Caldwell Families Get Free Baby Cribs, Nonprofit Seeks To Increase Safety

CALDWELL, NJ — Keeping Babies Safe (KBS), a Warren-based non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring safe sleep practices and products for babies across America, today announced it has received a $25,000 grant for its ongoing “Project Safe Crib” campaign in Essex and Passaic counties.

According to the nonprofit, Project Safe Crib is funded in part by a grant from the Partners for Health Foundation, whose vision is to “make communities healthier, better places to live.” It will fund 127 new, safe cribs for families in Bloomfield, Caldwell, Cedar Grove, Clifton, Essex Fells, Fairfield, Glen Ridge, Little Falls, Montclair, North Caldwell, Nutley, Roseland, Verona, West Caldwell and West Orange.

Since 2008, the Partners for Health has awarded more than $8 million and partnered with more than 105 organizations, congregations, school districts and municipalities to make progress in key areas, the nonprofit stated.

According to KBS:

“Project Safe Crib works to ensure that every baby is able to sleep in a safe and secure crib, with the latest safety precautions, no matter the income level or other limitations of his or her parents. Every year, in response to requests made by the state Division of Children and Families (DCF) for cribs for needy families, KBS purchases and donates cribs, along with copies of a video on safe sleep and other educational materials. The cribs and educational materials are distributed by DCF to health and human services agencies that serve low-income families throughout New Jersey.”

Since KBS launched Project Safe Crib in 2007, its members have been able to donate more than 8,000 cribs across the nation, according to the group.

KBS also works to train DCF staff members in safe sleep practices and provides safe-sleep training to the staff members at the agencies that distribute the cribs.

“We are so appreciative of the Partners for Health Foundation for this generous grant, which makes it possible for KBS to purchase 127 more cribs and ensure their safe use,” said Joyce Davis, president of KBS.

Davis noted another benefit of providing safe cribs: parents won’t use supplemental baby mattresses in soft-sided play yards – a proven suffocation hazard.

According to U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, from 2010 to 2012, 123 infant deaths in the United States were associated with unsafe cribs and 44 deaths were associated with unsafe playpens/play yards. According to KBS, infants die every year in cribs than from any other nursery product. There are about 20 million potentially fatal cribs in the U.S. in current use or in storage for future use, with 26 crib-related injuries requiring an emergency room visit every day.

Photo: Keeping Babies Safe, Joyce Davis

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