Program To Aid Kids Needs Help Until Enough People Volunteer, Post Falls Can’T Get Project Safe Place Rolling

A crisis intervention program for troubled kids won’t begin until enough people here volunteer to help, organizers say.

Right now, although the City Council endorsed Project Safe Place in June, only two people have signed up to become volunteers, said Beth Barclay, coordinator. Ten are needed.

The national nonprofit program, designed to help at-risk kids, began in Coeur d’Alene last year.

The program works with area businesses and volunteers to create a network where kids can get help - from counseling to a temporary shelter.

Kids can stay for 24 hours at the program’s “home base” in Coeur d’Alene while counselors and volunteers figure out further steps to take. Some kids return home; others may go to places like The Children’s Village, a shelter for troubled children.

For volunteer Mary Marano, an evening spent with a troubled teenager was much more meaningful than a movie, popcorn and games. The boy had gotten into a fight with his mother and both needed some time to cool off.

“We talked about the situation,” said Marano, who also is a juvenile probation officer. “His parents were in the process of getting a divorce. We just kind of hung out, waiting for the next day.”

After the first night, Marano said the teenager spent a few weeks in anger management classes at Anchor House, a facility of the Idaho Youth Ranch.

Marano said the county’s Juvenile Detention center is experiencing an increase in cases from Post Falls, which shows the city could benefit from the program.

“Post Falls needs it,” she said.

Coeur d’Alene has 48 places where the program’s bright yellow signs have become a symbol of welcome. The program has helped kids from Post Falls, Spirit Lake and as far away as Montana.

In order to begin the program in Post Falls, 10 volunteers, five men and five women, are needed. There are 13 volunteers working in Coeur d’Alene, Barclay said.

About a dozen businesses have signed up to serve as safe places, but Barclay said she won’t actively seek businesses until she has enough Post Falls volunteers.

“We can’t put up the (safe place business) signs until we have the volunteers,” she said.

The only preparation required is a three-hour orientation program, Barclay said.

Volunteers quickly respond to a safe place after a child arrives there in need of help. Then, if needed, they take the kids from an initial safe place to the program’s house.

Volunteers must be at least 21 years old, have a vehicle and pass a background check. They are usually the first friendly face a child sees. Volunteers need to be supportive, nonjudgmental and willing to listen, Barclay said.

Marano has found her time spent on the program fulfilling, she said. Any efforts made for kids to stay away from drugs, crime and sex helps. Project Safe Place is a nonthreatening place for kids to go even if they only need to talk.

Marano hopes recent news of 14-year-old Carissa Benway, whose bones were found in October east of Coeur d’Alene, helps people in Kootenai County realize the importance of a program like Project Safe Place for kids in trouble.

“Maybe this is the tragedy Post Falls needs to bring this program to their community,” she said. “Because it’s scary.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: ORIENTATION Volunteers

Project Safe Place’s next orientation meeting for volunteers is Tuesday evening in Coeur d’Alene. For more information call 676-0772