ONE VOLUNTEER'S STORY
In 2005, while watching an Oprah show on the impact child predators made on people's lives, Laura Lee became inspired "to do something to protect the children around me." Her faith gave her a sense of mission for this important work.
She searched the Internet and found the Polly Klaas® Foundation Child Safety Kit. Then she approached her pastor, Dr. David Hurd, at Christiansburg Wesleyan Church in Christianburg, Virginia.
Together, they used the Child Safety Kit as a base for a Sunday teaching of parents and grandparents, and took up a special offering to donate to the Polly Klaas® Foundation in gratitude for the Kits.
The following Sunday they taught abduction prevention from the Child Safety Kit to children in each age group. They ended with a prayer circle for missing children, and sent a bouquet of balloons up to heaven in memory of every child that had been lost to a predator.
That bouquet of balloons blossomed into more than Laura could have imagined.
Word spread quickly on how the Child Safety Kit was a great educational tool, and requests came in from all over her community.
Laura approached her employer, The Gap, for financial assistance to provide donations for the high number of Kits that had been requested. She also enlisted the support of over 60 Gap store managers in her region. The Gap donated over $18,000 to the Polly Klaas® Foundation.
Through Laura's initiative, and the inspired volunteering of over 60 Gap store managers in Northern and Southern Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland and North Carolina, thousands of Child Safety Kits were distributed through stores and malls, social service departments, parks and recreation departments, and Boys and Girls Clubs.
Three years later, Laura continues her mission of faith. She's a member of our Rapid Response Team eVolunteers and delivers missing child posters to church members who concentrate on praying for specific children for a two week period.
Additionally, Laura has personally taught classes based on the Child Safety Kit to children at summer camps, neighboring churches, and Girl Scouts. She's also taught volunteers at local social welfare agencies and foster family care. These days Laura likes to focus on higher risk groups that do not have access to the Internet, and therefore can't order the Kit themselves.
Laura motivated people around her--her pastor and her congregation, her fellow Gap store managers, and many other people she's never met to take concrete steps to ensure the safety of the children in their communities.
She didn't distribute all thoseKits, or teach all those kids by herself. She started the ball rolling with the simple idea of teaching abduction prevention to her fellow church members and their children.That bouquet of balloonsblossomed in ways Laura could never have imagined.
Laura says that she will be happy if her efforts help just one child stay safe.
We're grateful for her efforts, and are sure she's helped many, many children and their families. Thank you, Laura.
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