Crime & Safety

Safety Town Teaches South Windsor Kids Valuable Lessons

Entering its second year, Safety Town is scheduled to run from July 23 to 27 at the Unity Church of Greater Hartford at 919 Ellington Road.

There’s Funky Town. There’s Boys Town. There’s even Nike Town.

You won’t find any of those in South Windsor next week, but you will find Safety Town, a five-day long national program for children entering kindergarten in the fall that teaches, among other things, lessons about fire and bus safety, pedestrians/traffic, calling 911 and trusting public safety officials.

Entering its second year, Safety Town is scheduled to run from July 23 to 27 at the Unity Church of Greater Hartford at 919 Ellington Road; two sessions will run each day from 8:30 – 10:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. – 1 p.m.  The cost is $30 per session.

The South Windsor MOMs Club, which, along with the South Windsor Junior Women's Club, sponsors the program, which grew out of the Vernon Safety Town that has run for over 40 years.

Last year, 22 families took advantage of the inaugural South Windsor Safety Town that ran for two weeks, according to Liz Harner of the South Windsor MOMs Club.

Harner said that, so far, 19 families had signed up for this year’s Safety Town, which was pared back to just one week.

The program will include miniature buildings and mock streets for kids to ride Big Wheels around to learn bicycle and traffic safety, according to Harner.

“They’re doing a lot of road safety,” Harner said. “It’s so important for children to learn the importance of safely crossing the street and walking on the right side of the road.”

A South Windsor police officer will also be on hand one day to show children the inside of a police cruiser; a member of the South Windsor Volunteer fire department will teach fire safety, Harner said.

“It’s great for the community to come together for this program for this age group,” said Harner, who noted that she got a call from a parent who was enrolled in the course when she was a child. That parent signed up her child for the program.

“It’s now a generational thing,” Harner said. “It’s fantastic.”

To register for Safety Town, or for more information, visit SWJWC.org or call Harner at 860-644-6787.


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