charlies house The Home Safety Site About Us

charlie’s house The Home Safety Site

About Us On November 1, 2007, Charlie Horn, a 2 -year-old Kansas City boy, was killed when he attempted to climb a 30″ dresser in his home. It was through this tragedy that Charlie’s House was born. What started as a memorial and an outpouring of public support has grown into a 501 (c)(3) not for profit organization dedicated to keeping the community informed and engaged when it comes to preventing injuries to children in and around the home. There is currently no other organization educating the general public on how to prevent in-home accidents. Charlie's House is the authoritative voice on the issue in our community.

Our Mission The mission of Charlie’s House is to prevent injuries to children in and around the home. Our goal is to help you - parents, grandparents, caregivers, and anyone else make your home as safe and injury-free as possible.

Our Beliefs At Charlie’s House, we have two core beliefs about home safety: 1. 2. We believe home safety is attainable for anyone. No matter who you are, where you live, or how much money you have; there always steps you can take to increase safety. We believe keeping things safe is an ongoing process. Home safety requires frequent evaluation to look for new hazards and new ways to improve.

Why is Home Safety an Important Issue? In the greater Kansas City area, home injuries among children are a leading health problem and are responsible for 65% of deaths among those ages 1 -19. The leading causes of accidents to children are fire, suffocation, drowning, choking, falls, poisoning, or firearms discharged unintentionally. The most alarming fact, however, is that most of these accidents could have been prevented.

Charlie’s House Resources Visit our website (www. charlieshouse. org) to access a number of resources for making your home safer: Charlie’s Checklist Charlie’s You. Tube channel Charlie’s Virtual House Charlie’s House Newsletter Safety alerts and articles Upcoming events

Charlie’s Checklist Utilize these tips to prevent injuries in and around your home: Secure dressers (even short ones), televisions, bookcases, and other tipprone furniture to the wall with restraint straps– available through Charlie’s House Install safety gates at the top & bottom of stairs Block off any railing a child could climb over Fix loose floor coverings & replace flammable rugs Plug in electrical outlet covers/safety caps Provide a childproof enclosure for pets Test smoke alarms & change batteries every 6 months Store purses and shoes out of the reach of the child and out of the entryway Secure window blind cords out of reach of children Place corner protectors on sharp furniture corners Shorten cords on appliances that could be pulled down

Charlie’s Checklist Continued Find & remove choking hazards – anything that can fit inside a toilet paper roll Remove any poisonous plants Cover all trash containers securely Keep a list of emergency numbers near the phone Plan & practice your emergency evacuation plans Purchase a fire extinguisher & store near exit door Secure & store poisons (cleaning products) out of the reach of children Firmly affix stove/refrigerators to the wall or floor Place knives & matches out of children’s reach Apply stove & burner covers Use a toilet lock to prevent toddlers from falling into water

Charlie’s Checklist Continued Use slip resistant mats in the bathtub & on the floor. Set hot water heater to below 120 degrees Fahrenheit Lock away all medications, toiletries, cosmetics, razor blades & any other hazardous items Children six & under should always be supervised in the tub Keep books & toys down low where children can reach them without climbing Move the crib away from any windows In 2 nd story rooms, window guards should be installed to prevent falling Keep a first aid kit in garage Children should use protective gear when riding wheeled play toys Visit our website for more information about these tips and updates to the checklist

Demonstration House Plans are underway to build a safety demonstration house that will provide real-life demonstrations, examples and resources on children’s safety. We will provide educational safety classes and programs for the community, and serve as a resource for families to learn about and acquire home safety products.

Demonstration House So far, land has been secured on the campus of the Kansas City Missouri Health Department at 2401 Campbell Street adjacent to “Safety Street, ” a scale model city block complete with mock storefronts and vehicles. Safety Street features hands-on learning activities for bicycle, automobile, bus, and pedestrian safety. The demonstration house, combined with the simulated street scene will provide a protected, fun environment for teaching children – and now parents – how to avoid preventable accidents.

Charlie’s House History-2008 Not long after Charlie’s death, plans were underway to spread the lessons learned from his tragedy. Capitalizing on the heightened community awareness and the generosity of many, Charlie’s Safe Haven was established (since renamed Charlie’s House). In its first full year, the organization was able to: Supply more than 10, 000 furniture safety straps to families Provide information to new parents Participate in 12 community events Assist in getting a resolution passed in the Missouri Legislature to urge the U. S. Congress and Consumer Product Safety Commission to enact regulations for use of furniture safety standards for tip-prone furniture

Charlie’s House History-2009 Riding the momentum of the previous year, Charlie’s House continued its fundraising efforts with the goal of building a reallife safety demonstration house. Children’s Mercy Family Health Partners, a continued supporter, made a generous donation in both 2008 and 2009. In 2009, Charlie’s House hired a full-time Executive Director, Annette Teson. 2009 also featured the first Injury Prevention Day at the ‘K’ sponsored by Charlie’s House, to help spread the word and teach practical “how-to’s” for home safety. Thanks to the generosity from the Royals Charities, Charlie’s House was able to distribute free furniture straps and safety checklists, as well as have experts on hand to address issues surrounding Home Safety topics

Charlie’s House History-2010 In 2010, Charlie’s House launched its redesigned Web site with the help of a grant from The Junior League of Wyandotte and Johnson Counties, Kansas. 2010 also saw the securing of land for the real-life safety Demonstration House. If donation goals are hit, construction should begin in late 2014, with a completion date in 2015.

Charlie’s House History-2011 allowed Charlie’s House to become truly hands-on with the support of James Engle Custom Homes. Through their generosity, Charlie’s House safety-proofed a model home in the Bluestem subdivision in Overland Park. This home, which was open to the public on a daily basis, provided true room-by-room instructions and examples of how to install safety techniques in the home.

Charlie’s House History-2012 Charlie’s House began the silent phase of a capital campaign to raise the $1. 1 million needed to build the safety demonstration house. Although the capital campaign has not been publicly announced, over seventy percent of the total goal amount has been raised. This has been done through the leadership of an all-volunteer Capital Campaign committee.

Charlie’s House History-2012 Continued 2012 activities included: The Physicians Alliance on In Home Safety in which Charlie’s House is providing safety information to pediatric and pediatric subspecialist offices for the distribution to patients and families Open House Tours at Charlie’s Safety Showcase at the James Engle Model Home (ended March 2013) Charlie’s Chats – informational meetings to educate interested parties about Charlie’s House Conducting speaking engagements on in-home safety in the community as requested A partnering with Crowley Furniture to distribute furniture straps Newsletters distributed quarterly containing home safety tips and updates regarding the organization Communication via Facebook, Twitter and email with educational home safety tips Third Party Fundraising Opportunities such as the Brian M. Anselmo Foundation’s Dancing with the Stars, KC CAN! Auction and Dinner, and Laura Lenhert platter sales with a portion of sales coming to Charlie’s House

Charlie’s House History-2013 On January 2, 2013, John Mc. Carthy was hired as the new Executive Director for Charlie’s House. John brings with him years of experience in coaching, fundraising and education. In addition to continuing many of the activities and programs from 2012, Charlie’s House is working with builders to develop a plan to move forward with construction of a permanent safety demonstration home, with an anticipated 2014 ground breaking.

How to Help Your support makes all the difference. Whether it’s through a monetary gift or the gift of your time, there are many ways to support Charlie’s House. With your help, we will achieve one of our main goals: building our safety demonstration house, where parents and caregivers can come to learn more about the dangers to children in the home.

How to Help- Monetary Donations For check donations: Please make a check payable to Charlie’s House and mail it to: Charlie’s House 6324 N. Chatham Ave, #223 Kansas City, MO 64151 Donate online: You can also pay by credit card online, through our secure Pay. Pal And remember, since Charlie’s House is a 501(c)(3) organization, many times your donations can be tax deductible.

What Your Contribution Does Here’s just a snapshot of the wonderful things we can accomplish with your contributions: $25 provides marketing material for community educational outreach $50 provides five sets of furniture safety straps or other safety products $150 provides 500 new mothers with information about in-home safety issues $250 funds the development of a safety demonstration house in Kansas City $500 provides a safety kit needed to safety-proof an entire family home, a hired handyman to install the products, and an in-home visit from experts to educate the family on hidden dangers $1, 000 or more contributes to all of the above

How to Help- Volunteering Opportunities If you wish to offer help with Charlie’s House or volunteer at any Charlie’s House events, please fill out the form on our website and we will contact you.

Contact Us Charlie’s House 6324 N. Chatham Ave, #223 Kansas City, MO 64151 John Mc. Carthy Executive Director (913) 375 -7123 john@charlieshouse. org