Purple Ribbon Month

August is purple ribbon month in California. We're not in California, but it's also purple ribbon month in Arizona even though it stands for something a little different. If you look it up you'll find that the purple ribbon stands for a lot of different things. In California it stands for preventing death or injury of children in and around cars. In Arizona it stands for preventing child drownings. In either case, it's about protecting our children.



My story:

Five years ago we got a phone call on a Sunday in August. Our friend's two daughter's, ages 2 and 4, were playing outside. The mom thought they were out in the front yard with their dad, who was working on a car. Their dad thought they were inside with their mom. They found the girls in a car in the backyard. The doors were unlocked, and they had climbed inside to play. No one knows why they didn't get out. It was 99 degrees outside that day. Who knows what the temperature was inside the car.

I don't think I'll ever forget the days after the girls died. Everyone got together and had bake sales, they put together a golf tournament, a raffle, and a car wash to help out the family. It was a terrible tragedy, and thankfully there were no charges against the parents. They are good people. They love their kids. It happened to them.

So far this year there have been 22 cases of children dying in hot cars. I haven't been able to find the statistics on drownings, but I know that last month in AZ there were 4 drownings within a week. One of those was a 3 year old boy, the nephew of a police officer, at a family party with a bunch of adults around. It can happen to you, unless you are constantly aware of what your kids are doing and where they are. There are ways to make sure these things won't happen.



I found this website about awareness. It's 4 r kid's sake. Please take a few minutes to go there. Read the brochure they have about ways to prevent accidents. All it takes is a few minutes and you could save a life. And please feel free to copy this ribbon and post it on your own blog with a link to either that site, or back here.