LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Polly Klaas Community Theater and the Polly Klaas Foundation have announced a new partnership with Lake County Rotaries including Kelseyville, Lakeport and Clearlake.

This collaboration unites three treasured local Rotary clubs in a shared mission to ensure the safety of the children in our communities.

An estimated 85% of missing children are classified as runaways, with many having been lured by adult predators online. 

National experts, including the Polly Klaas Foundation and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, have identified a disturbing rise in “online abductions,” with one in six runaway children ultimately trafficked for sex. 

Lake County is particularly vulnerable due to its rural geography, limited preventative resources, and proximity to trafficking corridors like Interstate 5 and major urban centers. The urgency to act is clear — and Rotary officials said they can lead this vital effort.

“Knowledge is our most powerful tool. Prevention through education can stop the grooming process before it begins,” the local Rotary clubs said in their announcement.

That's why they are partnering with the Polly Klaas Foundation to bring their Social Media Safety Education, or SMSE, program to Lake County middle schoolers and their families.

The Polly Klaas Foundation, or PKF, has over three decades of experience supporting families of missing children. Their SMSE program is grounded in real-world cases and designed to teach youth how online behavior can make them vulnerable to exploitation.

PKF is uniquely positioned to deliver this message with credibility and impact — they are not speaking in theory but from direct experience with victims and rescues. Their evidence-based approach addresses how online interactions can lead to real-life danger.

The goal is to give children the tools they need to understand the red flags and then how to safely disengage from these online threats.

The Polly Klaas Foundation was established in 1993 after the abduction and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas from her home in Petaluma.

In the beginning, the foundation’s primary focus was to help families of missing children. “Over time we have evolved to focus on child safety and prevention programs… so they do not go missing in the first place.”

PKF’s primary mission remains the recovery of missing children and keeping children safe within our communities. Through its services, they have helped more than 10,000 families find their missing children. PKF’s Social Media Safety Education program has quickly become PKF’s “crown jewel” in missing child prevention.

About the collaboration
 
The interactive SMSE class provides students with vital information to help keep them safe online, thus protecting them from online predators. 

“Educating the parents of our young adults may be the difference between life or unspeakable heartbreak,” said Lake County Rotary’s Mark Lipps.

PKF’s Executive Director, Ciara Shuttleworth, furthers this sentiment by saying, “It is no longer that a predator might come in through an unlocked door; what we address now is how to keep your children safe in their own bedrooms through online safety education.”

The Lake County Rotary clubs are hosting a series of public presentations early in 2026.

All of the presentations begin at 5:30 p.m. on the following dates:

• Thursday, Jan. 8: Kelseyville/Lakeport at Kelseyville High School.
• Tuesday, Jan. 27: Middletown Middle School.
• Wednesday, Jan. 28: Upper Lake/Lucerne at the middle school.
• Thursday, Jan. 29: Konocti Unified, English presentation at Obsidian Middle School
• Friday, Jan. 30: Konocti Unified, Spanish presentation at Obsidian Middle School.