Students in Grey and Bruce counties will soon be able to receive hands-on safety lessons.
Construction on the Saugeen Valley Children's Safety Village is set to get underway next month, with the nearly $1-million project to be built at Sulphur Springs Conservation Area near Hanover.
Vice President Al Leach says the miniature village will provide interactive safety lessons to students between kindergarten and Grade 6.
"It's a hands-on interactive opportunity to teach children safety activities, how to practice safety drills," says Leach. "Things like bike safety, farm safety, to avoid preventable accidents, we'll put them in a "smoke" filled room and have them evacuate, so the whole thing is to be hands-on."
Both the Catholic and public school boards in Grey-Bruce have endorsed the safety village, with an estimated 10,000 students expected to pass through the village every year.
Leach says they have raised nearly all of the money required for construction, but they have reached out to Bruce County council to help fund the operating expenses, with a request for $30,000 to cover about half the cost of hiring a dedicated safety instructor.
He says if all goes according to plan, they will have the children's safety village open during the upcoming school year, perhaps as early as January.
