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Volunteers Help Immigrant Family With Donated Child Safety Seats After Theft

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A story that started out badly has a happy ending for a family who recently moved to Pittsburgh, all thanks to two local charities and Pittsburgh Paramedics.

Gabriel Yaak Manyiel is from Sudan. He's been in the United States for about four years, and moved to Whitehall from Harrisburg to take partial custody of his three children. In December, someone stole his car with everything in it, including safety seats for his two daughters and his son, ages 4, 3 and 2.

While he was able to get another car, a Camry, Manyiel wasn't able to afford the special seats that would allow him to belt all three children safely in the back seat.

South Hills Interfaith Movement stepped in, putting him in touch with Pittsburgh Paramedics. They run a program to distribute donated and government-funded car seats to families in need, and show them -- and families of any means -- how to properly install them.

"One of the number one causes of death of small children are car crashes; and unfortunately, a lot of them are not restrained properly," said EMS District Chief Jeffrey Meyer in explaining why the program is so important. "Some of them may have car seats, but they're not installed properly or they're in the wrong seat."

Turns out, the Manyiels needed special, narrower car seats so that all three children could be belted in the back. At $300 apiece these seats are not readily available, and while the EMS program has a supply of seats to give away, they didn't have the special seats. Chief Meyer reached out to PA TECHS, a regional non-profit car seat association, which agreed to donate the seats.

"I'm extremely excited and happy that whatever I cannot solve you are here to give me the answer to that problem," said a smiling Manyiel as he watched paramedics install his new safety seats.

donated-car-seats
(Photo Credit: KDKA)

The Pittsburgh EMS car safety seat program is one of the larger programs in the region, according to Chief Meyer. It provides scheduled, personal installation instruction sessions on the second and fourth Monday of the month at the city's Training Division the Strip District. Staffed by five paramedics and 13 police officers who are all certified technicians, the program offers help to families of all socio-economic backgrounds, whether they're new parents using a car seat for the first time, have purchased a new car, or simply need to upgrade seats as their children grow.

For Maryiel, the help was a godsend.

"I've no way to describe what you did for me, but God has an answer for you," Maryiel told paramedics. "The help I get in this county, I have never gotten since I've been in this country. I've been in the United States for the past four years, and the help I'm getting in Allegheny County I've never come across elsewhere."

For more information about the free car seat safety checks, visit: http://pittsburghpa.gov/ems/special-programs/index.html

To contact PA Techs, visit:
http://patechs.com

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