Media Release: Big Red to deliver child safety messages from capital to coast
The Daniel Morcombe Foundation’s ‘Big Red’ truck will feature in the inaugural ‘Capital to the Coast’ tour next month (October), in support of Day for Daniel 2015.
In the week preceding Day for Daniel on October 30, ‘Big Red’ will travel from Canberra to the NSW South Coast delivering child safety presentations to primary schools from Queanbeyan to Batemans Bay, through to Narooma, and down to Pambula.
The tour is a joint initiative between the Australian Federal Police National Missing Persons Coordination Centre and the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.
As part of the tour, ThinkUKnow online safety sessions will also be conducted, educating parents, carers and teachers on the challenges they and children may face online, and how to overcome them in a safe and ethical way.
AFP Day for Daniel Ambassador Rebecca Kotz, and fellow ambassador and South Coast local Melissa Pouliot will lead the tour, saying it is the first time Big Red will visit the region, and the first time the Daniel Morcombe Foundation will lend the truck for such a tour.
“Educating children on personal safety is the key aim of the foundation, and that of the National Missing Persons Coordination Centre,” Ms Kotz said.
“The AFP proudly supports the foundation and we are pleased to be able to provide this great resource to south coast primary schools who have registered for Day for Daniel.
“The sessions will educate and empower our children to Recognise, React, Report when they feel unsafe in both physical and online environments.”
Ms Pouliot, whose cousin Ursula Barwick has been missing since the early 1980s, encourages all local schools to register for Day for Daniel for the opportunity to have a visit from the ambassadors and Big Red.
“Child safety is an issue close to my heart,” she said. “The greater safety education we can provide, the safer our children will be.”
ACT schools who register for Day for Daniel will also have a chance to secure a visit from Big Red on October 30.
Registration is so easy, it only takes three minutes
To have a chance to secure a visit from Big Red, South Coast primary schools from Batemans Bay to Pambula should register (under the ‘Register your school’ tab) at: www.dayfordaniel.com.au
More information on the ThinkUKnow online safety message can be found at: www.thinkUknow.org.au
Media Contact:
AFP National Media 02 6131 6333
