Safety Net to host 'Short Term 12' showing Sunday
DEVIN WEEKS | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 8 months AGO
Devin Weeks is a third-generation North Idaho resident. She holds an associate degree in journalism from North Idaho College and a bachelor's in communication arts from Lewis-Clark State College Coeur d'Alene. Devin embarked on her journalism career at the Coeur d'Alene Press in 2013. She worked weekends for several years, covering a wide variety of events and issues throughout Kootenai County. Devin now mainly covers K-12 education and the city of Post Falls. She enjoys delivering daily chuckles through the Ghastly Groaner and loves highlighting local people in the Fast Five segment that runs in CoeurVoice. Devin lives in Post Falls with her husband and their three eccentric and very needy cats. | April 13, 2023 1:00 AM
Foster teens inevitably age out of the system, going out into the world on their own, with no family to help them establish their new lives as young adults.
That's where Safety Net Inland Northwest steps in.
"It's rough," Ellen Travolta, actress and Safety Net advocate said Tuesday. "It's a hard situation."
To help people understand the difficult journeys many foster children experience, Safety Net Inland Northwest will present the film "Short Term 12" at 2 p.m. Sunday at Regal Riverstone, 2416 N. Old Mill Loop, Coeur d'Alene.
"Short Term 12" follows teens in a group home who will soon turn 18 and no longer be eligible for foster care. Grace, played by Brie Larson, oversees the group home, but has her own troubles to overcome as she looks out for the teens.
Rami Malek's character, Nate, is based on writer and director Destin Daniel Cretton's own foster care experiences.
"I saw this movie with Brie Larson and Rami Malek before they were ever known," Travolta said. "I thought it was such a realistic view of what happens to foster kids or kids that have been difficult to place, when there's nowhere to go, what happens to them."
Travolta said "Short Term 12" can help open people’s minds and give them a better understanding of the struggles foster kids go through.
Tickets are $25 and include popcorn and soda. All proceeds will support the nonprofit Safety Net in its mission to provide basic living items such as food, household goods and furniture for teens who are no longer in foster care, as well as connect them with resources to help them succeed as adults, such as driver education classes and college assistance.
Safety Net Inland Northwest was founded by radio host Molly Allen and Coleen Quisenberry.
Info: safetynetinlandnw.org
ARTICLES BY DEVIN WEEKS
Lakeland High celebrates successful blood drive
Lakeland High School is celebrating a successful Friday blood drive that brought in 85 units that will impact up to 255 people in local hospitals. The school will also be receiving a $5,000 check from Vitalant that will be used to buy equipment, books or laboratory projects that promote and support Lakeland High School science, technology, engineering or mathematics programs. Hosted by the Lakeland Honor Society, the annual blood drive is a longstanding tradition for the high school. "Lakeland High School ran blood drives before I arrived back in 1997," said honor society adviser Frank Vieira, who has been the blood drive coordinator for 28 years.
Hayden Canyon students work with nonprofit to build beds for youths in need
Hayden Canyon students work with nonprofit to build beds for youths in need
Wearing safety gloves and magenta headphones with a galaxy design, Autumn Parks rested a long piece of lumber on a picnic table as she smoothed out the edges. “I’m sanding it down so nobody gets splinters when they go to bed," she said. As an American Heritage Girl, Autumn already had some experience working with lumber. “I made a staff this August, a walking stick, and it taught me how to sand,” she said. “I thought, 'I can sand, let’s do that!” The Hayden Canyon Charter seventh grader shared how she thought it was really cool that her school was building beds for kids in need.
Steve Casey left his mark as dedicated educator, friend, family man
Steve Casey left his mark as dedicated educator, friend, family man
Solid leadership. A dedicated educator. A friend to everyone. Steve Casey lived a big, beautiful life and embraced every single person who came across his path. "Children, men, women, students, it didn't matter their walk of life," Casey's daughter, Tara Nelson, said Friday. "His arms were wide open and his heart was open to everyone."