October 27, 2009

Safety Village provides hands-on learning experience for children

When I heard about an Optimist Club program that serves at least 14,000 children each year, I had to find out more!   A quick click took me to the Optimist Club of Oakville, Ontario, Canada where I learned all about the Halton Region Police Children's Safety Village. 

This small-scale town was first created in 1987, but in 1993 the Optimist Club adopted the village as a pet project.  They renovated and restored the construction to make it safe and attractive.  With their ongoing support in maintenance and repairs other resources are freed up so that police officers can provide both indoor and outdoor safety lessons for children in kindergarten through third grade.  They learn to be safe with electricity, bicycle and pedestrian safety, school bus safety and rules of the road. 

For their service, the Optimist Club of Oakville has been granted a meeting room in the basement of one of the buildings at Safety Village.

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