Newton, MA – To mark 25 years of teaching Newton children to be “Safe, Strong and Free,” CAP Child Assault Prevention program held its third annual Party for a Purpose on Saturday, March 19, 2016. Hosted by CAP volunteers Dan and Suzanne Demeo, the party was attended by 74 guests from the Newton community for dinner and dancing at The Social Restaurant.

Commendations for service were awarded to CAP by the office of Rep. Kay Khan and the Massachusetts House of Representatives and by the office of Mayor Setti Warren and the City of Newton.

The celebratory event and auction was attended by CAP Director Gail Sommer and CAP volunteers Dan Demeo, Kim Freedman, Jessica Long, Judi MacKenzie, Mary Malloy, Katie Sawatzky, Zoe Stoesser, Marisa Tuncali, and Marcelle Watkin.

“We’re parents of three boys,” says Dan Demeo, CAP volunteer and Party for a Purpose host with wife his Suzanne. “I know I can’t always be with them when they go to school or to go to practice. So I am pretty passionate about the CAP lessons that teach all our children how to stay safe. Because CAP is independent of the schools, it needs our financial support to reach all the kids it does.”

Introduced in Newton in 1991, CAP is a violence prevention curriculum targeting bullying and child assault. In 90 minute workshops delivered to Kindergarten, 2nd and 5th grade classrooms, CAP empowers elementary school children with the right to stand up for oneself, to enlist peers as allies, and to report unsafe situations to a trusted adult. CAP approaches the question of assault within the framework of basic human rights: all children have the rights to be Safe, Strong and Free. This program is delivered annually to more than 3100 children in Newton, Brookline and Boston. For help approaching this conversation at home visit the CAP website at familyaccess.org for a link to the Adult Information Guide.

Family ACCESS thanks the corporate sponsors for the evening: Cambridge Savings Charitable Foundation, Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation, Staples Foundation, Luxury Mortgage Corporation, Demeo Realty Group and RE/MAX, Lieberman Law Office, P.C. and the Newton Elks.