Registration is open for Marysville Safety Town and the Union County Health Department is seeking adult and youth volunteers.
Marysville Safety Town is a fun-filled, four-day camp focusing on safety skills that help grow the confidence and independence of incoming kindergartens.
Safety Town in Marysville runs June 10-13 with morning (9 a.m.-noon) and afternoon (1-4 p.m.) sessions available. Registration is required and is open to incoming kindergartners who live within the boundaries of the Marysville School District.
The cost is $30 and includes a participant t-shirt and bicycle helmet. Scholarships are available for families facing financial barriers that would otherwise prevent a child from attending. Registration forms and details can be found at https://uchd.net/safety-town/ or by calling (937) 642-2053.
Adult and youth volunteers are key to creating memorable experiences for the kids.
Adult volunteers serve as classroom leaders, overseeing a group of approximately 10-20 students with the help of one or more youth volunteers. Youth volunteers need to have completed at least seventh grade.
Volunteers make the kids feel welcome and comfortable, read stories, do simple crafts, and sit with the kids as they hear from community partners on a variety of safety topics.
Volunteers can choose to work the morning or afternoon session or can volunteer for both sessions. A $100 stipend per session is provided to each volunteer. Sign-ups for both adult and youth volunteers can be found at https://uchd.net/safety-town/
Each day at Safety Town participants cover topics such as water safety, poison prevention, bus safety, animal safety and even get a hair-raising electricity demo from Union Rural Electric. Students learn the rules of the road as they ride bicycles and tricycles through a mini-town.
One day, students trek to the Marysville Fire Department where they go through a smokehouse, shoot a fire hose and get hands-on time in the fire trucks.
The final day ends in a graduation ceremony open to families.
Within Fairbanks and North Union School districts, Safety Town is integrated into the kindergarten school day, including all the activities, speakers, and the mini town. The Union County Health Department is providing assistance to the Village of Plain City as they work with Jonathan Alder schools to transition Safety Town into the school day.
Planning efforts for each of the Safety Towns held in Union County are led by the Union County Safe and Sound Coalition.
Coalition members include local law enforcement agencies, fire departments, schools, the City of Marysville, Memorial Health and the Union County Health Department.
Members of the coalition help share responsibilities, with the Union County Health Department as the lead planner for the Marysville Safety Town and the Union County Sheriff’s Office as the lead planner for the Fairbanks and North Union Safety Towns.
Bike helmets for all participants are made possible by grants from the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Put a Lid on It program and Union Rural Electric’s Operation Round Up.