The Season of Thanks and Giving: How Your Support Keeps Schools Safe and Sound

The Season of Thanks and Giving: How Your Support Keeps Schools Safe and Sound 

As we enter the holiday season and near the end of 2025, I am filled with gratitude for the meaningful work and ongoing impact from the Safe and Sound team and our ever-expanding community. Every step forward is another achievement for our mission, and for that, I could not be more thankful.  

Your belief in our mission has not only sustained our work; it has helped transform it. 

This week marks the beginning of our annual Season of Thanks and Giving campaign, and for the second year in a row, our partners at Verkada are generously matching all donations up to $15,000. That means that every gift you make will have double the impact on our work to protect every school and every student every day.

Your Impact in Action 

Last year, through the generosity of our community members and Verkada’s matching campaign, we were able to raise $42,000 to support the mission of Safe and Sound Schools. This support is a source of strength as we pursue our shared goal of protecting every school, every student, evert day.  

Through these efforts, as well as the support of our partners, like NASRO and the Motorola Solutions Foundation, Safe and Sound was able to grow and strengthen our online presence and three of our signature programs: 

New Safe and Sound Schools Website 

Earlier this year, we launched a brand-new website as part of our ongoing commitment to keeping our community informed, engaged, and supported with the latest resources for comprehensive school safety. This refreshed website is a big step forward in the reach and accessibility of our mission. 

We worked hard to improve content, functionality, and the overall user experience, making it easier than ever to find the information you need when you need it most. 

We Celebrated 15 Years of Bright Futures  

This year marked the 15^th anniversary of the very first Bright Futures community in Joplin, Missouri. Today, as one of Safe and Sound’s signature programs, Bright Futures has grown into a national network of almost 80 communities spanning nine states, and we are excited to continue to grow this number in 2026.  

In this blog by Kim Vann, our Deputy Director and Co-founder of Bright Futures, she shares just what this program means to communities, students, and the mission of Safe and Sound Schools:  

“Long before I stepped into my role at Safe and Sound Schools, I learned a lesson that has shaped my entire career: kids can’t focus on learning if they’re hungry, tired, scared, or struggling to have their basic needs met.  It’s the very principle behind a phrase many educators know well, “Maslow Before Bloom.” It’s also the foundation on which we built Bright Futures — to help meet students’ basic needs quickly and to give every child a chance at success. This idea, that we must first address the essentials before students can feel safe and reach their full academic potential, continues to guide our work at Safe and Sound Schools today.” 

Especially Safe 

Especially Safe was developed in honor of my daughter Josephine Grace, and her fingerprints are all over the program! We built this with the goal of empowering school safety teams to teach and train in ways that ensure everybody is prepared and protected in an emergency. This year we made important progress toward making that aim accessible by providing fillable PDFs that simplify the process of creating Individual Safety Plans (ISPs).  

Inclusive safety is not a simple undertaking, and I am proud of every step we take to support and equip safety teams to understand the needs of vulnerable populations on their campus and implement plans to support them in an emergency. 

The Averted School Violence (ASV) Project 

In 2025, through the support of Motorola Solutions and NASRO, we enhanced and expanded the ASV database and website, giving school leaders, safety professionals, and law enforcement access to a robust, easy to navigate database of real-world cases of both completed and averted acts of violence on school campuses.  

These cases are more than data points—they prove that prevention is possible and provide insight into strategies that safety professionals can implement on their own campuses. Next month we will host a webinar alongside our partners to dig deeper into some of these cases and lessons learned. Stay tuned for details in the coming weeks on how you can register to join us! 

Looking Ahead: A Season of Possibility 

As we know too well, the work is far from finished.  

School safety requires collaboration and teamwork. It’s something we build together through partnership, preparation, and a shared commitment to protecting students and educators. 

As we launch this year’s Season of Thanks and Giving, I invite you to be a part of what comes next. With Verkada’s generosity, your donation will go twice as far in supporting our work to ensure that every school has access to the tools, training, and resources they need to prevent tragedy and build a culture of safety.  

Together, we are creating lasting impact. Together, we can keep schools safe and sound.  

Thank you for your dedication and belief in this mission. I am honored to do this work alongside each of you and am excited for all we will accomplish in the year ahead.  

With gratitude and appreciation,  

Michele