“Kids Can’t Wait” by Rick Snyder, a board member for The Villages
The following is a recent speech by Rick Snyder, a board member for The Villages, a detective for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and president of Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #86. Rick has a firsthand perspective of the state of child welfare in Indiana. He offers a glimpse into the lives Indiana’s most vulnerable children. We are grateful for Rick’s commitment to our community and Hoosier children.
Rick Snyder, right, presents Sharon Pierce, President and CEO of The Villages, with a $1,500 donation from FOP#86 at the Prevent Child Abuse kick-off in April.
Throughout my years as a police officer, President of FOP #86 and a Villages Board Member, it has become apparent to me our Kids Can’t Wait!
It takes a collective network of all Indiana residents to protect our children. Sometimes this task seems insurmountable. The past few weeks alone have been terribly tragic and challenging in our state. We, in law enforcement, lost a brother who was working to serve his community in a selfless act of servant leadership and died doing that, and then, immediately after, we saw the terrible, tragic effects of abuse when we lost the beautiful, little baby girl in Southern Indiana.
There are 6.6 million people in the state of Indiana, and over 25 percent of these are children; but these children are 100 percent of our future. Kids Can’t Wait!
In 2015, in Indiana alone, there were over 198,000 cases of child abuse and neglect, and over 20,000 of these children were removed from their home as a Child in Need of Services! When you look at these numbers it can become daunting, but I am reaching out to each of you reading this as one individual…because that is what it is going to take, for each one of us to focus on the state of child welfare in Indiana. It can become scary when we look at what our state is up against, but the Bible says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but be prayerful in everything.” It is my prayer that each and every day all of you will remember… Kids Can’t Wait!” #OurVillagesFamily