SEATTLE — The "Courageous Lions for Courageous Kids" program will cover costs for officers and other Seattle Police Department (SPD) personnel to give children and their families stuffed lions, certificates of courage and resources for counseling.
The new program was inspired by a 2022 call by an SPD Community Service Officer. He responded after an 11-year-old called police to report his dad assaulting his mom. CSO Jeff Steuby happened to bring a stuffed animal lion along and gave it to the boy- and felt the need to do more.
He applied for a grant with the Seattle Police Foundation. The grant was to pay for more lions, which would be given along with "certificates of courage" and information about accessing counseling through the Harborview Abuse and Trauma Center.
"Lions, they protect their pride, they protect their family, they're very protective," Steuby said. "I want to be seen as a city, as a department that protects their kids, because these are Seattle's kids."
George Gonzalez, Assistant Director of the Harborview Abuse and Trauma Center, said getting information directly to families immediately following a traumatic incident will make a difference.
"If you're sitting and holding a burden, it just gets bigger and bigger the longer you're holding it, if people are able to process and deal with some of that early on they're able to release some of that," Gonzalez said. "Sometimes we've actually been able to see people, prevent people from having post-traumatic stress disorders because they've come in early after a traumatic event."
The program officially launched on Feb. 28. To learn more, click here.