"Having gone through the Evansville tornado and having lost one of my four children, I know how important it is to help children maintain their innocence in these disasters while providing parents a few hours to attend to their own recovery needs. I could think of no greater legacy to my son than to help put smiles on the faces of other children facing these traumatic situations and to help by lightening the child care burden on their parents, if only for a few minutes, a few hours, or a few days."

                                                                   -- Kathryn Martin, founder of CJ's Bus

CJ's Bus is a rapid-response self-contained mobile recreation unit which is deployed to disaster sites nationwide in order to keep children distracted and entertained in a safe group environment in the immediate aftermath phase of natural or man-made disasters. The bus is deployed in partnership with local emergency managers in law enforcement and fire and rescue in order to provide maximum benefit to the families and children in communities hit by disaster.

With the goal of being on-site within 1-2 days following a qualified disaster, CJ's Bus is a recognized destination staffed by certified volunteers where families feel safe to leave their children for a few minutes or hours as they attend to the immediate recovery needs of their family, businesses, and community. The objective of CJ's Bus is to create an atmosphere where "kids can be kids." This is accomplished by using the inside and especially the outside perimeter of the bus for a wide variety of entertaining and interactive age-appropriate activities, both active and passive.

CJ's Bus is a 40-foot vehicle equipped with state of the art games, toys, and books that encourage group play as well as individual creative play and gross motor and fine motor active play. Activities for children include drawing, painting, reading, computer games, sports trivia games, videos, jewelry making and other crafts. Other physical play activities: hula hoops, jump rope, basketball, and kiddie pools. Awnings, tents, outdoor rubber matting and fencing are utilized to maximize outdoor activity when possible.

Weather permitting, CJ's Bus will also hold "movie and popcorn nights" for local families, children, and first responders to come and enjoy as a community.

The bus incorporates bright and vibrant colors and images to make it inviting to children and foster a sense of hope in an otherwise desperate situation. The bus liberally uses windows to enhance visibility from within and outside the bus to foster a sense of safety and comfort for children and parents alike. CJ's Bus is staffed by people certified and trained in caring for the unique needs of children in disaster situations.

Children will always be in the care of at least two adult supervisors with a target ratio of 8:1 of children to supervisors. Our volunteers are certified in the Disaster Child Care training program established by the faith-based group Children's Disaster Services, responsible for certifying emergency child care workers for The American Red Cross. Furthermore, we operate under state guidelines for emergency child care services and seek state exemptions in advance of deployment in areas of operation.

CJ's Bus encourages children to focus on their crayons instead of the devastation around them and permit them to remain innocent during disasters. CJ's Bus targets potty-trained children 3-12 years old and is available for supervised use from 7AM to 9PM. Safety for the children using CJ's Bus is our number one priority. All CJ's Bus volunteers have successfully completed security background checks and a three-level (photo I.D./wristband/verified-contact-system) will be employed to ensure that children are safely returned to their rightful guardians at the end of their play care sessions.