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Protecting children in the nick of time

Greeks give local children watches designed to protect them from being kidnapped.

Alexander Comisar

Media Credit: Joshua Sy | Daily Trojan Safety time | Eduardo Xol, host of ABC's "Extreme Home Makeover," puts an "Amber Watch" on a child from the Ketchum-Downtown YMCA at an event sponsored by Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority Wednesday afternoon.

Forty-three inner-city children gathered around the front of the Kappa Kappa Gamma house to receive "Amber Watches" on Wednesday afternoon as part of an effort to protect children from abduction and sexual predators.

The presidents of Kappa Kappa Gamma and Pi Kappa Alpha, in partnership with the Amber Watch Foundation, presented the safety watches to the children of the Ketchum-Downtown YMCA.

"Amber Watch's mission is to educate children and their parents about how to stay safe from sexual predators," said Keith Jarrett, executive director of the Amber Watch Foundation.

The watches are designed to protect children from abductors by emitting a loud, high frequency alarm at the touch of a button on its face.

Lawrence Manion, chief of the Los Angeles School District Police Department, thinks that the alarm, in addition to its preventative benefits, will also serve a valuable purpose as a deterrent.

"The criminal element is going to know that, 'Oh my goodness, these kids are wearing a watch that is going to alert other citizens if I approach them or if I do something that is out of the normal,'" Manion said.

Among the presenters were leaders from Kappa and Pike, the two Greek organizations involved in Amber Watch's effort. Together, the sorority and fraternity raised $26,000, which they formally presented to the Amber Watch Foundation at the event.

When the children in attendance heard this figure, most of them gasped in disbelief.

Pike has been working to raise money for the watches since the campaign's launch.

"We met with (Amber Watch) during their big premiere party, and they contacted us about working with them," said Nick Lavidge, philanthropy chair of the fraternity and a junior majoring in business administration. "We decided that we really wanted to get involved."

After initial doubts about meeting their original fund-raising goal of $20,000, PIKE decided to enlist the help of Kappa. The sorority accepted the challenge.

"The thing about the Amber Watch Foundation that is so important to us is that we've got so many different schools around the area, and we know that USC is not located in the best of neighborhoods," said Julie Barmeyer, president of Kappa and a junior majoring in business administration. "But we really wanted to make a proactive effort to help the community, and this is one thing we could very easily do."

Beyond USC's Greek community, the Amber Watch Foundation has piqued the interest of several larger charitable organizations. Present at Wednesday's event were Eduardo Xol of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," and Julie Magallanes-Guevara, executive director of Getty House Foundation.

"We feel that (Amber Watch) empowers children and encourages them to step up and speak out or, as this watch does, alert people when they think they are not being treated right," Guevara said. "I'm here to show support for the education initiatives that they are bringing into the LAUSD."

After the presentation and a few photos, the children dispersed to eat cookies and play with their new watches.

"We don't actually see all of our fund-raising efforts materialize all the time," Barmeyer said. "The kids were so excited to get the watches, and they are all wearing them now. Seeing this impact just makes it that much more real for us."

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