Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristen Sweaza.
Hi Kristen, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Blue_Wives_Matter was founded after my husband’s police department lost an officer off-duty to a cardiac event. He left behind a homemaker wife and 3 young sons. After we buried Officer Rick Nilos, the family and agency grew apart. So Blue_Wives_Matter was founded to offer support, both emotional and financial, to any family who has lost an officer, on duty or off and regardless of their cause of death. To date, we have helped upwards of 400 survivors. We have an online support group with over 250 survivors and we help many more offline as well by text, phone calls and emails.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Things have not always been a smooth road. Finding funding has been difficult. Donations seem to go to larger non-profits and those that help line of duty deaths and suicide. Our support group is the only one like it in the country, as far as I am aware, and we do not turn anyone away. We even have a few firefighter widows and children in our support group! And we will gladly accept any other first responder, or military, surviving spouses and/or fiancees into our group. I have had many supporters promise to help but then they just stop communicating despite my desperate attempts to keep them involved. I also have struggled to keep volunteers. I think they feel it will be “fun” but then they learn it is anything but fun and more tragic instead.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Blue_Wives_Matter offers emotional and financial support to fallen law enforcement officers survivng spouses, fiancees and their children, regardless of cause of death.
I facilitated a contract for a widow in Florida who was paying $2,000 a month in Cobra dues. Tammy has stage 4 breast cancer and Cobra would have run out in 3 years leaving her uninsurable. Plus she couldn’t afford that rate. I negotiated with her late husband’s agency for her to get off Cobra and be able to pay a few hundred dollars a month like the officers do. They also refunded the $25,000 she had initially paid for Cobra.
Another widow of an officer, who was assasinated by a gang member back in July of 1996, was informed that her husband’s killer had been released from Florence ADX supermax prison in Colorado where he served 20 years to Folsom prison in California in the general population. This animal was supposed to be sent to San Quentin death row after he served his federal time but it didn’t go that way. Kristin was notified by the CHP Commisioner of these details and was told nothing could be done. It took about a year but with my connections he was sent back to Florence ADX supermax prison where he gets no priviledges, visitors or let out of the prison cell very often.
Another widow whom I was speaking to on the phone shared with me her youngest son had just been diagnosed. with autism. Claudia couldn’t get services for her then 2-year-old no matter how hard she tried. Utilizing my connections in her county I facilitated for the Regional Center, an organization that once they accept you, your special needs child gets therapy and help for life. I put her in touch with my brother-in-law who set up an interview for Claudia, something she was unable to do. Her son w, to do an interview with her son. Her son was accepted and he now is getting a ton of services like OT, PT and speech therapy for life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bluewivesmatter.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blue_wives_matter
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlueWivesMatter
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-sweaza-a9b115103
- Twitter: https://x.com/wives_blue
