Hershey

Children’s Hospital, The GIANT Company team up to launch car seat safety program

Emmy Sasala, an educator with the Pediatric Trauma and Injury Prevention Program at Penn State Children’s Hospital, checks on the car seat of 5-month-old Kayonni Mosley on Sept. 22, 2020 in the parking lot of GIANT in Harrisburg, Pa. The Children’s Hospital is teaming up with the GIANT Company to make car seats more accessible to families. Credit: Penn State Health / Penn State. Creative Commons

In recognition of Child Passenger Safety Week Sept. 20 – 26, Penn State Children’s Hospital and The GIANT Company held a car seat safety check point today in Harrisburg. The Children’s Hospital and GIANT are teaming up to make such safety sessions more accessible to families in the region.

The car seat safety program is part of The GIANT Company’s recently announced $1 million gift to Children’s Miracle Network to support Penn State Health’s Pediatric Trauma and Injury Prevention Program.

Among those on-hand at a GIANT store at Kline Village Shopping Center in Harrisburg were Daren Russ, district director for GIANT stores in the Harrisburg area, and Deborah Berini, president of Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

View more images from the event here.

The program’s goal is to ease the financial burden for families in need of a car seat and provide safety education. Every 32 seconds in 2018, one child under the age of 13 traveling in a passenger vehicle was involved in a crash, and many times, injury and death can be prevented by correct use of car seats, booster seats and seat belts. However, 59% of car seats are not installed correctly according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Currently, the pediatric trauma and injury prevention team hosts as many as six car seat safety stations per month in Dauphin County. The funding from The GIANT Company will expand this service in Dauphin County and add services in Lebanon, York, Cumberland and Berks counties. Parents or expecting parents can apply to receive a seat and/or schedule a safety check at CMNHershey.org/GIANT. The website also details required COVID-19 precautions.

Upcoming sessions at area GIANT stores include:

  • Harrisburg: 136 Kline Village: Saturday, Sept. 26:  9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
  • Reading: 600 E. Lancaster Ave.: Wednesday, Oct. 7: 3 – 7 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 10: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
  • Halifax: 3777 Peters Mt. Rd.: Wednesday, Oct. 21: 3 – 7 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 24: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
  • Cleona: 481 W. Penn Ave.: Wednesday, Nov. 4: 3 – 7 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 7:  9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
  • Hanover: 455 Eisenhower Dr.: Wednesday, Nov. 18: 3 – 7 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 21: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
  • York: 2415 E. Market St.: Wednesday, Dec. 2: 3 – 7 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 5: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

The GIANT Company’s $1 million gift to Children’s Miracle Network is also supporting the three-floor expansion of Penn State Children’s Hospital. The GIANT Company will be recognized for its support on two “Walls of Hope” in the new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), which is scheduled to open this fall. The walls will include large screen monitors that display inspiring images of children who have “graduated” from the NICU. The gift will also expand the Penn State PRO Wellness Healthy Champions program, which currently reaches more than 600 schools K-12 across Pennsylvania. The program assesses each school’s nutrition and wellness initiatives and provides tailored resources for improvement including food demonstrations, special events and educational resources.

In addition to the $1 million gift, The GIANT Company raised $446,570 this summer for Children’s Miracle Network at Penn State Children’s Hospital by collecting donations at the register, round up at self-checkout, selling reusable bags and the donation of customer’s Choice Rewards points. In March, The GIANT Company also donated $250,000 to five Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals including Penn State Children’s Hospital to support COVID-19 response efforts. The GIANT Company also made a gift when the free-standing Penn State Children’s Hospital opened in 2013 and named the elevator vestibule on the first floor. As the top corporate donor to Children’s Miracle Network at Penn State Children’s Hospital, The GIANT Company has donated more than $11 million since 1996 toward the hospital’s mission to provide world-class care for our region’s children.

Last Updated September 23, 2020

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