Spreading ‘Safety’: Big donation helps Spokane nonprofit Safety Net expand its reach into Idaho

State borders matter little if teens need support before and after they’re set to age out of foster care systems. Now expanding its reach into Idaho, the Spokane nonprofit Safety Net helps create pathways for regional foster youth to start successful lives as adults.

That can start as young as 16, such as paying costs for band or football camp toward a college future, when the foster family can’t afford it. A recent $20,000 donation from North Idaho resident Don “Pepper” Smock will widened the group’s reach into Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene, said co-founder Coleen Quisenberry.

“We’ve always helped in North Idaho, but we’ve never physically been in North Idaho. Now we’ll have one volunteer who will be feet on the ground,” Quisenberry said. “We may find the need is even greater there.”

Started in 2009, Safety Net’s help ranges from paying for high school extras to housing costs at college. It also provides furniture for a first apartment or backs technology needed to learn. It’s all meant to bolster foster kids’ opportunities near and past age 18, when they leave a state foster system.

The cause is supported by two co-founders: Quisenberry, a Spokane Valley business owner, and Molly Allen, a Spokane radio personality as part of the Dave, Ken and Molly show on 92.9 FM.

Safety Net supporter Ellen Travolta, Allen’s mother, also is working to help spread the word about the nonprofit’s push into the Coeur d’Alene area. Allen believes Smock’s donation will make a significant difference.

“With this money earmarked for North Idaho and now with volunteers in place so people can know about us, we’re going to get new exposure – that way we can help more people,” Allen said. “Part of it is development over there and getting Safety Net known. With that exposure, it will bring out the needs.”

Safety Net won’t have a physical Idaho address, but it will have support services and volunteers working in that region, Quisenberry said. That’s true in Spokane, as well, and the group uses Quisenberry’s business for administrative work. It has one part-time employee, and all others are volunteers. The nonprofit has a storage space near Pines Road and Trent Avenue with furniture and items that foster youth need.

In Idaho, Quisenberry said the main volunteer will be Kristen Neeser, who will spend time regularly going to events and later into schools to spread information about Safety Net’s support. The Idaho expansion work became official in March. Quisenberry credited Smock for making it possible.

“He donated $20,000 and requested we use it there,” she said. “Kris will put together a team of volunteers needed for help with delivering furniture, getting them to a doctor’s appointment or moving them into a place or out of a place. She’ll need more volunteers.”

Over the years, she said Safety Net has helped pay for books for schools or money to participate in band. One recipient couldn’t pay rent and received support from the nonprofit because he was paying for medical school. They also helped him pay for the national test to become a doctor.

Sometimes foster youth face stereotyping, Quisenberry added. One young man had his front tooth knocked out in a car accident, but the procedure for a repair was considered cosmetic. He had trouble finding work, so Safety Net paid for his dental costs, she said. The group also will give food vouchers to junior- and senior-year high school students when they show good attendance records.

Safety Net plans to reschedule a movie and benefit at Regal Riverstone in Coeur d’Alene, which was canceled in March with stay-home orders because of the coronavirus. That date isn’t set yet, but the film “Short Term 12” offers a way to talk to the community about challenges faced by foster youth.

The movie isn’t directly about foster care, Quisenberry said, but many of the youth in it are foster kids. A film description says, “Foster care ends at 18. Growing up doesn’t.”

“It shows the idea of what it feels like when they have to age out, and they’re not ready,” she said. “We need to support these kids, the community needs to support them.”

Safety Net volunteers know many of the kids they work with aren’t trained in certain life skills for being on their own, Quisenberry added. They often can’t afford driver’s education classes. They might not get help with college applications or the related financial maze, she said.

“The support is meant to keep them from falling through cracks,” she said. “The statistics are very poor for those who leave foster care. We’re trying to give them the support that a family would.

“North Idaho has a great need, so we’re trying to get to more youth there.”