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07/29/2015 08:00 AMEvery time Linda Toscano Bessette posts a link to news of a missing child with impaired cognitive skills, she says a silent prayer they’ll be located, safe and sound.
“Every day, a kid goes missing, especially in the summer—and 90 percent of them end up drowning. It’s heartbreaking,” says Linda, who puts the word out via www.facebook.com/ProjectLifesaverGuilford.
Sadly, in 2011, that exact scenario played out in Guilford, when a four year-old boy with cognitive delays wandered away from his house and drowned in a neighbor’s pool. The event pushed Linda, who has a child living with autism, to “get something done,” she says.
Two years ago, Linda successfully partnered with Guilford Police Department (GPD) to bring Project Lifesaver International to town. The radio transmitter-receiver program already had a track record of saving lives and reducing injuries, due to providing timely, on-target emergency response to locate lost individuals with cognitive delays. On Sunday, Aug. 2, friends and family are rallying to help Linda continue to fundraise for Project Lifesaver of Guilford, CT with a multi-family tag sale at 324 Tanner Marsh Road, from 8 to 11 a.m.
Friends Antonia Kellner and Elisabeth Palatiello came up with the idea of hold the giant summer tag sale.
“I had been discussing with Elisabeth the idea of doing a tag sale raise money for charities, and she said, ‘Why don’t we just do solely Linda’s charity, and really make an impact?’” says Antonia.
Elisabeth offered to set up the sale at her home’s “very visible” driveway on Tanner Marsh Road, to help bring in as many customers as possible (set up is expected to take a while, so no early birds, please).
Elisabeth, Antonia, and Linda have been friends for many years. In a sad coincidence, Elisabeth is also very good friends with the mom of the little boy who died accidentally in 2011.
“I know that she’ll be very touched by this effort, and she loves this project that Linda has,” says Elisabeth.
Everyone who learns about Project Lifesaver thinks it’s a great idea and great cause, but there are certainly costs involved. A 2013 grant won by GPD, and fundraising undertaken by Linda, helped purchase two $2,500 receivers (one for GPD, one for Guilford Fire Department) and budget money for transmitter bracelets and batteries, which need changing monthly. The program is overseen by GPD Detective Martina Jakober.
Each receiver is equipped to pull in the unique radio signal of any person in Guilford wearing a Project Lifesaver transmitter. The transmission (about a one-mile range) is much stronger than what a GPS device might give off.
The bracelets cost approximately $300 and replacement batteries are $30. Currently, a small number of Guilford residents are wearing a transmitter, but Linda is hoping to spread the word—and raise the money—to assist many more.
Linda’s son Gavin, soon to be 11 years old, lives with autism and was the first recipient of a Project Lifesaver transmitter. As a toddler, Gavin wandered away while Linda was busy with her daughter, Laila, a baby at the time.
“When he was about three years old, I was changing his sister’s diaper. I looked up and the back door was unlocked, and he was gone,” says Linda, a Guilford resident since 2007. “I found him running down the street with underwear on, nothing else, because he wanted to see the fire hydrant.”
The family immediately installed a fence around their home and put in an alarm system, “but as he got older, he found more and more ways to escape when you’d least expect it,” Linda says.
She began looking for a program to keep her son safe.
“There was really nothing out there,” says Linda. “I kept researching and found Project Lifesaver. It was in a few states.”
It took a couple of years for Linda’s idea to bring Project Lifesaver to Guilford to take root at GPD, and by that point, Stamford Police had initiated a program, too.
“So Stamford came down and trained Guilford police, and we were trying to raise money for the program,” says Linda. “My husband Bill and I got married in 2013 and I thought we’d take any [monetary] gifts from our wedding and use that.”
About the same time, then-Deputy Chief (now Chief) Jeff Hutchinson gave Linda a call to share news of winning the grant that allowed GPD to add Project Lifesaver to its budget. The program she’d envisioned for her hometown soon geared up and was rolled out.
“And so we’ve done fundraising ever since, so that people who can’t afford the bracelets and are eligible can have them paid for,” says Linda. “Any Guilford resident with a cognitive delay can [have caregivers] meet with Guilford police for an interview, to qualify. We really want to get the word out so people know they can do this not only for a child, but for an adult or elderly person.”
Money donated to the program, such as that raised by the Aug. 2 tag sale will be earmarked for Project Lifesaver of Guilford, CT. The sale will also includes a kids’ lemonade stand, coffee, donuts and other goodies; free-will donations are suggested. General contributions will also be gladly accepted.
“We have an account set up with Project Lifesaver International that’s just for Guilford, so we piggyback with them as the non-profit and we’re able to fundraise and target money for Guilford,” says Linda.
A realtor with Page-Taft of Guilford, Linda is working to try to help expand Project Lifesaver to Madison and Branford and has been in contact with police departments in both municipalities.
“If Madison and Branford were on board, that would be really nice, because we could do some major fundraising,” says Linda. “Right now, we’re in the process of getting Trumbull on board. The goal is to spread it all over Connecticut.”
Gavin’s dad has a restaurant in Trumbull and fundraises for Project Lifesaver of Guilford, as well. Linda invites anyone interested in supporting the effort to come to the Aug. 2 tag sale or send a check anytime to GPD (written to Project Lifesaver International, with “Guilford” in the memo).
While it’s challenging to keep her son safe, Linda is grateful that her efforts have led her to assist others through Project Lifesaver.
“It’s definitely given me a mission,” she says. “I’m very passionate about it, and I feel it’s something I’m able to give back, and make good of a situation that’s really not so good.”
A multifamily tag sale, with all proceeds to benefit Project Lifesaver of Guilford, CT takes place Sunday, Aug. 2, from 8 to 11 a.m. at 324 Tanner Marsh Road, Guilford. Project Lifesaver of Guilford CT donation checks may be sent c/o GPD, 400 Church St., Guilford CT 06437.