Local ‘toy drive’ delivers to child advocacy center: SafeSpace CAC receives big boost from Gorge Fly Shop

Owners Travis and Lyndsey Duddles organized the purchase and delivery of toys and games as well as jackets, blankets, hats, drawing kits, plenty of snacks and other things kids can enjoy at CAC or take home.

SafeSpace — its new name took effect Jan. 1 — was formerly known as Mid-Columbia Child Advocacy Center.

SafeSpace CAC serves as “a single point of contact for child abuse victims in the Columbia River Gorge to get the help they need,” according to its website. “Through coordinated support services that reduce further trauma and offer justice and hope, children and their families can begin their healing process.”

Donations for the Gorge Fly Shop drive totaled $543 in addition to in-kind donations. Gorge Fly Shop added $1,000.

“We just wanted to give back,” Lyndsey Duddles said. “I had the idea we should do something for the community, I knew of the work of (SafeSpace) so starting in November, anyone who donated in the store got 10 percent off. We try to encourage them to spend money in the store, but we also gave people a little more motivation.” Customers locally and online made individual donations via the website, with gifts coming from as far away as Virginia. A Portland customer donated all the snacks.

The toy drive bumps up the CAC’s supply of goods that fill shelves and closets in the cramped offices on Woods Court.

“We have enough stuffed animals and blankets so every kid who leaves here leaves with something comforting,” said Executive Director Beatriz Lynch. “This (toy drive) has been a lifesaver for us. A lot of kids are going to a foster home, and it gives them something of their own. It’s a traumatic experience and it gives them something comforting.”

Lyndsey said the “toy drive” started last year and the name does not fully express what it does, but in the store’s online information the greater need is communicated. “And we are planning for next year!” Duddles said.

SafeSpace is one of 21 publicly-funded CACs in the state that literally provide a safe space for children and families to meet with law enforcement, family advocates, counselors, and other health and social service agencies. The facility includes two secure interview rooms and a conference room where law enforcement can observe interviews with abused children.

SafeSpace serves Wasco, Hood River, Klickitat, Gilliam, and Wheeler counties. “Our population is smaller but we serve the largest area of any in the state,” Lynch said. Sherman County contracts through Bend, but Lynch hopes to add Sherman to align Sherman with Department of Human Services and other resources within the Seventh District Court, of which Sherman is a part.

“That way we all appear before the same judges, and it gives us a bigger voice in the state if we are united in the same area.”

Lynch said that in providing services to families, “Our staff works as a team and all our attention at any one time is on one child, one family.”

Help for parents

“I Didn’t Sign Up For This: A Practical Guidance For Parents During the Pandemic” is offered online on Feb. 4, 5:30-7:30 p.m., sponsored by Prevent Child Abuse Oregon. Visit safespacecac.org for details.

The free workshop “will address concerns and create a safe space for families to process stress in their current environment and offer tangible tools for parents to support their children and manager overwhelming stress,” according to a press release.

It is conducted by Dr. Amy Stoeber, licensed psychologist, and parent mentor Raylene Edwards.