Firsts leadership immediately began what appeared to be a damage control campaign in the local media. In addition to trying to spin their position on the news, $350,000 was quickly disbursed to COVA which then cut checks of $5,000 each for the 70 victims. After numerous calls, Giving First finally sent us an e-mail asking if we would like to talk. However, they had no concrete plan for what we had already requested to give the victims a robust voice. They did

however communicate that the 7/20 Recovery Committee is committed to a structure that includes input from victims.

We eventually had a call the following week and were told that at this point there were no plans to include a robust voice of the victims in the decision making process. We responded that this was unacceptable to which they agreed to make our position clear to an unidentified board but we would have to wait as the board only meets once per week.

At one point in this conversation with Giving First, their leadership suggested that if we want to raise money for the victims, that we should start our own individual fund.

When you generate donations for a fund called The Aurora Victim Relief Fund using pictures and names of our murdered loved ones without our permission it would stand to reason the fund is for victims of the Aurora shooting.

We were also surprised why governance over funds by the victims would even be an issue given the fact that the donations were raised to help us, the victims.

The families are proud that it appears that our calls to Giving First got a small portion of your donations directly into some of the victims hands. The disbursement came a month after the shootings but only days after our call. Victims, however, STILL have no voice in the disbursement process and this only helps the 70 phyisically harmed what about all the others?

Despite the lack of communication, we continued to work towards protecting the victims, and our families agreed that the only way to gain a voice was to go to the public and shine a light on what was happening. We decided to hold a press conference on Friday, August 24 .
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On Wednesday, August 22 , COVAs leadership asked us to delay the press conference to give them a chance to gain us an audience with the committee They admitted that our inquiries to Giving First accelerated the process to get these $5,000 checks into hands of the 70 victims. They also admitted that COVA and the overall victims assistance leadership were doing a poor job with communication. COVA pledged that they would stop Giving First from making any distributions until after we had our meeting with the decision makers and that the victims would have a robust voice in how COVA distributed the funds . We made it clear to COVA that in the interim we did not want the victims to wait for funds that if they needed Giving First to distribute funds to help any of the victims to just give us exposure and we would support. Our goal is and always will be -- to help the victims in all cases. All of them.

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Based on COVAs pledge, we canceled the press conference. A meeting for Friday August 30 was set and we were told that the decision makers would be in the room.. We made it clear to COVA that the families of the victims would accept no more behind-the-scenes political maneuvering on behalf of these non-profit institutions and government agencies, that if that happened we would move forward with our press conference.

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Last Friday afternoon, less than 36 hours after we had agreed with COVA to wait on a press conference COVA sent out their first E-mail to the victims since the tragedy. Finally, we thought, after four weeks the communication was starting.

But, unfortunately, there was nothing in it to show what they had pledged to us . In the email, COVA stated that they had set up the 7/20 Recovery Committee which was charged to oversee the disbursement of the victims funds. No mention was made to giving the victims a direct voice or even the promised input. They also included additional spin that was counter to what we were told of how and why the $350,000 disbursement took place. It was in conflict to what they told us less than 36 hours prior. If they had all these answers to our questions, why didnt they tell us when we were speaking to them at 12 a.m. on Thursday morning?

We gave them the benefit of the doubt and for a second time they ended up using the time to create what we view as propaganda intended to ward off a potentially embarrassing press conference. We will still be happy to meet with them on Friday in an honest open dialouge to get the victims a robust voice in the disbursement of the funds.

While we have approached this as good, rational people who are interested in gaining transparency and efficiency in the use of these relief funds, it appears that they continue to allow politics to drive their actions putting more effort into the political spin than alleviating the victims pain and suffering. I challenge all involved including our group to put all of this behind us and lets get to work helping all the victims collaboratively.

Our families will continue the fight to deliver 100% of the money collected FOR the victims TO the victims at the victims directions, creating a process that shows an audit trail and complete transparency. This is, by the way, consistent with the relief efforts of both 9/11 and Virginia Tech. The victims of 9/11 had similar issues with non-profit organizations keeping the donations from directly going to the victims until a handful of families put a stop to it. We recognize that there needs to be rules and regulations on how these funds are distributed and that we will need to leverage the infrastructure in place to accomplish this. What we are demanding at this point is a robust voice in how this is implemented. The recently formed July 20 Recovery Committee has no one from the victims on the committee, forget about having a robust guiding voice, the victims have no voice at all.

Fighting for justice is not easy for us because we are doing this at a time in our lives when we are in extreme pain. But will continue because its important, though we do not have the massive resources and man power that seems to be lining up against us.

We have some very detailed proposals not only on how to manage the distribution of the funds raised for the victims, but also very creative ways to extend them so the impact of the funds can be maximized. We would welcome the chance to work with the 7/20 recovery committee to find solutions

Governor Hickenlooper, you came and grieved with our families. We allowed you into our innermost circle at the worst time of all our lives. We didnt do that lightly. You pledged 12 times that We will remember. Are you a man whose is true to his word or were they just words?

To date, we have seen limited victim assistance due to a vacuum of communication and leadership. We have tried to change the process working with the powers that be but it has become apparent that to do so we will need the support of the Governor, the non profits the media and the public.

We are asking that COVA, Giving First and the government have the courage to put away their politics and stand on the side of good. Lets focus on working together to a future that communicates effectively with the victims and addresses their needs.

Our loved ones have paid the ultimate price but many others are still fighting for their lives and many of us will never to be the same again. We, as victims, have knowledge that is unique and should be utilized.

The 7/20 Recovery committee does not have one victim on its board. We need people who were in the theatre together with those of us who have lost loved ones driving the decisions.

Lets work together to heal these victims and allow the funds donated and are Still being donated FOR the victims to get directly TO the victims in a manner that victims feel will best help them.

We have nothing to gain as the families of the murder victims, we have already lost everything.

Evil started this, Good has to finish it. Its time to pick a side. This is not a political race, this is the human race and people are hurting in so many ways.

We need to act for all the victims, to highlight a few of the many stories of need, Ashley Moser who was shot in the neck and abdomen and whose 6 year old daughter was killed, is now paralyzed. To act for 16 year old Yousef Gharbi who took a bullet in the forehead that injured the right side of his brain. For all those in the theater, like Amanda Lindgren, who still cant sleep through the night without horrible nightmares and who lost the love of her life before her eyes. For the sake of Gordon Cowden, Rebecca Wingo and Jonathan Blunks children who are growing up without a Dad or a Mom and need living expenses and education funds. For the sake of all of our own families who cant bear the thought of never being able to wrap our arms around the ones we love again.

WE are the victims that the Aurora Victims Relief Fund and donations to Giving First and COVA was meant for, all of us.

Lets all work together in a collaborative process to help the victims heal, that is our premise that the funds donated are to be distributed 100% to the victims, by the victims direction for the victims healing process.

Thank you.