Reggie Bicha, executive director of the Colorado Department of Human Services, has a word for taxpayers: thanks.

Last year they gave $175,000 to the Colorado Domestic Abuse Fund to help fund 47 local domestic violence programs to answer 64,643 crisis calls and help 22,650 adults and children, according to DHS.

A check-off donation on Coloradans’ state tax forms allows them to give. The General Assembly made Colorado the first state in the country to set up such a program in 1983.

“We are grateful to Colorado taxpayers for their ongoing support of the Domestic Abuse Fund,” Bicha told Colorado Politics. “It’s amazing that something so simple as a tax check-off can have such a huge impact statewide. Taxpayer support helps fund local domestic violence programs that literally save lives by providing a safe place to stay for survivors and their children.”

Brooke Ely-Milen, the state’s domestic violence program director, said rural areas frequently lack the resources for an emergency shelter for domestic violence victims and their children, making the donations from across the state critical.

“This funding provides a crucial bridge to safety until a survivor can find another permanent, safe location,” she said in a statement. “The availability of emergency motel or hotel vouchers to temporarily house survivors who flee violent homes is just one example of the many ways CDAF supports local programs and services for survivors of domestic violence and their children in Colorado.”