Middletown’s Safety Town gets 4 cars thanks to work of local Scouts

For the last several months, members of Troop 44888 raised money by selling baked goods and building and selling wooden crafts, then used the proceeds to purchase four cars for Safety Town. The cars were presented to Safety Town last week at Amanda Elementary School.

Safety Town, celebrating its 39th year, needed larger cars to fit taller students, said Jennifer Stone, one of the troop leaders.

The girls earned their Bronze Award, the highest a Girl Scout Junior, in fourth and fifth grade, can achieve. Each girl completed a minimum of 20 hours, and more than 300 hours total, completing the project, Stone said. They also learned many essential skills for the future to help them build character, learn courage trying something new, and confidence in completing a large project, Stone said.

She said each girl also learned the importance of customer service, sales, using hand and power tools, safety, following directions, exchanging money, following recipes, baking, organization, team work, and giving back to the community.

The project began in July 2015 with the girls brainstorming ways they could help in the Middletown community, Stone said. Many of the girls attended Safety Town before beginning kindergarten and loved the experience, Stone said. She contacted Middletown Police Officer and Safety Town Director Robyn Rawlins and asked if there was anything Safety Town needed. Rawlins said the organization needed a couple of new cars because most of the cars that were purchased in 1993 were too small for several children in each class.

The troop sold Halloween decorations and held bake sales that raised more $1,200, enough to purchase four cars plus baseball card-like trading cards for Officer Rawlins.

“It was above my expectations,” Stone said. “I’m very proud of them because they gave back to their community.”

Sydney Carroll, 11, a sixth-grader at Central Academy, said the scouts enjoyed working together on the projects “and seeing it through the end.”

Safety Town is held Monday through Friday through July 29 at Amanda. For more information, call the Safety Council of Southwestern Ohio at 513-423-9758.