The Cowboys Forever Foundation in a nonprofit organization committed to keeping western heritage alive and helping our community.

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In 2018, after losing a close family friend to suicide, Dan Eckert came up with the idea to host summer rodeo series where we could raise awareness about suicide prevention. With his help, Samantha Wittler founded Cowboys Forever Foundation in 2019. With the help and hard work of the entire family, volunteers, and countless others, the foundation has been able to host a rodeo series each summer.

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We host our summer rodeo series at the Eagle County Fairgrounds where we partner with Speak Up Reach Out to raise awareness about suicide. Eagle County has reached a record high of suicide deaths in 2018 with 17 lives taken. Eagle County also averaged nearly a suicide attempt per day in 2018, with a total of 324 suicide attempts. There were 11 lives taken by suicide in 2019, 12 lives taken in 2020, and nine lives taken in 2021. Even though the number of suicides are decreasing from the spike in 2018, there is still a need for mental health support systems and awareness about these issues our county is facing. From 2021 to 2025, we have been able to donate over $33,000 to Speak Up Reach Out. 

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We also hope that this family, fun oriented event will bring the community together to open up the conversation about mental health, help our local non-profits, support our youth and local contestants involved in rodeo, and celebrate our western heritage. 

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