Savannah Perkins

By Savannah Perkins

As the Logan facility construction comes closer to completion and the month of child abuse awareness comes to an end, one name will retain significance.

Belva Hansen’s name will be seen on the front of The Family Place facility in Logan. The new 10,000 square foot building is named after Hansen, a Cache County local, who worked to raise money for upgrades needed by the non-profit organization.

“Belva is a stalwart advocate for children and believes wholeheartedly in the institution of family,” said Esterlee Molyneux, executive director of The Family Place.  “Belva and her family have provided an exceptional opportunity for families in our community to have a resource in which they can be edified and strengthened.”

The Family Place is a private non-profit organization focused on preventing child abuse in Cache County.

“It was started in 1982 by a group of community citizens who cared about children and families and who thought when parents were in crisis they needed a place to take their children for help and support,” Molyneux said.

Hansen exemplifies the roots of this organization, she said.

“My family is my life” Hansen said. “My hope is that parents and children will feel a deep bond of love for each other, that every child will know the innocence and joy of childhood.  The Family Place is where this has happened and will continue to happen.”

Molyneux and Hansen first met a few years ago when Hansen sought assistance for a lesson she was to teach in her local ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints discussing abuse in the Old Testament and how to relate it to what is going on in Cache County.

From there, Hansen found herself further involved in various efforts through The Family Place.

As a mother of four children, a former English teacher and a Sunday school teacher, Hansen said has spent the majority of her life dedicated to the teaching and caring of children and she plans on continuing that effort to the very end.

“At 87 years old, Belva has the youthful spirit, energy and drive of a young adult,” Molyneux said. “I know without a doubt that the passion in her life is her family and she has been a voice for those who are too soft to be heard.