SLIDELL, La. — You never get over the loss of a child, but for Brent and Amy Savoie, there’s comfort in their work to make sure that what happened to their daughter never happens to another child.
“She was the light of our life,” Brent Savoie said. “She was an angel here on earth that was here for us for six years. We’re grateful for every day that we got to spend with her.”
At just 6-years-old, Brent Savoie said Emma was being led by an after school run club through the parking lot at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School in Slidell when she was struck and killed by a car.
Now, it’s her parents’ mission to keep children safe as they come and go from school through the Emma Bell Foundation.
“There are so many distractions and as parents, administrators – we’ve had a pandemic, we’ve had school shootings and basic safety has kind of gone by the wayside,” Emma’s mother Amy Savoie said.
On Wednesday, they joined Slidell school administrators and city leaders to celebrate the inaugural “Emma Bell Day” and “Safe Path to School Day.”
Decked out in yellow, their goal was to spread a message that matches the color of their shirts: Slow down.
“It’s the color of caution, the color of pedestrian walkways,” Amy Savoie said. “The color of school zones and school buses and bringing the awareness that we need to slow down and stop.”
It’s a message they’re sending to drivers, legislators and parents that nothing is more important than protecting our children.
The movement is already paying dividends in Slidell, where the Safe Path to School Task Force is upgrading school zone lights and cross walks to slow down traffic.
“We absolutely do not want to lose another child in the United States to something that could be prevented,” Slidell Mayor Greg Cormer said.
And the Savoies hope the initiative can spread through the state and even across the country.
“With a little more education, a little more self-awareness, we can make a difference,” Brent Savoie said. “We can make an impact on our community. A positive impact that will outlast us all so that another child and another family does not have to endure this.”
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