In the Pipeline: Keep kids safe and meet baseball legends

Coming up on Monday is one of my favorite events of the year, the KinderVision golf tournament and banquet at SeaCliff Country Club in Huntington Beach.

I don’t golf, but I am a big baseball fan, so as usual I plan on attending the banquet, which again will feature a slew of baseball legends.

KinderVision was developed by Doug Sebastian with the assistance of law enforcement and other experts. Several years ago, it started developing free educational videos and other resource materials for families, schools, law enforcement and youth-serving organizations to teach children how to be safe and avoid sexual predators.

KinderVision established Huntington Beach as its Orange County base, and that brings the golf event here each year.

The dinner will include an auction featuring autographed Hall of Fame items and locally donated prizes.

And it gets better. Everyone in attendance will be given a complimentary baseball to get signed throughout the night. Tickets to the banquet, which includes a great meal in addition to lots of ballplayers and lots of autographs, are just $100 (a table for eight is $750).

If you’d like to participate in the golf outing, where a ballplayer will be part of every foursome and the banquet is included, it’s $330 per individual or $1,200 for the full grouping.

“We have some incredible new programs designed to help protect kids,” Sebastian told me. “It’s all about education, and we call our event ‘The Greatest Save’ banquet because the greatest save is the one we never have to make. Helping to protect kids from predators is the key here.”

After attending for several years, I can tell you it really is remarkable. To chat with the legendary players, and most importantly, learn what KinderVision is up to makes for an unforgettable evening.

Over the years I’ve had the honor to converse with the likes of Brooks Robinson, Harmon Killebrew and many other baseball legends. If you’re a fan of the game, it doesn’t get much better than this.

This year, the event features Hall of Famers Rollie Fingers (KinderVision spokesman), Rod Carew, Frank Robinson and many other players.

To address the issue of child predators, I’ve invited Robert Samsoe, brother of Robin Samsoe, to speak at the banquet. Of course, his sister’s abduction in Huntington Beach and murder in 1979 awoke many in the community to the dangers in society and even helped spark national consciousness about the issue.

KinderVision is doing important work to keep kids safe, and I think we’re lucky to have the organization in our community.

I hope you’re able to join us at the event. The golf tournament starts at 10 a.m. at SeaCliff, 6501 Palm Ave. The reception/banquet/silent auction will start at 5 p.m.

For information about tickets, sponsorships and more, visit https://www.thegreatestsave.org.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 25 books, including “Huntington Beach Chronicles: The Heart of Surf City.” You can chat with him on Twitter @chrisepting or follow his column at facebook.com/hbindependent.