Central Oregon Safe Kids, a Chapter of the Oregon State Safe Kids Coalition, is a loosely knit organization which works to reduce preventable accidental injury to children ages 0-14.  Although our members work in many various agencies around the region, the Bend Fire Department is the lead agency, and our activities are centered around the Fire Department mission.

We work to accomplish our goals by helping bring information and people together.  Examples of what Safe Kids does are: the Safe Kids Committees in elementary schools, where a firefighter works on a regular basis with a group of fifth graders, who then teach the younger children what they have learned; child safety seat inspection events, held at fire stations; a bike helmet voucher program, where we give a helmet voucher to kids without, so they can have a new helmet fitted at The Center; media programs like our monthly interviews on Good Morning Central Oregon and the bike safety PSAs which we have produced and aired on local television; and our fireworks safety video, which we shot and aired in 2004 and of which we will expand our coverage this year.  We also have produced bike rodeos, assisted with Safe Routes to School, donated bicycles to a local bike riding safety class, and begun a nationwide challenge to all Safe Kids chapters across the country to match our donation to The Sri Lanka Foundation (www.slfound.org) for tsunami relief.

Our members come from the City, the County, St. Charles Hospital, Redmond Fire Department, AAA, American Red Cross, the Bend-LaPine School District, and the general community.  We welcome anyone who is concerned about the children's safety to join us.  We have meetings on Wednesdays at the Bend Fire Department Administration Building.  For more information, please call the Bend Fire Department at 322-6300.