Tucson family of 13 holding Child Safety Event this weekend

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Posted 7:12 AM 10/11/2012 : "Never a dull moment": Tucson family of 13 hosting Child Safety Event

TUCSON- To say Tawnya and Bruce Groen have their hands full would be an understatement.

When the couple married they had the usual plans.

"We kind of expected two kids, maybe three," Bruce says.

But 21 years later, the couple has eleven children. Eight of them are adopted, while three are foster children. They range in age from seven-months to 20-years-old. "Two seven-month-olds, an 18-month-old, a three-year-old, a four-year-old, lots of pre-schoolers!" Tawnya says.

If you think that is a handful, listen to this. Over the last eleven years the Groen Family has welcomed a total of 40 children into their home. "We all have to do our part," Tawnya says. "We can't just sit around and act like there aren't kids sleeping in CPS offices on a nightly basis."

Given their experience with children, the Groen Family wanted to help other parents. "I think most parents are probably like us," Tawnya says. "You think 'oh I'm going to do this, or I'm going to do this' and then your life just kind of goes crazy."

The couple owns a computer company called " We Heart PCs", which offers logical computer related solutions to home users. At first Bruce and Tawnya thought they would hold an event to teach parents about internet safety for children.

The event snowballed into a Child Safety Event. Parents can bring their commuters to have parental control software installed for free. The Tucson Police Department will also be on hand to fingerprint children. There will also be free texting while driving videos and free internet safety classes.

"We're doing a training session with parents and kids regarding internet safety to let them know what kind of things are okay to share online and what not to," Bruce says.

They're hoping to provide lessons to any family, whether large or small, that will keep their children safe.

The event is Saturday, October 13 at 1931 W Grant Rd Suite 310, from 3pm to 6pm.

They're asking all visitors to bring a new or gently used kid's coat to donate to help needy children in Tucson.

For more information check out the event's Facebook page called "Child Safety Fair & Kids Coat Drive".