Every Child Deserves
a Safe Ride

Help Make It Happen

KidSafe needs your help to keep growing and providing the safety seat that can save a child’s life in an automobile crash.

Saving Children’s Lives

Providing Child Safety Seats to Families in Need

What We Do

KidSafe SAVES LIVES

KidSafe plays an important role in helping to reduce childhood injuries and death in the local communities of the Big Bend area of North Florida by providing adaptable safety seats to families with low incomes. The Safety Seat we use meets all safety standards and adapts to the growth requirements of the child from 5 to 100 pounds. Each seat costs the agency $125.

KidSafe IS PROVIDING VEHICLE SAFETY AWARENESS AND EDUCATION

Always look before you lock

On April 10, Florida began its recognition of Hot Car Death Prevention Month with a press conference on the steps of the old Capitol. Several officials and the parents of a child who died as a result of being forgotten by her babysitter and left to die in a hot car were on hand to make their testimonies and share their unimaginable grief.

Losing a child in this way is beyond tragic. And everyone thinks that it could never happen to them. But it happens.

Sometimes it happens when a babysitter is juggling the care of several children and is distracted by one of them.

Sometimes it happens when grandma thinks she’ll only be in the store for a few minutes.

Sometimes it happens when a loving mom’s morning routine changes and her brain goes on autopilot forgetting the quiet child in the back seat.

Sometimes it happens when a dad thinks someone else is getting the baby and doesn’t check until it’s too late.

And it happens quickly.  In just 10 minutes, the interior of a car heats up 19 degrees. After an hour, the heat increases by 40 degrees.  Children’s bodies heat up 3-5 times faster than adults and heatstroke begins when the child’s core body temperature reaches 104 degrees.

Every time it happens, it is tragic and devastating for families and communities.  Every time it happens, it could have been prevented.  Simply developing a habit of looking in the back seat before leaving a car and locking the car every time you park would save all of those lives.  ALWAYS LOOK BEFORE YOU LOCK!  There are other reminder techniques but all of them depend on taking that extra look into the back seat every time you get out of the car.

KidSafe, is distributing LOOK BEFORE YOU LOCK reminder window clings in the community through many local agencies, pediatrician offices and local businesses.  Contact us if you would like to become part of this effort to save children’s lives.

This LOOK BEFORE YOU LOCK campaign is made possible by a generous donation from St. John’s Episcopal Church Market grants program.

In 2024, KidSafe provided 215 new Child Safety Seats for children in Leon County and 10 for children in Gadsden County

0 %

of those children belonged to an under-served group.

0 %

of those children lived in families whose incomes were below 150% of the Federal Poverty Level.

0 %

of those children lived in families whose incomes were below the Federal Poverty Level (Extremely Low Income).

0 %

of those children lived in families of single parents.

Why It Matters

Every single week
children are injured in vehicle crashes
0
children are hospitalized
0
children die in vehicle crashes
0

NO FAMILY SHOULD HAVE TO ENDURE THE PAIN OF LOSING A CHILD WHEN IT CAN BE PREVENTED!
AND IT IS PREVENTABLE!
The use of Child Safety Seats can reduce the number of fatalities by as much as 71%. – 2020 CDC Statistics

KidSafe Family Stories

Who We Are?

Board of directors and staff
President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Board Members
Staff
Our Vision is that all children ride safely to the experiences they need to grow into their full potential.

KidSafe is the “doing business as” name of Lutheran Social Services of North Florida, Inc.

The agency began in 1989 as a social ministry of Epiphany Lutheran Church and Pastor Bernard Kurzwig with the mission to develop and administer programs to address unmet social service needs in North Florida. Over the years, the agency has undertaken a variety of programs as unmet needs have been identified in the community.

In 2017, the KidSafe Program was the agency’s answer to a plea from several child/family-centered agencies that lacked the resources to provide this service in the community. No other resources were available to provide child safety seats to protect children living in families with low incomes. Since that time, KidSafe has grown and continues to grow, validating the need for the program.

KidSafe Community Partners

KidSafe works collaboratively with partner agencies, distributing new high quality child safety seats to families being served by the agencies. These partner agencies verify the financial need of the family and request a safety seat. In this way, KidSafe does not duplicate any service but adds an important resource to the local network of child and family agencies in the community. The current collaborating partners include:

What's New

Events
Updates
Safety Tips

Engage

How Can You Help?
HOST A FUNDRAISER

for a special occasion such as a birthday, baby shower, or just to get a group of friends together and request a donation to KidSafe instead of a gift. We will provide you with information and post your event here and on our facebook page.

“FOLLOW” OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AND “SHARE” WITH “FRIENDS”

To expand awareness of KidSafe and the issue of Child Passenger Safety.

DELIVER SAFETY SEATS TO PARTNER AGENCIES

The boxes for the car seats are large so you will need a larger vehicle to accommodate at least 4 seats.

HELP WITH EDUCATION, OUTREACH, AND FUNDRAISING EVENTS
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Contact us at [email protected] for more information about these opportunities.

Contact Details

KidSafe
PO Box 1254, Tallahassee, FL 32302