Christopher’s Clubhouse Vanquishing predators through education and empowerment
By Alison Elsner For DMHN On August 7, 1995, Mika Moulton’s ten year old son, Christopher Meyer, was kidnapped from a neighborhood wooded play area in the town of Aroma Park, Illinois. As Mika describes in her extremely moving narrative on the Christopher’s Clubhouse website (christophersclubhouse.org/about/ chris-story), Chris had developed “a compassion and understanding of
others and an even deeper caring for animals. He could often be found climbing a tree to put a baby bird back in a nest. He would make me stop if he saw an injured animal on the side of the road. He could make friends with anyone or anything.” After an eight-day search and the deepest emotional turmoil one could likely never imagine, Christopher’s body was found. He had been stabbed over 50 times, and his little body was mutilated. The “man” who killed him
had been recently released from prison for murdering a five year old girl 15 years earlier. He is currently serving life without parole. (Although sentenced to death, the Illinois Governor then placed a moratorium on the death penalty). Moulton galvanized her devastation, despair, loss and anger and channeled that energy into a highly compelling force that has now helped thousands of other kids, families and communities. In addition to fighting
for legislation to protect kids and keep violent predators behind bars as well as serving as a well known speaker about crimes against children, she founded Christopher’s Clubhouse, a non-profit safety education and empowerment organization. She actually started providing services in Illinois and working with the Sheriff’s office there in 1996, a year after Christopher’s murder. When she moved to the Coachella Valley, she created a 501(c)(3) in 2007. Outreach is dedicated to providing educational Continues on page 6 >>
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