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United Way announces a new Venture Grant funding decisionFor Immediate Release
United Way announces a new Venture Grant funding decision
February 26, 2003
The United Way announced today that it will provide funding to an exciting initiative through its Venture Grant Program.
The Mackenzie Safety Village will receive $7, 500 from the United Way. United Way Community Investment Volunteer Chair, Donald Haagsma, said that the project impressed the Community Investment Committee of the United Way Board and encouraged them to invest in the program.
The program will involve all 56 elementary schools throughout Lambton County (33 public,
15 separate, 4 Christian, 2 Native and 2 French) and target students at the Kindergarten to Grade 4 level. It combines education, safety, drug awareness and fun. The educational components are based on the Ministry of Education School Curriculum and are clearly outcomes based.
Organizers of the Mackenzie Village will work with police, fire safety, health, education and service groups to create a Safety Village where children will be given a chance to learn and practice safety skills and safety awareness in a specially designed small village atmosphere. The Village will feature streets, sidewalks, buildings, traffic lights, railway crossing, bus shelters, a school bus, a hydro generator, a 9-1-1 emergency phone set-up and classrooms designed to teach road and fire safety skills. The setting, with rich local history, will be designed on a reduced scale to resemble the County of Lambton located on land provided by the Petrolia Discovery.
This program clearly indicates community outcomes and impacts in both the short and long term. In the short-term students, by grade level, are expected to recognize safety risks and safe practices. They will be able to outline potential safety risks in home, school and community (ex. from fire and toys); describe negative actions such as abusive behaviours, bullying, inappropriate touching) and explain relevant safety procedures (ex. fire drills, railway-crossing and crosswalk procedures) to name a few.
Longer-term impacts - statistics show that unintentional injury is the leading cause of death and disability among school aged children. Injury prevention experts estimate that 95% of childhood injuries are easily preventable. The Safety Village will help to dramatically reduce injuries by teaching individual responsibility and awareness whenever a child rides in a motor vehicle, pedals a bicycle, walks down the street, meets strangers, is offered illegal substances, or encounters other potential hazardous circumstances in the home or community.
Through this hands-on training, children will develop a positive attitude toward safety that will be remembered and practiced into adulthood. By preventing these injuries, we can decrease the amount of tragedy, loss of quality of life and the lifelong impact these injuries have on the individuals, their families and the significant costs to society in terms of health care and insurance costs while at the same time, learn about Sarnia-Lambton's rich and proud history.
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For more information, please contact:
Dave Brown, Executive Director, United Way of Sarnia-Lambton, 336-5452 Extension 7 or
Heather Allen, Community Investment Director, United Way of Sarnia-Lambton, 336-5452 Extension 6 or
Donald Haagsma, Volunteer Chair of the Community Investment Committee, United Way Board of Directors, 542-7196 or
Mary Ann Buntrock, Chair of the Mackenzie Safety Village Committee, 332-2686 or
Bob McCarthy, Managing Director of the Mackenzie Safety Village, 542-1581
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