Amy and Brent Savoie, started the Emma Bell Foundation in 2022 after their six year-old daughter Emma died in a car accident in a school pick-up line.
In honor of her child’s love for dance, Amy Savoie gave a scholarship to a student at the
New Orleans Conservatory of Dance.
“The initial thing we did was the dance scholarship through her school to support her joy of dance and spread that with others,” she said.
A year after Emma’s death, Savoie said she joined Andrew Pisa’s Safe Path Initiative in Slidell, which raises awareness and fights for legislation to make school zones/pick-ups a safer place for children.
“I was trying to find purpose in the pain,” Amy Savoie said.
Savoie said Pisa’s initiative gained traction with state legislations and schools in the area that she was able to create a strong message to her community about the safety of driving around children.
Savoie said these conversations are what started the Safe Path to School Yellow Day, an annual event the Wednesday before Mardi Gras every year, where schools throughout Louisiana wear yellow, Emma’s favorite color, to bring awareness to Emma and kids like her who have died in school zone related accidents.
After the first year of her time at Safe Path, Savoie said it created so much momentum that with the help of her community and Senator Bob Owen, they were able to pass House bill Act 362. The act puts in place a policy that all public schools have to follow in school zones, making sure all kids are safe and away from harm.
It’s not just public schools that follow these laws, Holy Name Of Jesus Christ and other private schools in the greater New Orleans areas also make these laws a priority, Savoie said.
“There’s still human safety that needs to be in play, [with drivers] looking all around them,” she said. “And policies that need to be put in place so drivers and pedestrians can be safe. And I really have seen it since we did this initiative.”
It’s not just Emma Bell Foundation that is helping fight this issue, the Donnelly Center at Loyola New Orleans, says they came across the foundation and wanted to help spread the word.
Julia Bueno, the public relations director for the Donnelly Center, says she chose to work with the Emma Bell Foundation because the story moved her and she knew she could help them build awareness and create safety measures that this generation needs.
“I really like that they’re enhancing just children’s safety, because at the end of the day, that’s the future of our country in the next few years,” Bueno said.
According to the highway traffic safety administration from 2013 to 2022 in the U.S. there were 976 fatal school-transportation-related traffic crashes, and 1,082 people who were killed in these crashes. This averages out to 108 fatalities per year.
Lieutenant Patrick Martin, a Loyola University police officer, wants to emphasize the importance of driving in a school zone. He said as an officer he has seen way too many accidents in school zones that could have been prevented and urges everyone to stay cautious while driving.
“Each of us—parents, caregivers, students, and neighbors—can contribute by following traffic rules and staying alert,” Martin said. “Children are naturally curious, sometimes unaware of traffic risks, so it’s up to us as adults to maintain safe behaviors and watch for them. Patience is also essential.”
Savoie says the Emma Bell Foundation is to create the awareness that is needed to prevent horrible tragedies like the death of 6 year-old Emma.
“Our children are the next generation, and if we can’t protect six year olds in a parking lot, then we have a problem,” she said.
