OWENSBORO, Ky. (KT) – Eight-year-old Lillie Dunn had a dream: Bring a Safe Haven Baby Box to Owensboro. With the help of her brothers, her parents and a community who caught the vision of providing a last-resort resource to mothers in crisis, that dream is now available at her local fire station.
Lillie’s mom, Julie Dunn, said she was in the car when a radio ad from Right to Life of Owensboro started talking about a fundraiser to install a Safe Haven Baby Box locally — and Lillie couldn’t put it out of her mind.
“She got home and she tells me, ‘Mom, I want to help raise money for a Safe Haven Baby Box in Owensboro,'” Dunn said. “She has a huge heart, and she just wants to help.”
A Safe Haven Baby Box allows a mother in crisis to safely, legally surrender a child who is less than 30 days old, automatically terminating her parental rights if she expresses no intent to return.
After placing her baby in the climate-controlled, electronically monitored box and closing the door, the mother is free to leave without legal pursuit as the box automatically locks and triggers a series of silent alarms. An individual with emergency medical training is then able to respond within two minutes and take custody of the infant for ongoing care.
The cost of the box is around $16,000.
Lillie and her brothers, Jesse and Elliot, began drawing. They planned to sell their artwork to earn money that could be added to the $8,000 Right to Life of Owensboro had already fundraised.
“My husband and I thought the kids might make like $50 or a couple hundred dollars,” Dunn said.
But word spread as their church, First Baptist Church Owensboro, and family and community caught wind of the project.
The Dunn children raised $2,000 in the first weekend. After six weeks of churning out drawing after drawing, their artwork sold for $8,000, rounding out the total needed to bring a baby box to Owensboro.
“All of a sudden, they’re raising thousands of dollars and we’re going, “Oh, my goodness, we’re going to see this through to fruition,'” Dunn said. “Like, this is going to happen because of the work that the kids are putting in and the way they inspired our church and our community and their family members to give.”
Sunday School classes began pooling funds. Family and friends from as far as Minnesota, Indiana and Georgia gave. A local woman the Dunn’s never met sent a $500 check.
“It…was really special, the way that God just called all these different people, whether it’s people we haven’t seen in years or see every Sunday or have never even met before,” Dunn said.
Throughout the amazing, supersonic process of raising money for the baby box, Dunn and her husband Wes, who serves on staff at FBC Owensboro, have told their children that it is “an opportunity that God has given us to love our neighbor, to love our community, to make a difference.”
“We tell the kids, we hope this box never has to be used. We hope that moms are able to take care of their babies and that baby can stay with their family. And yet, we know in a fallen and sinful world that there is brokenness and that this is a really unique but special way that a mama can receive help in her greatest time of need,” Dunn said. “This is how we can show the love of Christ to our community.”
After a six-month wait between meeting the fundraising goal and finishing installation, the community of Owensboro celebrated the opening of their Safe Haven Baby Box on Aug. 26.
“It was just very fulfilling,” Dunn said.
Friends of Life KY 