ASHWAUBENON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Grant funding to buy car seats for families in need has been restored after a months long delay; at least for some organizations.
Each year the Center for Childhood Safety in Ashwaubenon gives away at least 120 car seats to families in need. It installs hundreds more to ensure kids are safe when traveling.
Oconto County Public Health, through its Safe Kids program, does the same thing.
It’s a service that means everything to the families benefitting from it.
“It’s super important for our residents to have a safe, reliable means of transportation for their children. And again, we rely on the Center for Childhood Safety to provide that. We’re not the trained experts at Golden House, but they are,” said Marissa Heim the Development Manager from Golden House, that send clients to the Center for Childhood Safety.
The work is made possible with funding from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, through a Bureau of Transportation grant.
The funding comes after it was originally supposed to be available in October but then pushed back until January.
The Center for Childhood Safety now says they received an email late Tuesday night from the state’s Bureau of Transportation saying its 2026 grant was just approved and it can begin using the funds.
While their funding has come through, Oconto County officials have been told the state agency is still looking into the status of its grant.
According to Mary Rosner, the Oconto County Safe Kids Coordinator, “We’ve had this grant for over 20 years. We’re really concerned that this pot of money that does such great things in our community will be gone. And how are we going to meet this need that is a demonstrated need in our community.”
Community members who want to help can make monetary donations to the Center for Childhood Safety or the Safe Kids program in Oconto County.
They can’t accept used car seats.
