Give Kids Safe Shelter, Inc. is an organization of volunteers dedicated to helping the children of the Osceola County community. The non-profit organization was founded in response to the needs of our children. The businesses and local community with interests in Osceola County have banded together to help

The major focus of Give Kids Safe Shelter is to provide support for the organizations shown on the right side of this page under "Whom We Support".

Donate now

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer with
Give Kids Safe Shelter, click here.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer with any of our agencies, please click on the agency logo on this page to contact that agency directly.






Guardian AD Litem Receives Funds from
Give Kids Safe Shelter

Give Kids Save Shelter Golf at Remington Golf Club

October 12, 2011: Lesley Scott, Executive Director for the Guardian Ad Litem program, was presented with a check for $6,000 to help staff a position to follow up on their caseload, ensuring that children placed into home situations remain safe. Also in the photo are Gene Terrico, GKSS Board Chairman, and Lynn McCarron, GKSS Agency Liaison.


Hard times generation: homeless kids

March 6, 2011 5:00 PM: For some children, socializing and learning are being cruelly complicated by homelessness, as Scott Pelley reports from Florida, where school buses now stop at motels for children who've lost their homes.

See Project 192 OUTREACH in the right column to see how Give Kids Safe Shelter is leading the challenge of moving kids from motels back to sustainable housing in Osceola County.

 


Give Kids Safe Shelter donates $10,000 to H.O.M.E. to help homeless families in Osceola County!

 Check Presentation to H.O.M.E


Amazon Logo

Give Kids Safe Shelter participates in Amazon's Associate program. Just click the Amazon graphic on our web page and it will take you to Amazon.com. Place an order and Give Kids Safe Shelter will receive 4 - 8.5% of the dollar amount of your order, at no additional cost to you! So order soon, and order often. Then send a link to our website www.GiveKidsSafeShelter.org to your friends and family to educate them on this wonderful organization and encourage them to place their Amazon orders through us.

iGive.com
Do you need to online shop somewhere other than Amazon?  iGive is another free way to help Give Kids Safe Shelter raise much-needed funds.  Every time you shop at any of 700+ online stores in the iGive network, a portion of the money you spend benefits Give Kids Safe Shelter. It's a free service, and you'll never pay more when you reach a store through iGive. In fact, smart shoppers will enjoy iGive's repository of coupons, free shipping deals, and sales. To get started, just create your free iGive account at www.iGive.com/GiveKidsSafeShelter.

Friends of Give Kids Safe Shelter

Our thanks to these individual and corporate supporters of Give Kids Safe Shelter. Please click on their logos to check out these generous community minded companies.

 http://www.greatorlandodiscounts.com/ Sandy Geroux, motivational speaker

 

 

 

 



Pirates Dinner Adventure CF Concierge Association Kissimmee Bay Country Club

 

Whom We Support Whom We Support
Click on a logo below for more
information on that agency
Osceola Children's Advocacy Center Osceola County H.O.M.E. Program
Youth and Family Alternatives, Inc. Osceola Guardian County AD Litem
Help Now of Osceola, Inc. Sunnyside Village at Park Place

Golf tournament

Give Kids Safe Shelter
"Be An Angel" Program

We'd like to thank everyone for donating to our "Be an Angel Program" in December 2011. Thanks to your generous donations, over 200 children in need received gifts during the holiday season. We will repeat the program in 2012, please click below for information on how you can participate.

Angel Gifts

Click here for information on
the program, suggested gift items and drop-off locations

If you are a retailer who might be interested or if you have a suggestion for a retailer we might contact, please e-mail GKSS “Be An Angel” Program Coordinator Valerie Sewell.

Click for information on our
Retailer Participation Program



Project 192 OUTREACH – Osceola County, Florida

 

Over 1200 Osceola County school children are classified as "homeless", meaning they are not living in stable, sustainable housing.  Many are living in hotels and motels along U.S. Hwy 192.  In June 2010, more than 40 non profit, faith based and governmental agencies saw and served over 1,000 people in need.  This one day event enabled 77 children and their family to gain entry back into typical housing accommodations.  In other cases, evictions were stopped and utility services maintained.  No family left without food.  One mother of 3 small children, living in a tent, moved into an apartment, had a job and the children in day care and pre-school within a few days following the event. 

 

All told, it was a successful event but it was just the first step...as there is much more to do.  Following this event, Give Kids Safe Shelter, a volunteer 501(c)3 organization that for 11 years has supported 6 local children's agencies, was asked to lead the movement to focus on this issue facing so many in our community.  See our goal and plan below .

 

How you can help:

*  Make a donation to Give Kids Safe Shelter's Project 192 Outreach fund - click here and reference "Project 192 Outreach" in the note section of your donation.

 

Please visit and “Like” our Facebook page so that you will be updated on how to help.

 

Project 192 Outreach Partners include:

Businesses, chambers of commerce, local churches and non profits, civic groups, social service providers, law enforcement, the local school district, utility & transportation companies, state and local government agencies and concerned citizens.

  • Valerie Sewell - GKSS & ORAC
  • Robin Wells – Kissimmee Chamber / ORAC Coordinator
  • Pastor Lydia Withrow – The Rock Church
  • Mary Beth Salisbury – UF/ Osceola County & Rotary International
  • Meredith Griffin - Osceola School District; Homeless Children coordinator
  • Warren Hougland - Osceola Council on Aging
  • Pastor Scott Smith – Community of Faith UMC & Four Corners Area Council
  • Donna Sines – Community Vision
  • Mark Brisson West 192 Business Alliance, ORAC & Fun Spot Marketing Director
  • Ron Cole – Osceola County Code Enforcement
  • Karen Hutchings – Kissimmee CVB
  • Hector Lizasuain – 4 Corners Area Council Chair, West 192 Redevelopment & GKSS
  • Randy Johnson – Celebration Business Alliance
  • Wally Krujiack­ ­­­­­­   Osceola County
  • Capt. Robert Yawn – Osceola County Sheriff's Office
  • Gene Terrico – GKSS & Four Corners Area Council

 

Project 192 Outreach's Goal is:

To facilitate the movement of families residing in U.S. Hwy 192 hotels and motels, tents, RVs and cars to suitable and sustainable housing AND the return of the use of the tourism related accommodations back to their intended use.

 

Project 192 Outreach's Plan includes:

1 - Identifying the school bus stops located at non residential areas along U.S. Hwy 192 and working to eliminate them, one stop at a time, by outplacement of children/families from the hotels and motels back to housing that is sustainable.

 

2 - Holding additional “target” Outreach events for 200 to 300 “in need” based on geographical location.

 

3 - Working with  hotel/motel owners who presently house families and eliminating the revolving door syndrome that returns kids and families to non residential facilities.