LIMA, Ohio – The Lima Noon Optimist Club’s Safety City summer programs are currently underway.
The annual summer academies teach children aged five to nine all about safety. The week-long classes cover a variety of topics, including verbal and physical resistance techniques, public safety, and how to call 911 to report an emergency. On Monday, they learned the value of having a family password from previous Safety City graduates.
“We’re practicing; If someone comes and says, ‘Your mom told me to come pick you up, she’s really sick, she got in a car crash, she’s at the hospital,’ we practice asking for the family password, and if they say it wrong, then you get in the RAD kids stance, and you run and say, NO!” said Ivy Goss, who is part of Safety City.
“We help the kids, and you get to meet other helpers from other schools,” explained Grayson Turgon, a Safety City assistant and former participant. “It’s fun watching them graduate, because I remember a lot of my memories here.”
The classes are led by Lima police officer Eric Mericle and Lima fire educator Warren Pughsley. The summer academy will conclude on Friday with this class graduating. Mericle is teaching twelve academies this summer, and they are all full.
