Event promotes child safety
Published 5:00 am Wednesday, September 29, 2004
With the return of Street Sense, parents will have theopportunity Saturday to complete child identification kits thatcould be used by agencies to locate a child should they becomelost
The Street Sense event will be Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. inthe parking lot of Radio Shack, the program’s sponsor.
The company will supply the identification kits to parents withwork stations to complete them. The kits include fingerprints,digital photos, dental casting and other methods ofidentification.
Last year, more than 260 children were fingerprinted inBrookhaven and more than 500 participated in other activities,according to Susan Harvey, Radio Shack owner.
“We’re preparing for more than 500 again this year,” she said.”We had a good turnout last year and many of the contributors haveasked when we were going to do it again.”
The Lions Club Sight Van will return this year. More than 100children received the free eye exams last year.
Also returning this year is King’s Daughters Medical Center,which will offer child car seat safety checks from 10 a.m. to noon,and The Partnership for a Healthy Copiah-Lincoln County, which willprovide tobacco awareness literature and other information.
Children’s activities are available to make the experience a funone for the children, too, Harvey said. Facepainting, a remotecontrol car race and Inky the Clown are among the featured eventsto join other activities for the children.
“It’ll be a fun activity for them while giving parents thechance to provide some protection for their children,” she said.”The identification kits something we hope parents never have touse, but’s something they need to have.”
The event and kits are open to children of all ages. Harveyrecommended even teenagers could benefit from having the kits made,citing several high profile kidnapping cases of high school andcollege students last year.
“We’ll do kits on any child,” she said. “We had them from fourmonths to 18 years old last year. Younger children should have thekits updated at least every few years because their identificationfactors change so quickly as they grow.”
Interested parents who can not attend Saturday’s event inBrookhaven can attend one the following Saturday, Oct. 9, at RadioShack in Monticello, Harvey said. Most of the same activities willbe duplicated at that event.