Registration open for annual Safety Town

Apr. 20—Local kids will have the chance to learn about stranger danger, staying safe on the roads and more this summer thanks to the return of Safety Town.

Safety Town has been an education project of the St. Joseph Safety and Health Council since 1989, designed for children ages 5-7.

The program teaches students 17 points of safety, including road safety, stranger danger, water danger, animal danger, electrical/gas safety and other important topics.

Frank Till, executive director of the safety council, said the best way for kids to learn safety is by practicing it.

"The thing about it is we actually put them in these situations in a controlled environment," Till said. "We have incredible educators that run this program for teachers that have a passion for this. They have them at crosswalks and we have a miniature city where they have streets and buildings and road signs, so they're actually navigating this street on a daily basis, and they get what's called 'time on the town.'"

Safety Town will be broken into four sessions, June 17-20, June 24-27, July 1-3 and 5 and the final session will be July 8-11. Registration is $90 per child. Snacks and T-shirts will be provided throughout the sessions.

The safety council does offer scholarships for families who may need assistance with costs.

"We don't want to exclude any children," Till said. "We want to make it available to those who maybe can't afford it, but there is a limited number of scholarships that we give out every year so people should sign up now."

Those interested can register on the safety council website at www.stjoesafetycouncil.org/.

Jenna Wilson can be reached at jenna.wilson@newspressnow.com.