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Dear Lions:
As most of you know, District A-9 Lions decided at the Palmerston Convention to adopt the Saugeen Valley Children’s Safety Village as a district wide project and to support the Saugeen Children’s Safety Village with a minimum contribution of $50,000 spread over three years. This represents a great opportunity for all Lions clubs to contribute to the construction of a SafetyVillage which many of our children and grandchildren will visit and benefit from.
The Safety Village will be built on Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority property south of Hanover in the Sulphur Spring Conservation Area (formerly Headquarters Conservation Area). This location will make the Village accessible to almost all of the schools in District A9. Construction will begin when a minimum funding level has been reached, probably within the coming Lions year.
There are currently about a dozen Safety Villages in Southern Ontario. They consist of a child’s sized town site with streets, sidewalks and stoplights etc. Typical service buildings such as the Fire Dept. and Police Headquarters and store-fronts line the streets.
Children will visit the Village with their classmates during their school year. They will beinstructed by district police and fire officers on various safety related topics such as crossing the street, bicycle, internet, water and farm safety and dealing with fire emergencies.
Most important of all will be the method of instruction. The children will be involved in hands on learning by demonstration and active participation. These methods have proven to be tremendously effective in other Safety Villages and in children’s learning in general.
With the size of our contribution District A-9 will receive naming rights to some aspect of theVillage. This will be a lasting legacy of our involvement and will be a permanent reminder of the role of Lions in our communities.
Should anyone like more information PDG Al Leach would be willing to make a presentation to any club about the Village. Al can be contacted at 519-367-3040 ext. 224 or in the evenings at519-323-4924. I can also provide additional information if necessary.
As your club and executive prepare your budgets, I hope you can find room for a contribution over three years to this exciting and worthy cause.
Yours in Lionism
PRC Murray Yungblut
A9 Chair for Children’s Safety Village
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