Springfield YMCA Encourages Parents and Grandparents to Boost Your Big Kid! 
The Springfield Y is pleased to partner with the Illinois Secretary of State’s (ILSOS) office to give away booster seats to families on Wednesday, May 7 from 3:30-7 p.m. at the Downtown Y facility at 701 South 4th Street, Springfield. The ILSOS was awarded a $1,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation to help increase the use of booster seats in Springfield, and ILSOS asked the Y assist with giving the seats to families. Interested families must contact the Y at 217-544-9846, ext. 116 if they need a booster seat. There are a limited number of booster seats available, so pre-registration is necessary and it is first come, first served.
This grant is one of 51 grants distributed throughout Illinois this spring as part of the Boost Your Big Kid campaign. Booster seats reduce the risk for serious injury by 45 percent for children ages four to eight years old. According to a 2011 study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 25 percent of children age four to seven were restrained by a seat belt alone and another 10 percent were riding totally unrestrained.
Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 13. Crash data from NHTSA shows that during the five-year period from 2007 to 2011, 3,661 children were killed in car crashes. In addition, an estimated 634,000 children were injured.
