On today's show, Bev visits The Hope Box, the Georgia Safe Haven Chapter, and talks with Sarah Koeppen, Executive Director and Emily Virkler, Associate Director.  Later in the show, Bruce Gale brings us the first part of an earlier Kid Hero interview with Ana Humphrey, an 11th grade student from Virginia.

Virtually unnoticed, infants are being discarded and abandoned daily. Some die of neglect while others become trapped in an overwhelmed system. There are also babies being sold for sexual exploitation.

Child abandonment is a complex issue. Typically, people think of discarded babies when they hear the words “infant abandonment”.  But discardment is only one issue.

"Discarded infants" refer specifically to newborns who've been left in public places other than hospitals, without supervision and little chance of survival.  At times, women in crisis “discard” their babies in dangerous locations without adequate medical care.  There are various reasons...she could be a victim of sex trafficking, domestic violence, or incest; or she may fear being disowned by her family.

“Boarder Babies” are infants who remain for months, sometimes up to a year, at the hospital where he or she was born, waiting for placement in a home. There is no national database tracking these numbers, and few states monitor them, so it's difficult to determine the numbers, but today’s Atlanta charity, The Hope Box, says that hospitals throughout the state of Georgia are home to boarder babies…at times, there can be up to 50 "boarder babies" in one hospital. 

Did you know that babies, children under the age of three, are being trafficked in the United States every day on the black market? These are "sex trafficking infants" are being sold for sex.  Everyday there are babies who face the threat of being sold to pay off a debt, appease a pimp, or fuel a drug habit.

And this brings us to today's charity, The Hope Box...

The Hope Box is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in Atlanta, founded to address the issues of infant discardment, abandonment, neglect and abuse through legislation, education, advocacy, and Safe Haven drop centers. They are the Safe Haven chapter for the State of Georgia.  Their mission is to rescue and assist at-risk babies age three and under.  @thehopeboxorg

Bev had the opportunity to visit The Hope Box and talk with Sarah Koeppen, Executive Director and Emily Virkler, Associate Director.

On today’s Kid Heroes segment, Bruce Gale brings us the first part of an earlier interview with Ana Humphrey, an 11th-grade student from Virginia. 

One of her greatest accomplishments is a program called Watershed Warriors. What began as a class project when Ana was in seventh grade has since become a nonprofit organization. Watershed Warriors focuses on serving children in high-poverty and racially and ethnically diverse schools and works with the National Parks Service and local organizations to get students into wetlands to learn science, have fun, increase their environmental knowledge, and serve their communities.  Through the program, high school students pair with local fifth graders to promote environmental awareness with hands-on experiments in community wetlands.  She was one of Virginia’s Outstanding STEM award recipients for 2018. @vawatershedwarriors