Hot Line To Receive New Campaign
By MANDY SHEETS

SEBRING — Despite the dwindling number of callers seeking help from the We Care hot line, community leaders say they prefer to resurrect it than disband it.

Only 77 youths dialed 1-800-486-2358 in 2006, but members of the Children’s Services Council say if the line helps even one person, it’s worth keeping.

Kevin Roberts, executive director of the council, spearheaded the hot line’s creation in 1993, collaborating with a national hot line, and localized the initiative two years later.

“This is a subject that is very near and dear to me, but I can let it go if I need to,” Roberts said.

Officials who work with youth said getting rid of it would be a huge mistake.

“From what I see every day, I can tell you in the future you are going to need everything you can get to help kids,” said Bonnie Brown, dean of students at Woodlawn Elementary School. “We have lots of little ones with issues, and it’s only going to get worse as they get older.”

An anonymous local organization that’s open 24 hours answers calls to the hot line.

“We don’t have trained psychologists answering these calls,” Roberts said. “It’s always been billed as a connection to someone who cares. We have people who receive training about how to handle issues involving community mental health.”

Because callers remain anonymous, tracking the hot line’s success isn’t possible.

“There’s no way to know how much good has been done,” said Marcia Clements, counselor at Sebring Middle School. “A lot of
kids just need to talk out their problems and have someone listen. I’m confident in believing the hot line has helped prevent a handful of potential tragedies.”

Officials suggested the problem with lack of use could be in promotion of the hot line.

Since the 1995 launch of the local hot line, the same picture has appeared on business cards and posters advertising the hot line. Although Roberts’ daughter designed the logo of a phone with a rainbow in the background, he conceded it probably needs revamping.

The annual budget for the hot line is $5,000, the majority of which covers printing business cards and posters. Roberts said he is willing to throw more money into the program to better promote it.

The We Care hot line committee may host a logo-design contest and plaster the new logo on stickers and T-shirts.

Promotion in the schools will be the key to the hot line’s success, Roberts said.

“We need a sparkplug at each school to get behind this and be committed to keeping it,” Roberts said. “I think if we can get kids thinking about this hot line again, they will use it.”