Thank you to all of our community partners, service providers, elected officials, supporters, and friends who joined us for our annual Voices for Children Luncheon on December 3 at All Saints Episcopal Church. If you missed the event, or would like to access the materials that we shared again, please view the links below and share them with your family, friends and community. Have a safe and happy holiday season!
Cabarrus Partnership for Children is participating in RESILIENCE Week from November 18 - 22, 2019.
RESILIENCE Week is a first-of-its-kind North Carolina engagement campaign in partnership with UNC-TV, Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina, and KPJR Films starting the week of November 18, 2019. This multi-platform campaign is supported by organizational and institutional partners across the state and is designed to achieve the following impact goals:
Build awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
Increase knowledge of trauma-informed education
Share resources for building greater resilience
Amplify support for ongoing action and advocacy in areas of childhood trauma and toxic stress
UNC-TV to air "RESILIENCE" Statewide - November 19, 8pm
UNC-TV Public Media North Carolina presents the statewide broadcast premiere of the special documentary feature RESILIENCE: The Biology of Stress & the Science of Hope on Tuesday, November 19 at 8:00pm, as part of RESILIENCE Week - a statewide initiative to build awareness of childhood trauma, prevention and resilience. Read Full Press Release
Watch: A special message from RESILIENCE Director, James Redford
Robert Furr, the Director of Cabarrus Cooperative Extension, received the 2019 Ashley O. Thrift Volunteer Service Award. Furr was recognized for 15 years of service to families and young children through his volunteer work with Smart Start. He was honored at the Cabarrus County Government Building on August 27, 2019.
Every day, we receive phone calls from local agencies about families in Cabarrus County that are experiencing an emergency. Sometimes we have items already available at our office to support the family in need. Other times, we have to purchase emergency need items. All of this is possible thanks to the community’s ongoing support of our Emergency Fund.
Calls for assistance come from social workers from the Cabarrus Health Alliance, school systems, hospitals, churches, and other local agencies. Children may be sleeping on the floor because their parents are unable to afford beds due to the high prices they are already paying for diapers, food and housing. There was even a mother that needed a stroller because the family had no car and there wasn’t a nearby bus route, so she had to walk a mile and a half to the grocery store with her six month old baby.
There are far too many stories for us to tell you, but the message is clear. There are so many young children in Cabarrus County who need our help.
Imagine your child is riding in the car with their grandparents and the unimaginable happens. The car they are riding in is involved in a rollover accident. First responders arrive on the scene to find the adults are unresponsive and unable to provide information about themselves, much less their tiny passenger.
Now imagine that it took longer than two hours to identify the adults and the child in the vehicle. During this time, first responders and emergency room staff are trying to console and devise a treatment plan for a scared child whom they know nothing about.
Now imagine that the people in this scenario were real.
The grandparents, John and Linda, were Lisa Klosek's parents. The child is her neice, Michaela. John was injured in the wreck, Linda did not survive, and Michaela was unharmed. Those two hours would have been crucial to Michaela's mother had she been injured or had pre-existing medical conditions.
The W.H.A.L.E. Program stands for "We Have a Little Emergency" and was designed to ensure that first responders had immediate information about a child that they might find in a car seat when they come upon a wreck. The W.H.A.L.E. Kit provides an identification card that goes on the bottom of the child's car seat. It tells the first responders the child's name, date of birth, and any medical information that they would need to know. It also comes with decals for your car windows that the sides of the car seat to allow first responders to know to look for that information card on the bottom of the car seat.
Pick up a FREE W.H.A.L.E. Kit when you attend our School's Out Bash
We will be giving out free W.H.A.L.E. Kits during our School's Out Bash on Saturday, June 8th, 10:00am-2:00pm at Hilbish Ford (2600 S. Cannon Blvd, Kannapolis). Click here for more information about this event and the activities going on that day.
Special thanks to Lisa Klosek for sharing your story with us and for advocating for The W.H.A.L.E. Program.
Every day, we receive phone calls from local agencies about families in Cabarrus County that are experiencing an emergency. Sometimes we have items already available at our office to support the family in need. Other times, we have to purchase emergency need items. All of this is possible thanks to the community’s ongoing support of our Emergency Fund.