Previous Tag Sales to benefit the Skipper Initiative
Jewish Community Ctr Inc
110 Grand Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY
845-471-0430
Tag sale to fight baby-shaking
$5,000 was raised in '07
By Lindsay Suchow — Poughkeepsie Journal — May 22, 2008
The tag sale set for Friday from 9 AM to 3 PM (May 23) at the Jewish Community Center of Dutchess County isn't just a place to get a good deal on children's clothing, it's a fundraiser to support a good cause. All proceeds from the Friends of Skipper Sale will benefit the Skipper Initiative, which works to prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome.
Malinda Mortell, one of the event's organizers, said the sale started as a small clothing swap, which raised $40. Through word of mouth, the event grew in size with each passing year, and the last sale held in September raised nearly $5,000.
Large sale
It's gotten so big, in fact, that the sale has outgrown Mortell's Garfield Place home. "There are a million charities," Mortell said. "I choose to support this one, because the thought of losing a child in that manner is the most horrifying thing you can fathom - especially knowing it's preventable with education."
Eight years ago Peggy Whalen and George Lithco lost their nearly 1-year-old son, Skipper, when his day-care provider shook him in a fit of frustration when he cried and spit up on her during his afternoon feeding.
After Skipper's death, Whalen and Lithco formed the Skipper Initiative.
"Parents can identify with this charity, because it's local - the Lithco-Whalen family are on site, handing out information as a reminder of why we're doing this," Mortell said of the tag sale.
It will offer children's clothes, toys and gear priced at only 50 cents and a bake sale featuring goods from the Culinary Institute of America. Mortell said nearly 300 bags of clothing have been donated for the sale.
Whalen said due to the work of the Skipper Initiative, 85 percent of new parents at Vassar Brothers Medical Center are shown Portrait of Promise, a video on shaken baby syndrome, before they leave the hospital with their newborns. By reaching out to legislators, it has become state law for child-care workers to be trained in Shaken Baby Syndrome strategies. |
Skipper Swap raises more than $3,500
On May 26th, the SKIPPER Swap raised more than $3500 for prevention
education. The Swap was sponsored in part by the Babymine group and
made possible by the extraordinary efforts of Malinda Mortell, who
opened her home (and lawn) to host the Swap, and her team of volunteers.
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Shaking Kills: Instead Parents Please Educate and Remember
The SKIPPER Initiative was formed by the family and friends of George "Skipper" Lithco, who was an eleven-month-old resident of the Town of Poughkeepsie when he died on December 3, 2000.
Skipper died from brain injuries he suffered when he was shaken by his day care provider, a fifty-one year old grandmother. She said she lost control when he spit up on her and cried during his afternoon feeding, and pleaded guilty to a charge of reckless manslaughter.
The SKIPPER Initiative is responding to this tragedy by working to educate parents and caregivers about Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) and increase awareness of the ways to prevent SBS incidents.
Skipper was one of the 1,400 babies, infants and toddlers who die or suffer severe injuries each year because they were shaken. If today is an average day in the United States, 8 children under the age of 5 will die or be permanently disabled when they are shaken by a caregiver.
There are local and national efforts to stop shaken baby abuse. Please help.
For more information on the
Skipper Initiative, please email SkipperVigil@yahoo.com.
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SBS is the violent shaking of infants by parents or care givers in moments of rage or anger. Many people are still not aware that shaking causes brain injuries and that the brains of babies and small children up to age five are particularly susceptible to such injury.
One of four shaken infants dies. Half of the survivors suffer brain injuries that result in irrevocable neurological impairment and developmental delays. They don't lose their life, but they do lose eyesight, their mobility and the potential for independent living. Over the first five years, the total cost of medical care for a SBS survivor may reach $1,000,000.
The death of an infant is tragic, but the tragedy is compounded by the fact that SBS can be prevented. An educational program developed by Dr. Mark Dias of the Children's Hospital of Buffalo warns parents of newborn children about SBS. It significantly reduced SBS incidents from one every six weeks to one per year.
We now know that SBS can happen to anyone. Nothing will bring back Skipper. But there is much that can be done to promote education and awareness of SBS and prevent this tragedy from happening to other children.
30 Ways to Promote Your Baby's Safety.
Like every parent, you want to make the world safer for your baby: but there is so much to do, and so little time. Take a few minutes each day for one safety activity. If you follow the guidelines on our National Baby Safety Month calendar, at the end of the month you will have a much safer baby! Print out the page for someone you know with a baby and it wil give them safety tips they might need.
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