Manatee Schools
BRADENTON – Last week, every first grade student at two Manatee County elementary schools will be the recipients of a very important child safety and literacy program called, LET’S B SAFE. Thanks to the generosity of the Lakewood Ranch-Sarasota Elks Lodge 2855 and their commitment to keeping children safe from sexual predators and promoting literacy, students will learn the rules they must know and follow every day.
At the end of the program, as a surprise, students will receive their own copy of the book entitled, LET’S B SAFE to read at home with parents and siblings and a plush BE SAFE BEEª.
Brenda Zofrea, creator of the LET’S B SAFEª Program says, ”We target first graders for the program because we want to teach children how to be safe from sexual predators as young as possible but also when they are just starting to learn to read.“
Elks Lodge 2855 has provided this program every year to students attending Freedom Elementary and this year the Elks are including first graders attending Gene Witt Elementary School as well! ”Our goal is to have more community partners/sponsors so that each year every first grade student can receive the gift of safety. ”The students at Freedom Elementary School have been blessed to have continuous support year after year from the Elks,“ says Zofrea.
In January, two high school students from Horizons Academy in Bradenton won first place in a statewide civics-literacy award by reading LET’S B SAFE to at-risk youth. On March 16, a local middle school student shadowed the Elks at Witt Elementary to help bring the program to more first graders throughout the district.
For information about becoming an Elk, please contact Kay Thorsen at 941-345-4516. For information on the LET’S B SAFEª Program or to sponsor a school, please contact Brenda Zofrea at 973-800-3501 or brenda@letsbsafe.com
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