Chardon Fire Department celebrated the addition of Geauga County’s first and only Safe Haven Baby Box Dec. 3, inviting area priests to bless the box as part of its unveiling and dedication at the station.
Chardon Fire Department celebrated the addition of Geauga County’s first and only Safe Haven Baby Box Dec. 3, inviting area priests to bless the box as part of its unveiling and dedication at the station.
“The Safe Haven Baby Box stands as a promise that no child will be abandoned without hope and no mother will be left without a safe option,” Chardon Fire Chief Justin Geiss told the crowd gathered in the station’s vehicle bay. “It’s a symbol of compassion and action and a reminder that every life is precious. May this box never be needed, but if it is, may it serve as a doorway to safety, mercy and a future filled with possibilities.”
Pro-life charity God’s Tiny Miracles co-founder Amy Kalal described the effort that went into securing a box in Geauga County.
“(Co-founder Clare O’Brien) and I took off one day in July a year and a half ago, visited almost every fire station in the county and said, ‘We want to work with you to get a baby box in here,’” Kalal recalled. “And we got warm receptions. Walked in here, Justin goes, ‘I want it here.’”
While the Munson and Burton fire departments had also expressed interest, both stations told her the box belonged in Chardon, Kalal said.
She thanked the Chardon Fire Department for its willingness to take on the project, as well as the people involved with God’s Tiny Miracles, donors, the Geauga County Catholic Pro-Life Coalition and the construction workers who assisted.
Infinity Construction, of Warrensville Heights, absorbed the installation costs, including building permits and labor, Kalal said.
God’s Tiny Miracles also presented the fire department with a $5,100 check to cover five years of upkeep.
This box marks the 399th in the country and 22nd in Ohio, said Jessi Getrost, of Safe Haven Baby Box, a 501c3 nonprofit organization.
The company’s founder, Monica Kelsey, was herself abandoned at a hospital as an infant, Getrost said.
Kelsey was inspired to launch the boxes after a trip to South Africa, where she saw one on the side of a church, Getrost said.
“So, she started in her home state of Indiana and now it has just grown and we have 150 boxes in Indiana alone,” she said. “We have saved 70 babies through our boxes and over 177 parents have called our hotlines and we’ve helped them walk into hospitals or fire departments to safely surrender face-to-face.”
The organization hopes eventually to place a box in every state, she said.
The box is temperature controlled at 75 degrees and will circulate air to heat or cool the inside as needed, Getrost said.
It has two doors — one on the outside of the station and one on the inside. When the outside door is opened and a baby is placed inside, there is a 60-second delay before dispatch is automatically notified, allowing the parent time to walk away, she said.
The outside door locks automatically when closed, so no one can remove the infant, Getrost said.
A light on the box will also turn amber when an infant has been placed inside, she said.
The deaths of twin infants in May 2023 partially inspired the idea to bring a box to Geauga County, said CPLC Chair Mike Hollowell, recalling the case from Cleveland in which the mother, a 16-year old girl, abandoned the twins in a trash can after giving birth.
“Once we heard that, I said, ‘We gotta do something to give that woman an option other than being in despair,’” Hollowell said. “This baby box is a result of that. That’s where everything started.”
Hollowell dedicated the box to the twins.
“Out of evil comes good and this is a situation where this box would not exist if it was not for them,” he said.
Rev. Jay McPhillips of St. Helen Catholic Church led a prayer prior to the box’s blessing.
“We just pray for all the women who feel desperate, we pray for all those who feel lost, we pray that this will give them a sense of hope and an opportunity to give life to their children, to allow their children to continue to live so that they can go on with their lives after they give birth,” he said.
Rev. Scott Goodfellow of St. Mary Catholic Church then performed the blessing.
“We pray for all infants who will be saved through (the box), their mothers, their families, the struggles that they go through,” he said. “May this baby box be a sign of great love and great hope in our community. May you continue to bless us as we spread the word about it, that many mothers and children may be helped through this and that (they) may know the life that our Lord has given to them.”
