Thanks for the help with 'baby shower'
On behalf of the Breakfast Exchange Club of Gurnee I would like to thank the entire Gurnee community for their support with our recent project, "Gurnee's Biggest Baby Shower".
In special recognition of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, the project helped to bring awareness in our area to the Safe Haven Law, and alert parents of the existence of the Illinois Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection law.
Our club was blessed to have the cooperation from Warren High School District 121, especially the EXCEL Club who coordinated and organized the efforts of the staff and many clubs including FBLA, Student Council, MECS, International Club, Astronomy Club, Students of Service, and National Honor Society. Also to the Woodland School District 50 staff for their generosity with this project.
This joint effort also included shower gift drop-off sites for the community to participate. These included Gurnee Police Department and both Gurnee Fire Departments, the Gurnee Village Hall, theGurnee Park District, and Hunt Club Park.
Many donations were dropped off because of the publicity our local newspapers provided for us. We would especially like to thank our local newspapers for their coverage and recognizing the importance of this law. Through your generosity over 1,700 baby items were collected and distributed to an area facility that helps families and infants in crisis.
Increasing awareness of this issue and alerting parents of the existence of the Illinois Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection law is vital. This law provides a parent who might otherwise abandoned an infant in an unsafe place, the ability to bring an unharmed newborn seven days or younger to a staff member at a "safe haven", staffed fire station, police station, hospital, or emergency medical facility. The parents may remain anonymous and will not be prosecuted.
While no infants have been reported left at safe havens in Lake County, 41 babies have been safely relinquished in Illinois since the law's inception. Unsafe abandonment's total 49, with 23 of those infants found dead.
If you would like more information regarding this law, it can be found at www.saveabandonedbabies,org.
Together we can make a difference,
Roberta Pfeiffer
Breakfast Exchange Club of Gurnee Event Chair