Oh, a storm is threatning
My very life today
If I dont get some shelter
Oh yeah, Im gonna fade away
- excerpted from The Rolling Stones, Gimme Shelter
This week is National Safe Place Week: March 16th, 2009 - March 22nd, 2009
The 2008 Senate Announcement…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, March 14, 2008
Senate Unanimously Approves Feinstein-Martinez Resolution to
Designate the Week of March 16 - 22 as “National Safe Place Week”
Washington, DC – The Senate has unanimously approved a resolution sponsored by
U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) that designates the week of March 16-22, 2008 as “National Safe Place Week.”
Safe Place is a nationally acclaimed program committed to protecting America’s youth for the past 25 years by making help readily accessible to those who might be abused, neglected, threatened or in immediate danger. More than 200,000 youth have received help at nearly 16,000 Safe Place sites or as a result of counseling by phone following Safe Place school education. This program is currently operated by 143 agencies serving 900 communities in 41 states, including in California.
“Today’s youth face growing pressures in their daily lives at school, at home, and in the community. That is why it is so important that the National Safe Place program provides thousands of young people with access to counselors, legal services, and emergency shelters – keeping them out of trouble and off of dangerous streets,”
Click HERE to read the entire press release
This week’s KCK blogposts will feature the work and success of National Safe Place. With pics from the 2008 NSP conference, video of the heroic efforts of NSP community leaders, and some of my personal reflections/thoughts about the necessity of a safe place for a young dreamer, I hope to raise your awareness of NSP’s work and role as a catalyst in the lives of young people.
National Safe Place truly does the “lonely work” (sometimes unglamorous but very necessary) needed to assist in safeguarding and protecting the welfare and dreams of our next generation of leaders. When young lives are thrust into difficult and unsafe situations, National Safe Place and their community partners give much needed shelter, guidance, and support.
I personally know how important a safe place can be for a child and the positive impact that place can have on a future - 711 Haverford Road, the Lane’s house, Preston Playground, school(s), and the public library were those places for me. So, it’s with great admiration and pride that I celebrate the work of National Safe Place this week!
Keep chasin’ and turnin’ dreams into a reality…
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Comments
Kevin,
Thank you so much for highlighting the work that we and our 140+ youth shelter agencies do to help at-risk youth connect to immediate help and safety. Safe Place is the vision of Larry Wooldridge, a dreamer just like you, and now more than 200,000 young people have been impacted by that long ago dream! This week is about celebrating each of the dreamers that have educated young people about the services available and enabled those young people to be safe. Thank you for helping us celebrate!
Catherine Chapman, CFRE
Director of Development and Celebration
National Safe Place
- Posted by Catherine Chapman on 03/16
Mr. Carroll,
I enjoyed listening to you speak last September at the National Safe Place convention. You were so inspiring. You made me realize why I do the job that I do. Like you, I too had a troubled childhood with an absent father & drug addicted mother. I felt as if you were speaking directly to me. Thank-you so much for the inspiration that you shared with all of us. Thank-you for giving more of a reason to help children in need. If I can help only one person change the course of their life, then I know that what I do is not in vain. You are living proof that determination & a positive attitude can change your own life.
Thank-you so much.
Sincerely,
Abbey Schoeff
Safe Place/Host Homes Coordinator
Bluffton, IN
- Posted by Abbey Schoeff on 03/18
Thank you Kevin for all you do. Thank you for helping draw attention to our Safe Place work during National Safe Place Week. It is interesting that you refer to “Gimme Shelter”, a song by Mick Jagger. In the Summer, 1983 newsletter of the YMCA Shelter House (founding Agency of Safe Place) where the launch of Project Safe Place was announced, “Gimme Shelter” was also used. In fact, that became the name of the Shelter House and Safe Place newsletter for a season. Nice coincidence isn’t it? Great minds think alike! 1983 and 2009, people are connecting to one Mick Jagger song.
Again, thanks for drawing attention to the good work of thousands of people across this country who want to make things safer for youth in crisis.
Susan Harmon
Training Director, National Safe Place
Louisville, KY
- Posted by Susan Harmon on 03/20
I was wondering if anyone had any specific plans to celebrate Safe Place Week? Any activities within the community to raise awareness or in celebration?
- Posted by Taylor Schaa on 05/19