Making Kansas City and the Nation a Safer Place with Charlie's House

Charlie's House is a Member of Nonprofit Connect. Charlie’s House is a non-profit safety organization with a mission to prevent accidents and injuries to children in and around the home.

Did you know that unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death in children? Nearly 12,000 children’s lives are lost each year due to preventable accidents and tragedies to children ages 1-18. In addition, unsafe sleep and SIDS are the leading cause of death in infants between one month and one year of age, with most deaths occurring when a baby is between two and four months of age. Unfortunately, it can happen to anyone, anywhere, and in a matter of seconds. We are Charlie’s House, a safety organization based out of Kansas City, and we aim to change that.

We are dedicated to educating parents and caregivers about common dangers to children in and around the home; Our mission is to prevent accidents and injuries in the Kansas City area and the nation. Through increased awareness, public education, distribution of safety devices, and workshops, the public now has a community resource to assist them in all of their safety needs.

Opening our first Safety Demonstration House

Many families are unaware of the dangers in and around the home, which is why we created a resource that the community needed. With the opening of the nation's first Safety Demonstration House, families, health professionals, and community organizations, including temporary housing programs, are encouraged to schedule a tour of a typical home, where they explore a typical house with a room-by-room experience of how to childproof and the importance of why. The rooms include a nursery, bathroom, bedroom, outdoor deck, family room with stairs, kitchen, laundry room, and the garage/driveway area. 

Families living in temporary housing, whether it be protection, rehabilitation, or another circumstance, need to make sure their children are residing in a safe place. After the transition into a more permanent arrangement, the need is the same. Our SAFE NOW, SAFE LATER program works directly with temporary housing groups by reviewing their living units and determine what safety needs and devices are needed to prevent injuries and accidents to children. When families transition from temporary into a more permanent arrangement, they are encouraged to take the safety devices to their new home.
 

Helping other nonprofits

Natasha Kirsch, Founding CEO, The Grooming Project, had this to share, “Our transitional family residence houses six moms and their children of varying ages. Before any families moved in, it was our goal to ensure that our facility had all the safety precautions of a modern home, allowing the mothers living there to have peace of mind knowing their children would be safe from household injuries.”

Natasha said, “Charlie’s House is a local leader in children’s safety and there was no question that we needed their guidance. The safety experts toured the facility, making all the recommendations and providing most of the safety devices required. We are grateful for the support and have a wonderful community partner in Charlie’s House.”
 

Fulfilling a need

J. Stuart Hoffman, executive director of Charlie’s House, shared, “We didn’t just create a program simply for its creation, but rather fulfilled a need that our community had to provide a safer environment for a child to live and thrive. With numerous efforts from volunteers, founding board members, corporate sponsors and philanthropic funding, we built a model program that didn’t exist until now. Creating a program based on a community need is a natural part of non-profit growth, and Charlie’s House continues to grow daily.”

Another temporary housing organization that is part of our SAFE NOW, SAFE LATER program is Amethyst Place. “Charlie's House has been an exceptional partnership for Amethyst Place by providing tours, education and supplies to ensure the safety in our families’ homes. Our families have been exceedingly grateful for Charlie's House providing these tours and supplies. One of our residents stated, "When I went on the tour, I was so excited to walk in that House to learn all the ways to make my home safe for my children. I was even more excited to receive those items to get started."
 

Connect with Charlie's House

Charlie’s House is a non-profit safety organization with a mission to prevent accidents and injuries to children in and around the home. We strive to make Kansas City and the nation a safer place. Caregivers, community organizations and medical professionals of all levels are encouraged to schedule a tour of our Safety Demonstration House. Learn more about Charlie’s House here.

We are also recognizing the best of best of organization’s committed to preventing accidents to children. We will be hosting the first annual Safe Home Safe Child Award on Thursday, September 30th at The Event Gallery Space. For more information, please click here.



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