Monica Kelsey, firefighter and medic who is president of Safe Haven Baby Boxes Inc., poses with a prototype of a baby box, where parents could surrender their newborns anonymously, outside her fire station in Woodburn, Ind., Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015. The box is actually a newborn incubator, or baby box, and it could be showing up soon at Indiana hospitals, fire stations, churches and other selected sites under legislation that would give mothers in crisis a way to surrender their children safely and anonymously. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

AUSTINTOWN — A gift from an anonymous donor will make it possible for the township to provide a potentially life-saving service.

Township Trustee Monica Deavers said the board of trustees will vote Monday to accept a $25,000 donation that will allow them to sign a lease with Safe Haven Baby Boxes to have one of the boxes installed at Austintown’s main fire station on state Route 46.

“It’s just a reminder that good still exists and it’s in our community,” Deavers said. “This is not just for Austintown, it’s for all of Mahoning County. I hope it’s never used, but if it is, at least we were there to help save a baby’s life.”

A report to the Human Resources and Services Administration from the National Safe Haven Alliance cited unofficial statistics recorded from 1999 to 2021. The numbers show that more than 4,500 babies surrendered through safe haven programs and about 1,600 were illegally abandoned. Of the illegal abandonments, only 608 infants were found alive.

Safe Haven Baby Boxes was founded by U.S. Navy veteran Monica Kelsey, who learned that she was conceived through rape and abandoned as an infant. The company has been in operation since 2016, providing a 24/7 crisis hotline for expectant or new mothers and installing baby boxes at fire stations in 23 states across the country where safe haven laws allow for them.

Deavers said there are boxes in Alliance, Stow and Hermitage, Pa. As far as she knows, Austintown’s would be the first in Mahoning County.

Deavers said she has heard only support from fellow trustees Robert Santos and Bruce Shepas and expects both motions to pass.

After seeing the baby box in Alliance, Deavers said she hopes the township can hire the same contractor that city used because of its experience installing the box. Deavers said that because the money is from a private donation, the township is not obligated to go through the regular public bidding process.

The same thing happened in Alliance when Stark County Right to Life provided the funding for the box after seeing the news coverage when a mother surrendered her baby at the Alliance Fire Department.

Deavers said she was surprised to see negative comments on local news websites about the box being installed in Austintown.

“I think, reading those comments, ‘you have no idea, this never happened in your family, that you were young and pregnant with no place to turn.’ I guess you have to be in that place to understand,” she said.

Deavers has been open about her own experience at age 15, giving up a daughter for adoption.

“Years ago, I was ashamed and that’s why now I’m so passionate, because it was nothing I needed to be ashamed about. I wanted my child to have a better life, but we’re together now and I’m very thankful for it. This baby box, it’s for that mother that has nowhere to turn, it’s a safe, protected place. Something down deep in my heart tells me it needs to be here.”

Deavers said some critics have said the problem does not arise very often, so the box is unnecessary.

“It’s more common than what they think,” she said.

And for Deavers, even one life saved is worth it.

“You can see on their website that Safe Haven just had a birthday party for a little girl who was dropped off, and she’s happy and safe, and you want to thank that mother for that decision, she saved her life,” she said. “Someone took that baby and raised her and she’s a beautiful little girl.”

As for the cost, Deavers said the initial fee for the box is $16,000, Deavers said. There is an annual service fee of $600, which the township will need to cover, although Deavers said Austintown could use some of its share of opioid settlement funds, or she will personally fundraise to cover the cost. She said she expects the township also to use the remainder of the donation to cover additional costs related to the box, including the annual fee.

Deavers said the delivery fee for the box is $600, but she is more than willing to drive to Woodburn, Indiana, where the box is manufactured, to pick it up and drive it back to Austintown.

“I’ll go get it myself and then that’s one year of the annual fee saved,” she said.