CA with tag line 

 525 N. State Street · Suite 4 · Alma, MI 48801 
(989) 463-1422

"The most important thing she'd learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect Mother and a million ways to be a great one."

- Jill Churchill 

In This Issue
About Us 
 
 Child Advocacy is a non-profit agency with a mission to improve the welfare of children and their families through education, training, and support for the prevention of substance abuse and child abuse and neglect.

 Our Staff
   
Audra Stahl 
Executive Director
     
Pam Mahin
Office Manager
 
Ty Warczinsky 
GCSAC Coordinator
 
 Richelle Davis 
Prevention Educator
 
Michelle Zombeck 
 CASA Coordinator
 
Heather Gardner  
 CAC Coordinator 

Heather Therrien  
CAC Case Coordinator
 
Staci Bigelow
Event/Volunteer Coordinator
 
 

Board of Directors  

President
Wes Wickes
Youth for Christ
   
Vice President 
Jennifer Leppien
CASA
   
Treasurer
Carolyn Studley
  Community Representative

Secretary 
 Kelly Piotrowski
Dept. of Human Services
  
Steve Benn
Detective/Sgt.
MI State Police


Sara Bonacci
Sara Bonacci Photography

Wendy Currie 
Mid MI District Health Dept

Colleen Davis
Prosecuting Attorney's Office 
   
Rob DuHadway
DuHadway Dance Dimensions 

Tammy Halfmann
Mercantile Bank

David Justin
 Alma School Board
  
Mike Morris
Detective, Gratiot Co. Sheriff's Dept. 
  
Jamie Richardson
Doehring Schultz Insurance Agency

Matt Schooley
City of Alma Transportation

 
Jennifer Siefker
Tri Lakes Petroleum
  
Jennifer Stambaugh
DeafBlind Central CMU
 
Steve Vernon
 Gratiot Co. Comm. Mental Health 

Joe Yourchock
Community Representative
 

Car

Seat Safety

 

Did you know that at Child Advocacy we can install and provide a safety inspection for your child safety seat?  Child Advocacy has a nationally certified safety seat technician available!
To make an appointment call
 989-463-1422
 or 800-552-4489
Permanent Prescription Drug Drop Off
Site
 
Gratiot Co. Sheriff
226 E. Center
Ithaca
open 24 hrs./day
7 days/week
  
Alma Police Dept.
525 E. Superior St.
 Hours 
8:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.
Monday - Friday
 
Breckenridge Police Dept.
 104 E. Saginaw St.
Hours
8:00 a.m.- 5:00  p.m.
Monday - Friday
 
St. Louis Police Dept.
108 W. Saginaw St.
Hours
Mon. 7 - 3 
Tues. - Fri. 8 - 4 
 
These sites accept
prescription pills and patches.
Program Needs

Gas Cards 
to help cover the cost for medical travel to Grand Rapids or help with transportation of foster children.

Gift Cards to Walmart and Meijer to purchase the specific needs of a child. 
 
Drawing Paper

Puzzles

New Children's Books

Play-dough

Games for younger children to play

Capri Sun Juice Box's

Bottled Water


Community donations help the quality of our programs and are greatly appreciated. Donations can be made directly at Child Advocacy or by contacting our office. (989) 463-1422

Your Feedback!

"I wanted to take a minute to thank you for all the work you + Child Advocacy do to make our community a better + safer place for our children + families - I know it's a huge job!" 
Thank You Card from Alma Community Member  

Quick Links

 
Join Our Mailing List
 

Happy Mother's Day!

Child Advocacy has a lot to offer in the month of May!
 
We are hosting our Superhero 5K, annual banquet, and  CASA and GCSAC will be hosting "T elling Their Stories" art show.  Details of these events are below.  
 
Come out and show your support by attending one of these awesome events!

Enjoy,
Child Advocacy Staff
Check out our website www.linkforfamilies.org .
Upcoming Events 


Child Advocacy Superhero 5K
Run/Walk/Fly
Saturday, May 7 at 9:00 a.m.
Alma Armory, 710 N. State St.
Walk in registration available
Click here to view and print a registration form. 

Superhero costumes are encouraged but are not required!
Our race will be using Chip Timing, which is NEW this year!

Contact Child Advocacy at (989)463 -1422 for event questions or registration information.
 
Prescription Opioid Abuse: A First Step in Heroin Use?
Community Education & Engagement
Wednesday, May 11
6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Alma High School Auditorium
1500 N. Pine Ave. - Alma

Who should attend: Parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches and school personnel.

Registration for this FREE event is not required. 
Please contact Ty Warczinsky at (989)463-1422 for additional information.

Child Advocacy Banquet
Wednesday, May 18 
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. 
Central Michigan Youth for Christ - Alma
$12/person - Lunch Buffet
 
Please join us for lunch as we present the following awards:

Child Advocate of the Year
Child Advocate Organization of the Year 
 
Please call the Child Advocacy office at (989) 463-1422 to purchase tickets in advance.
Summer Safety Reminders
By: Richelle Davis
Prevention Educator
 
As the school year winds down, so does the Protect Yourself Program. At the end of this year, the Protect Yourself program will have been taught to 920 students in Gratiot County. If you have a first or third grader in Gratiot County I have been in their classroom for a five week period teaching them a variety of lessons focused on empowering students on how to keep themselves safe.

The lessons consist of: strangers and dangerous situations, instincts, tricks and lures, good touch/bad touch, and who to tell. Once summer begins, many children's schedules change and they may be left alone, and may spend time with a variety of different people.  Please continue to discuss these issues with your child. 

The personal safety rules we teach every child are:
1.  Say "No"
2.  Get Away
3.  Tell Someone

These rules apply to strangers as well as sexual predators.  Your child has been taught that they are the "boss of their body", and to always tell someone if anyone gives them touches in their personal private body parts, hurtful touches, or unwanted touches.  It is important to reinforce these issues with your child and to make it an ongoing conversation.  Let's work together to ensure you and your child have a safe and fun-filled summer!
Multidisciplinary Team
By: Heather Gardner
CAC Coordinator
 
 
Many members of the 
Children's Advocacy Center's Multidisciplinary Team traveled to Traverse City this month for our annual conference. The keynote speaker this year was Matthew Sandusky.  Matthew  is the adopted son of Jerry Sandusky.

The Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal was one of the most highly publicized sex abuse cases in history. During the trial, Matthew disclosed that his adopted father, Jerry Sandusky from ages 10-16, sexually abused him. Matthew's disclosure interview, to police, was leaked to the media. He and his family were placed in the center of a media firestorm.

Through the traumatic experiences Matthew has experienced he has decided to take on the role of advocate for child sexual abuse survivors. Matthew is giving survivors a voice to raise awareness to an epidemic that still remains mostly silent. He is also showing survivors there is hope and that healing does happen.

Founder of Peaceful Hearts Foundation, along with his wife Kim, Matthew helps promote stronger statute of limitation laws, education for children, stronger mandated reporter laws, and other legislation as the need arises. He hopes that by telling his story he is able to show survivors that hope always exists and that healing will happen. "We have been broken, but with Love and Support, we will rebuild and become stronger than we ever could have imagined".

Matthew Sandusky attended Penn State University, studying Business. He was married in 2011 to his wife Kim. They still currently reside in State College, PA along with their five children.

2016 Alumni Basketball Game

Thank you everyone for an incredible night! We raised $4758 from the game for Child Abuse Prevention and another $2426 to be split between our CASA program and the Children's Advocacy Center on the Raffle!! This is amazing!! 
All 3 of these programs work to improve the welfare of children and their families! 

Thank you to our Sponsors, the Players, Pom Squad (big and small), DuHadway Dance Dimensions, Cindy Hicks and the Middle School Volunteers, Alma High School for allowing us to use the gym, Alma Sports Boosters, AHS Chamber Singers, Topher Goggin, Doug Yarnell, Alex Stahl, Brandi Zoss, the staff at Child Advocacy, and everyone who came out to support us!!! Thank you!!!!

Raffle Winners -
$25 Wal-mart Gift Card - Amanda LeBaron
Great Wolf Lodge - Brad Lemerand
Dell Laptop Computer - Andrea Roslund
Congratulations to all the Winners!!!
2016 Dance Experience

On April 16th we held our annual Dance Experience Event. Dancers from the  DuHadway Dance Dimensions Elite Team wrote a YAC grant, and were awarded $700  for the event.

DuHadway Dance partnered with Child Advocacy for the 3rd year to  offer a morning of dance to over 60 Gratiot County youth. Participants learned  ballet, hip hop, and jazz. They also enjoyed performances by the Elite Team  Dancers, made their own tu-tu or capes, enjoyed a snack, and received a t-shirt  and certificate of participation. 

Thank you to the Gratiot County Community  Foundation, Screen and Stitch, and DuHadway Dance Dimensions for sponsoring this  wonderful event!
S cheduled Classes
 
Foster/Adoptive/Relative Care Support Group
Tuesday, May 10
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. 
Central Michigan Youth for Christ - Alma

Please call our office at (989) 463-1422 to register for the class.
Thank you for reading our newsletter! 

We hope to see you at one of our events in May! 

Please follow our Facebook Page for up-to-date information on programs, events, classes, and of course PICTURES!!  We post pictures from all of our events on our Facebook page.

Read our June newsletter to see who won our Child Advocate of the Year, and Organization of the Year awards!

Happy May Day, Cinco De Mayo, Mother's Day, and Memorial Day! 

Sincerely,
Audra Stahl
Executive Director