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When Palmetto Bay resident Nick Silverio suffered the tragic loss of his beloved wife, Gloria, in a car accident after 31 years of marriage, he decided to honor her memory and continue the spirit of her charitable works by doing something positive.
Although they had no children of their own they were godparents to 14 children and nurtured all the nieces and nephews in their family.
After researching, Silverio found that the Florida Legislature had passed a Safe Haven Law in July, 2000. This was an effort to tackle the problem of newborn babies being abandoned by young mothers who couldn’t, for whatever reason, take care of them. The law allows for a mother/father to bring their newborn infant up to seven days of age to any 24-hour staffed fire or EMS station or hospital as a “Safe Haven” and remain completely anonymous.
Silverio thought this was a wonderful work of goodness to help save little lives, the most innocent and helpless among us, and because his wife always had worked to help children and the elderly, he knew this would be his new purpose in life. So, he created the Gloria M. Silverio Foundation, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization and named the first major project
“A Safe Haven for Newborns” in response to the tragedy of newborn abandonment in Florida.
“I believed from the beginning that if we saved one life, all of our efforts would be worthwhile, and that was 330 precious lives ago — 324 in Florida, five in other states and one in the country of Honduras,” Silverio said.
Although it began in the Miami area, it soon grew to encompass all 67 Florida counties, partnered with the Florida Fire Chiefs Association, Emergency Medical Services, hospitals and many other organizations and agencies in the state. The foundation provides anonymous alternatives to infant abandonment through education, prevention and community involvement. It maintains a confidential 24/7 multilingual Florida helpline at 1-877-767-2229. Calls are received from all regions of the state. The callers have been as young as 13 and as old as 41.
“We’re going to have a telethon in the middle of March which will be live-streaming, on TV and on radio,” Silverio said. “Normally we have events throughout the year — a gala, a walk and a golf tournament — but all of that was postponed due to the pandemic.”
Information about the date and time for the telethon, once confirmed, will be posted on the organization’s website at https://asafehavenfornewborns.com/ and on their Facebook page.
Also new is a special app created to help high school students earn community service hours.
“This is important because, No. 1, and they can do it remotely from anywhere in the state, they can learn about Safe Haven, then they can do a video, or artwork, or they can do a newsletter,” Silverio said. “Then they get a letter of completion and a letter of appreciation for their portfolio and they’ve earned some hours, legally and properly.”
