By MICHELLE HERBISON
ABOUT 1800 Geelong children will receive education and protection against child sexual assault following an $18,000 donation from a community foundation to Bravehearts organisation.
Geelong Community Foundation executive officer Andrew Lawson said the donation would allow school-based prevention program, Ditto’s Keep Safe Adventures, to continue educating local children.
“Bravehearts is doing an amazing job educating the children of Geelong to understand what is right and what is wrong and we’re only too happy to donate money towards their endeavours,” Mr Lawson said.
“Statistics show one in five Australian children are sexually assaulted before their 18th birthday. This is unacceptable and, like Bravehearts, we want to see these numbers reduced.”
Mr Lawson said the non-confronting 40-minute live production taught personal safety skills to children in childcare centres and lower primary schools between ages three and eight.
Bravehearts education facilitator Mandy Berry said the donation would ensure more children in Geelong were empowered with personal safety messages.
The organisation’s waiting list of schools across four states wanting to participate in the program was “months long”, she said, with the live show set to reach its 300,000th child in July.
Ms Berry thanked the foundation as “champions for the kids”.
