[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 18 (Monday, March 2, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1199-S1200]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        NATIONAL SAFE PLACE WEEK

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I would like to take this opportunity to 
commend my colleagues on adopting Senate Resolution 96, which 
designates March 15 through 21 of this year as ``National Safe Place 
Week.''
  Project Safe Place is a unique union of community agencies and the 
private sector that promotes the well-being of our nation's youth. It 
is an innovative network of nonresidential community locations where 
youth who are at-risk or in crisis situations can obtain help quickly 
and find shelter if necessary. Safe Place cultivates community 
involvement to combat child abuse, substance addiction, and crime.
  Since its creation in 1983 in Louisville, Kentucky, the scope of 
Project Safe Place has spread to include more than 8,000 Safe Places 
nationwide, and more than 27,000 young people have sought help at these 
locations. We all agree that our nation's youth are our most valuable 
resource. Project Safe

[[Page S1200]]

Place volunteers have been quietly tending to this resource for fifteen 
years, offering help to youth who are threatened or in trouble. The 
recognition Project Safe Place deserves is long overdue.
  Senate Resolution 96 celebrates this outstanding program and also 
honors the efforts of over 2,500 dedicated Safe Place volunteers, who 
selflessly devote time and resources to protect our nation's young 
people. Two of these individuals--Sandy Bowen, the National Safe Place 
Director, and Mickie Adler, who has spearheaded Safe Place efforts in 
the state of Idaho--have been instrumental in making ``National Safe 
Place Week'' a reality.
  Sandy Bowen has been involved with Project Safe Place for 13 years. 
When the program began to gain momentum and become a nationwide effort 
in 1986, Sandy stepped in as the National Director. Over the years, her 
hard work, dedication, and concern have helped to bring Project Safe 
Place out of its infancy, transforming a simple idea into a nationwide 
force that is now present in over 300 of our communities.
  Mickie Adler has been the driving force behind the Safe Place 
movement in Idaho for four years. In fact, this month marks the four-
year anniversary of Safe Place in Idaho. Last year, Mickie brought 
three students to my Washington office to sell me on the idea of a 
``National Safe Place Week.'' Victoria Smith, Caroline Reams, and 
Jessica McCaleese--all of whom are either High School or Junior High 
School students from Bannock County--were articulate and poised as they 
conveyed the idea of promoting Project Safe Place. I would like to take 
this opportunity to thank these fine young ladies for bringing their 
ideas to my attention.
  Mickie first got involved with the Safe Place movement after Jerelee 
Underwood, an eleven year old girl, was abducted in Southeast Idaho. 
She committed herself at that time to preventing future violence 
against Idaho's children by initiating the first Safe Place site in 
Idaho four years ago. Since that time, Project Safe Place in Idaho has 
expanded to include 250 Safe Places in Bannock County--including my 
regional office there--and 18 sites in the Twin Falls area. Mickie has 
recently been called upon to implement the program statewide, with new 
Safe Places to be added in Coeur d'Alene, Burley, Caldwell and Idaho 
Falls. I want to do my part by offering each of my Idaho offices as 
Safe Place sites. I encourage my colleagues to do the same nationwide.
  There are thousands of people just like Mickie and Sandy who work 
hard every day because they care too much to let our children endure 
difficult times alone and without guidance. In part, ``National Safe 
Place Week'' will serve to honor and recognize these humanitarians.
  More than that, though, ``National Safe Place Week'' will build 
community awareness, increasing not only the number of young people the 
program might help, but also the number of those who themselves might 
contribute to the effectiveness of the program. As a father, a 
grandfather, and a concerned citizen, I would like to personally extend 
a sincere and heart-felt ``thank-you'' to all those who make Project 
Safe Place such a successful program. And, to my colleagues in the 
Senate: Thank you for working with me on this resolution. If passage of 
``National Safe Place Week'' helps only one more youth by keeping him 
or her from turning to drugs, suicide, or the streets, then I know that 
our time in passing Senate Resolution 96 will have been well spent.

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