KC 2025 Fall Newsletter by kidscenterbend

givinghope

news & updates

Welcome

New KIDS Center Staff

Eduardo Barraza Forensic Interviewer

Jennifer Crawford Finance Assistant

Cynthia Hunt Director of HR & Administration

Shilo Jiroudek

Front Desk Coordinator

Hailey Porter

Child & Family Therapist

Nikki Rieken Family Advocate

Birké Whitlock

Food & Beverage Coordinator

New Board Members

Dr. Jeff Meyrowitz

Pediatrician, Central Oregon

Pediatric Associates

René Mitchell Communications & Engagement Director, City of Bend

Yolanda Saporito

Founder & Finance Consultant, Mission + Margin

Sofia Stranieri—Board Intern

Capital Campaign Coordinator, COCC

This fall, volunteers at Bend Police Department are lending a hand with our end-of-year fundraiser—by addressing, stamping, and stuffing 4,000 holiday cards. Bend PD volunteers have generously helped with this special project for several years. Check your mailbox for your holiday card in mid-November!

Cork & Barrel hits a new high

This year’s Cork & Barrel raised a record-breaking $830,000 to support life-changing services for children and families. Close to 1,000 attendees came out for this 3-day event series, which featured 21 wineries from the Columbia Gorge and Willamette Valley. We are grateful to everyone who supported this event: our guests, volunteers, food and beverage partners, and many others. A big thank you to our Cork & Barrel Presenting Sponsor, Avion Water Company, Sip Presenting Sponsor Northwest Foundation, our Hope & Healing Sponsors, BASX Solutions, First Interstate Bank, and Les Schwab Tires, our Media Sponsors, Backyard Media, Central Oregon Daily, Combined Communications, Horizon Broadcasting, and TDS, and our Community Builders, Bigfoot Beverages, Central Oregon Radiology Associates, Klein Investments, and OnPoint Credit Union, for making it all possible.

Community events bring the love

Spring’s 1950’s-themed Greased Lightnin’ Bunco Blitz at Bevel Craft Brewing was one of several community events held this spring and summer to benefit KIDS Center. These events have raised $11,719 this year, thanks to these organizers: Bend Brewing, Outside In, Sekse Fit, BrownBag Popcorn Co., Prineville Aerie #2555 Eagles Auxiliary, Immersion Brewing (now UPP Liquids), and Not’cho Grandma’s Bingo at Silver Moon Brewing. There are more beneficiary events coming up (see side column for dates). If you would like to organize an event to benefit KIDS Center, please reach out to Barb Vella at 408-396-4400 or email bvella@kidscenter.org.

Kendall Volkswagon of Bend’s service team, “Das Auto Squad,” raced their Batmobile on behalf of KIDS Center in the Kendall Auto Soapbox Derby, which took place September 6 at River’s Edge Golf Course. This was the second year Kendall Volkswagon selected KIDS Center as their beneficiary, and our staff were on hand to cheer Das Auto Squad to 4th place. Go, Das Auto!

COMING UP:

Join us at these community-hosted events to benefit KIDS Center!

Wild Ride Brewing (Redmond) Pint Night

October 16

Killer Burger Fundraiser

October 20-24

Bevel Craft Brewing Halloween Bunco

October 25

Silver Moon Brewing and YOUNI Movement: Not’cho Grandma’s Bingo

November 23

Va Piano FundraiserBend Tasting Room

December 1-31

HEALING Where play promotes

For young children who have experienced trauma, therapy is a key tool to promote healing. One of the most effective forms of therapy for young clients is Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT).

In traditional play therapy, a therapist works directly with the child, building rapport and establishing trust through a therapeutic relationship. The challenge? Parents often leave the session without concrete ways to support challenging behaviors that can develop after traumatic events.

During a PCIT therapy session, the parent engages with their child while the therapist guides from a distance. “The beauty of PCIT,” explains KIDS Center therapist Kelly Harding, LCSW, “is that it teaches the parent to become the play therapist. As a result, the parent and child strengthen their relationship. Parents receive practical, effective tools that they can use to support and respond to their child in a safe and predictable way.”

PCIT therapy requires a special set-up. The parent and child occupy a comfortable playroom with specialized toys, and the therapist observes their interactions using a two-way mirror in an adjoining room. The parent wears a wireless earpiece, which allows the therapist to communicate with the parent during the session.

With the therapist’s guidance, a parent can respond immediately and appropriately to their child’s behavior. “PCIT gives parents confidence that they can manage difficult emotions and behaviors, not just here in a session, but also when they leave KIDS Center. It sets families up for success now and in the future,” says Gabrielle Allender, KIDS Center’s Director of Client Programs and Prevention.

Studies have noted positive changes in a child’s behavior and mental health in as little as four sessions. KIDS Center therapists have also witnessed profound impacts in young clients. Says Allender, “We’re grateful to have dedicated spaces and a specially-trained therapist at KIDS Center to offer PCIT to our community.”

Putting more tools in parents’ hands

Last year, KIDS Center developed a special toolkit to share with adults in our prevention trainings. Designed for parents and caregivers, our Child Safety Toolkit covers important topics such as internet safety, body safety, child development, and preventing child sexual abuse.

Thanks to a partnership with NeighborImpact, even more parents will receive this valuable resource at no cost.

Additionally, support from Braemar Charitable Trust enabled us to produce a Spanish version of our toolkit. Now, participants in our Spanish prevention trainings can take home a free toolkit and continue learning how to protect their children at home, at school, with friends and online.

Would you like a Child Safety Toolkit? Sign up for a free prevention training with KIDS Center. At your training, you’ll get a toolkit to take home! Sign up today at: kidscenter.org/upcoming-trainings

Taking

on the road

In 2026, KIDS Center will bring services directly to rural communities in Deschutes, Crook, Jefferson, Sherman, Harney and Wheeler counties, thanks to a specially-outfitted RV. When distance is a barrier, our team will drive out in our mobile clinic to ensure every child and family gets the help they need.

Why launch a mobile clinic?

To reach kids in every part of our region.

We believe every child should get the help they need to heal from abuse...no matter where they live.

The need for child abuse evaluations in Central Oregon’s rural areas is growing. So far this year, 36% of clients receiving services have come from outside Deschutes County. After careful study, we’ve determined a mobile clinic is the best way to ensure our services reach all rural children, families, and community partners. Here are two key advantages of going mobile:

A mobile clinic addresses a signiﬁcant barrier: distance.

KIDS Center’s service area is incredibly large— spanning more than 20,000 square miles Many small towns in Central and Eastern Oregon are two or more hours away from our facility in Bend. We’ve heard repeatedly from families and community partners that distance can create significant challenges and prevent them from coming to KIDS Center for a child abuse evaluation.

It’s critical for children to get immediate services to support their healing process. A mobile clinic enables KIDS Center to reach families who can’t come to us.

“ This mobile clinic will signiﬁcantly impact our collective ability to respond to cases of child abuse.

—Lieutenant Roberto Robles Oregon State Police Major Crimes Section

“ A mobile clinic makes it possible for more community partners to participate in a child abuse evaluation— without stepping away from their duties for an entire day.

—Kevin Gehrig, Student Service Director, Jefferson County

School District 509J

A mobile clinic offers a key advantage: ﬂexibility.

KIDS Center has experimented with satellite brick and mortar locations in the past. But these satellites only improved accessibility for some rural communities, not all.

A mobile clinic lets us be fast and ﬂexible. We can respond to critical child abuse cases as they emerge, and go where families need us.

We interviewed three Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs)—in Kansas, Oklahoma and Michigan—with service areas similar to KIDS Center’s and facing comparable challenges, such as long travel times and widely dispersed communities. Mobile clinics have enabled these centers to respond more quickly when children and families need help. As a result, CACs are reaching more children in rural areas and reducing wait times for communities. The impact of mobile clinics has been overwhelmingly positive for the children and families served.

Our staff and board decided to launch a mobile clinic after carefully evaluating the logistical challenges and costs, and gathering input from families and community partners. (See our timeline on the following page.)

Because this mobile clinic will be the first of its kind in Oregon, it will help us learn more about effective strategies for serving our state’s rural areas.

A peek inside the mobile clinic: The interior is divided into four distinct rooms: a comfortable waiting room for families, with snacks, toys, books, a TV, and access to a restroom; a private, sound-proofed exam room outfitted with specialized medical equipment and an audio recorder; an interview room with video recorder, and a discreet observation room so community partners can be onsite to hear a child’s statements during the medical exam and watch a live feed of the forensic interview.

What will our mobile clinic offer?

The clinic will offer comprehensive child abuse evaluations, which include a child-friendly, head-to-toe medical exam and a specialized forensic interview. The evaluation is transformative for a child and their family. A child can get reassurance that their body is OK. They can share their experience—and feel heard. During their visit, families can receive support from a family advocate.

The clinic will also support community partners by providing a separate observation room for law enforcement and child welfare investigators, in line with best practices. Our team will collect and preserve evidence from child abuse evaluations to assist community partners conducting these investigations.

Because a child abuse evaluation can take 2-3 hours, the mobile clinic includes a comfortable waiting room for caregivers and siblings.

Timeline:

Summer 2023

A 3-Year KIDS Center Strategic Plan calls for expanding service access for rural communities.

Who provided funding?

KIDS Center received individual donations and grants from several organizations and foundations focused on health and rural communities, including:

• Dottie and Eli Ashley Fund*

• The Charis Fund

• Central Oregon Health Council

• Central Oregon Health Quality Alliance

• Crevier Family Foundation

• Ford Family Foundation

• Harris Fund for Children*

• M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust

• Craig W. and Linda J. Moore Family Fund*

• Roundhouse Foundation

• Ronald W. Naito Foundation

• St. Charles Health System

* Advised Fund of Oregon Community Foundation

Fall 2023

Rural partners offer input on how KIDS Center can best serve their communities.

Spring 2024

Three Children’s Advocacy Centers share lessons in using mobile clinics to serve large regions. These interviews cement our decision to go mobile.

What’s involved in

operating a mobile clinic?

Every time our mobile clinic goes out, it will take a team: a driver, medical examiner, forensic interviewer and family advocate. Sending one of our evaluation teams on the road requires a higher level of staff coordination at KIDS Center.

Our intake specialists will coordinate with families and the community partners connected to each case—ensuring everyone is ready for us on the day the mobile clinic comes to visit.

We’ve done the homework to budget for ongoing costs to operate the clinic, such as fuel and insurance. We expect the mobile clinic will rack up a lot of miles as it travels the region. To offset the wear and tear— and avoid expensive repairs down the road— we are budgeting for regular maintenance. We are working with community partners in our region to identify permanent spaces for parking the mobile clinic. This will allow us to stage the clinic closer to where it’s needed next, and reduce the number of miles the clinic travels in a given day.

“The mobile clinic will allow victims in our rural community to receive safe and secure assessments here in Crook County.

—Kari Hathorn, Crook County District Attorney

How are communities preparing?

Community partners (such as police departments and DHS) are working to identify safe spots for the mobile clinic to park, to help children and families feel safe and comfortable while visiting the clinic.

According to KIDS Center’s Executive Director Gil Levy, the mobile clinic is projected to serve close to 100 children annually in rural areas once it is up and running. “Our entire team is very excited to begin bringing services to wherever they are needed across our region. We are so grateful for all the support we’ve received that helped bring this new resource to life, and we can’t wait to get started!”