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Keeping kids calm during a crisis

Seguin, TX, USA / Seguin Today


Keeping kids calm during a crisis

Diane Anderson-Glover of the Texas Child Welfare Council and of the Guadalupe County Child Welfare Board and Paula Beaton with Day I Bags show off the first truck load of bags for the new Serenity Activities Pack (ASAP) bags to be filled with toys and activities and that will be kept in law enforcement vehicles during times of crisis. The ASAP program was inspired by Beaton’s son Hunter who first facilitated the bags for foster youth and who today continues his Day I Bags non-profit organization. Also celebrating the program is Glover’s three-year-old granddaughter Brylee, who was in foster care in Montgomery County and who now is part of the Anderson-Glover family full-time.

(Seguin) —  Whether it’s the next traffic stop or child removal case, law officers in Guadalupe County will now have the right tools to help the children they come in contact with during one of those situations.

Thanks to a new program, “Serenity Activity Pack or ASAP,” local law officers will join colleagues across the state of Texas in helping to provide comfort to children during traumatic events and to help build trust between them and the children.

Diane Anderson-Glover, president of the Region 8 Child Welfare Council and board secretary for the Guadalupe County Child Welfare Board says the ASAP bags are an extension of the Hunter Beaton non-profit Day 1 Bags that have also helped kids in communities across the state.

“You may ask what is ASAP? ASAP stands for a Serenity Activities Pack. A young philanthropist named Hunter Beaton at the age of 15 who was a Scout at the time was astonished to see that his new foster siblings came home with all of their belongings in a garbage bag, and he decided that he was going to do something about it so Hunter began a program with Day I Bags. He filled 100 duffle bags with essential items for foster kids in need. Hunter’s vision has since grown into a statewide program and national partnership that has collected and distributed more than 44,000 bags across the U.S. Hunter is the founder and CEO of Day I Bags and his mom Paula helps to manage their 501c3 non-profit organization. ASAP bags are used for children who are exposed to traumatic events anything like a traffic stop, DWI, house fire, anything where the child is traumatized or like a CPS removal where the child is upset or sees something going on,” said Glover.

Glover says the bags will be filled with plenty of items and kept in the trunk of each patrol vehicle.

“So, the ASAP bags are going to be used for these children who are exposed, and the officers are going to be able to open up the bag, will keep the bag in his vehicle and will open up the bag and let the child you know ‘hey, come here, pick a toy out.’ There’s little stuffed animals, activity books, colored markers, little fuzzy blankets, real nice items. Everything in the bag is brand new so as of today, there are 400 ASAP bags currently deployed in the state of Texas. The Texas Council President came up with the idea after he learned that a young child who was on a traffic stop was scared of a police officer and didn’t want anything to do with him and said ‘no, all cops are bad.’ So, he teamed up with Hunter Beaton and said, ‘what can we do to help these little kids and they came up with the idea with the bags in the patrol vehicle,” said Glover.

The bags are completely free for the officers and will be refilled as needed.

“All of the bags are free to all of the departments. No cost, they are all paid for by the Hunter Beaton Foundation through Day I Bags and being donated at this time. Once, they are filled, we’ll get with community organizations and churches and seek for donations and ask them to buy items off of our Amazon wish list to help fill the bags and then the child welfare board is going to fill the bags and get them out to the law enforcement departments in our county,” said Glover.

Glover says not only are the items inside the bag available for children but the bag itself can also be gifted to a child if needed.

“There will be instructions for using for the officers. In the event that the officer has a child removal, and the kid brings his stuff out in a garbage bag for removal or something, the officer has permission to dump the contents out of the bag and give the bag to the child. There’s no logos on it to help keep the cost down and so that the kid can have something with some dignity to leave the residence,” said Glover.

Glover says so far, the response has been incredibly positive from the various law enforcement entities throughout Guadalupe County.

“We are attempting to implement the campaign across the entire state and have an ASAP bag in every single patrol vehicle in the state of Texas by the end of 2021. I’ve been tasked to contact all law enforcement agencies in Guadalupe County and share this amazing project and pleased to announce that I’ve heard back from all but two – they’ve already told me yes, I want to join in but I haven’t gotten back the number of their vehicles so we estimating approximately 300 patrol vehicles in the county that are going to be involved in this,” said Glover.

Glover says she is excited that Guadalupe County, through its Child Welfare Board, will be one of the first to host this program.

A total of 75 filled ASAP duffle bags have already been provided to the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office.

Glover says all other bags are expected to make their way to other patrol units as soon as possible.

“Currently, like I said, there was approximately 300 patrol vehicles that are going to be involved in it and the bag cost with the contents – they estimate the cost of approximately $25 worth so that gives us about $7,500 worth of contents that are going out to our patrol vehicles including Selma, Marion, we’ve got Santa Clara city marshal, the troopers, game wardens, the constables – we’ve included everybody,” said Glover.

Glover recently announced the program during a meeting of the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court. Glover says the continuation of the program will largely be based on community support and monetary donations toward the purchase of those items for the bags.

To purchase general gift items that will go inside the bags, you are asked to use the Amazon Wishlist link https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/dl/invite/iAqDQRp?ref_=wl_share. At checkout, please be sure to select the address to be shipped to GCCWB-Diane Anderson-Glover’s Gift Registry Address to assure the items are shipped directly to the Guadalupe County Child Welfare Board.

If you choose to purchase an already pre-filled bag(s) to be donated to Guadalupe County law enforcement departments, scroll down and “click” on the “A Serenity Activity Pack (ASAP)” box at www.day.1bags.org/donate/. Cost for an entire bag is $25.

Anyone wishing to make monetary donation are asked to email dianeglover@gvec.net. Contact information to donate is available on the Guadalupe County Child Welfare Board Facebook page.