An organization striving to give Diamond Valley residents in distress a safe refuge is turning its attention to youth to get the word out.
Volunteers with the revived Diamond Valley Block Parent program are heading to classrooms in Turner Valley School and C. Ian McLaren School in Black Diamond this fall to spread the word about the program.
“We will probably start with the Kindergartens and Grade 1s and send information packages home with the kids and tell the kids to ask mom and dad to sign up for this,” said Gail Fagan, who spearheaded the program last year. “I’m just going to target the little kids right now because they are the most vulnerable.”
The Block Parent program, initiated in London, Ontario in 1968 after a boy was abducted and killed on his way to school, requires volunteers to get a police record check before opening their homes to potential children and adults in distress - whether it’s fear from a bully, a dog or an injury. Everyone in the household age 12 and older must be checked every two years.
Fagan said the distinctive red and white signs are currently in 35 windows in Black Diamond and Turner Valley.
Her goal is to see them in 50 homes near C. Ian Mclaren School and another 30 around Turner Valley School, as well as in high-traffic areas like pathways and playgrounds.
Fagan got the program rolling again after reading a post on a Facebook site about a nine-year-old boy who was surrounded by teens and threatened with a knife close to his Turner Valley home. Fagan was involved with the program in British Columbia.
She had hoped to have more signs in windows by now, but said there are a few hurdles facing the organization.
The first is the inability for some people to get their police record checks during the Turner Valley RCMP detachment office hours. As a result, Turner Valley RCMP liaison officer Const. James Santschi has been scheduling specific dates for applicants to go to the detachment after hours.
The other struggle is getting residents between 20 and 40-years-old to volunteer, said Fagan.
“If you talk to any service club, or you look at politics, it’s all grey heads out there,” she said. “It’s a tragedy, really. People need to make commitments to their communities.”
Although Fagan was initially frustrated with the lack of volunteers signing up, she learned that the Diamond Valley Block Parents isn’t doing poorly.
“We attended the Alberta AGM in the spring in Leduc with 25 other communities and compared to other communities we are doing quite well,” she said. “There are places that don’t have support from the RCMP and there are rural villages that have one or two block parents for a community of 150 people. I was shocked.”
To further promote the Diamond Valley Block Parents program and encourage more residents to sign up, Fagan said they had information set up at the recreation registration night last week and will also have one during Light Up in December to hand out pamphlets.
“The best thing you can do is get more homes out there so there are more eyes,” she said.
The non-profit organization is also reaching out to local service groups to help cover the approximately $400 to $500 per year costs for expenses like paper, ink and bags, zipper pulls and other goodies to give out to children with the Block Parent logo during presentations.
C. Ian McLaren principal Sherry Agasoster-Jones said she welcomes the Diamond Valley Block Parents program into her school.
“I think it’s a very valuable program because it provides a sense of safety and security for the kids in the community,” she said. “They know these people have been checked out by the RCMP to be safe people and they can go and get help if someone is bothering them and kids are being mean to them and that kind of thing.”
Agasoster-Jones said the majority of students walk to school.
“It gives parents that security to know that if their kids are walking to school that there are Block Parents and their kids can get help if they need it along the way,” she said.
Agasoster-Jones said she is familiar with the program because they had regular Block Parent presentations at her former school.
“They would talk to each class and explain how the program worked and what you could use the program for and what you shouldn’t, like if you need to go to the bathroom or need a drink of water,” she said. “When you’re feeling worried or scared or anxious about something that is the time to approach a Block Parent’s home.”
For more information or to register search for Diamond Valley Block Parent Program on Facebook, contact Natasha Meikle at 403-830-4838, Gail Fagan at 403-933-3494 or email [email protected]
