Vote Early, Vote Often! Facebook members please support SafetyBeltSafe USA

Dear Friend,

We are excited to announce that the SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A. project, Safe and Green, was selected in the top 200 out of 3000 nationwide proposals to compete for a grant of $25,000. Only 40 of the 200 will receive the funds, based on votes by Facebookusers. The project is important for protecting children and young adults from their major killer AND protecting the environment from a deluge of expired, unusable safety seats in landfills.

We are asking for your help in mobilizing the largest network of Facebook voters possible. The task is to go to:

https://www.state-assist.com/cause/3472/safe-and-green

and vote 10 times (it just takes a minute) every day from April 4th (today) to April 22nd. We also need you to send this request to everyone you know who might be a Facebook user OR be willing to establish a Facebook page (my husband has done this!) in order to vote. And be consistent–vote at the same time every day, if possible, so you don’t miss a single day, including April 22, when you must vote before 8:59 pm West Coast time.

Safe and Green has three objectives which intertwine: 1) publicize how to determine if used safety seats can be passed on to a friend or relative; 2) encourage the financially stressed to approach distribution programs for new seats, rather than accepting used seats of unknown background; and 3) move unusable seats—those exposed to crashes, with non-repairable recalls, missing key parts, and/or expired or simply too old–to a recycler that will recycle the components properly, not send them to the landfill. Part of the last objective is to build a network of drop-off points throughout Los Angeles County and other cities near Pomona where TMC Horizon, the only area recycler we’ve found totally committed to this goal, is located.

The funding is needed for outreach to programs serving three key populations: low-income clients; cultural communities who are likely to hand down safety seats to friends and relatives as casually as they would clothing; and families with a strong commitment to recycling. We have made a start, especially in the Long Beach area where Danny Luna of Miller Children’s Hospital and Megan Arce & Tamara Garcia of Car Seat Savvy have created a multi-site drop-off network and are eagerly seeking to expand the numbers of sites.

We have the enthusiastic support of Gayle Anderson of KTLA Morning News, who covered the introduction of the program last fall and expects to cover the update on Earth Day, April 22. Help us to make this a memorable demonstration project which can be a model for efforts around the nation.

 
Thank you. Stephanie Tombrello, Executive Director, SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A.