The US Department of Health and Human Services partnered with Safe Shores on a back to school supply drive and flu educational event forDC area youth who have been the victims of or witnesses to extreme violence and abuse.

Safe Shores - The D.C. Children’s Advocacy Center works to ensure the safety, health, and well-being of abused and traumatized children in the District of Columbia by uniting the strengths of public, private and community partners to reduce trauma and promote healing. The mission of Safe Shores is to provide a child-friendly, comprehensive, team-based approach to the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases, as well as a supportive environment for child and youth victims of abuse and witnesses to violence. Safe Shores currently serves approximately 800 children and youth annually through its Victim Services, Forensic Services and Therapy programs.

For the event, staff from across HHS collected school supplies and gathered to create back to school kits. Each kit included a back pack, two notebooks, ten pencils, and a packet of flu prevention materials for kids and guardians with individually sized tissue packs and mini bottles of hand sanitizer. At the end of the day, nearly 100 complete kits had been built and a surplus of over 700 pencils, 500 pens, 200 notebooks, 150 hand sanitizers, 100 tissue packs and 100 flu info kits were given to Safe Shores to use throughout the year to keep their students supplied with the tools they need to succeed and stay healthy!

Safe Shores Executive Director, Dr. Aby, joined us at today’s event and graciously accepted our donation.

For more information about Safe Shores, please visit: www.safeshores.com

Fore information about how to stay healthy and prevent the flu, please visit HHS’s website, www.flu.gov