MICHELLE WEIMER

Michelle Weimer is a woman of conviction. Her passion for children’s safety has benefited the Nebraska Panhandle incredibly. Trained in 2000 as a car seat safety technician she saw a need for greater community involvement in inspecting car seats and educating caregivers to keep children safer. Michelle coordinated a group of volunteers to form a SAFE KIDS Chapter in the Scottsbluff/Gering area and has worked diligently, against the odds, to make it successful. State Trooper, Mark Van Horn says, “There are literally hundreds of Panhandle children traveling safer today because of her efforts.”

Michelle, a Gering Kiwanian, has organized and conducted three annual SAFE KIDS Days in Gering, one of two yearly child passenger safety seat check-up events she coordinates in the panhandle of Nebraska. By attending child care and development classes and giving weekend car seat safety training classes to Key Club and FCCLA members she has gained the assistance of local high school students for the Gering event.

In addition to the car seat checks Michelle solicited involvement from over a dozen community groups to provide safety events, secured funding to replace defective car-seats and worked closely with all local media. SAFE KIDS DAY continues to grow each year. This year she added the SAFETY QUIZ BOWL, in which children and parents could answer questions related to safety awareness and win donated prizes.

Michelle, the mother of three young children, also works as a physical therapist. One of her children has special needs and was often hospitalized before her recent death. Her commitment to the SAFE KIDS organization did not waver. Described by another volunteer as an “incredibly generous, kind, community minded person who never hesitates to volunteer her services for a worthy cause despite huge challenges in her personal life”, Michelle truly is a Point of Light.