Youngsters learn safety lessons in renovated Safety Town

Hamilton program wraps up its 44th year Friday.

The 44th year of Safety Town taught some of Butler County’s youngest residents important safety lessons in a renovated mini-city.

More than 150 children ages 4-5 have made their way to Officer Bob Gentry Park over the past few weeks, where a freshly paved mini-city, new “traffic light” and crosswalk helped teach lessons thanks to donations from the Officer Bob Gentry Memorial Fund and Hamilton Community Foundation. The Hamilton Parks Conservancy also helped to spruce up the area.

Safety Town was designed to help teach 4- and 5-year-olds about gun, vehicle, household, street, school bus and fire safety, as well as lessons on dealing with strangers, according to Kim Wentz, director of the Hamilton Safety Council.

The area looks like a mini-city in a fenced in area that has all of the possible scenarios a child may encounter on a regular basis.

A group of 30 kids come each week for five weeks to the park, where Hamilton police officer Kristy Collins and Wentz teach all of the topics.

It is sponsored by the Hamilton Community Foundation, Greater Hamilton Safety Council and funded by the Lindenwald Kiwanis, City of Hamilton and the Officer Bob Gentry Memorial Fund Committee.

“When we started this repaving and renovation project three years ago it was way out of our budget,” Wentz said. “I wish Bob could see this today it is a thousand times better.”

In 2013, Powerhouse Park was renamed “Officer Bob Gentry Park.” Gentry, who passed away in 2012 was an instructor at Safety Town for 36 years and had become the heart and soul of the program according to Collins who stepped in to keep things going after “Officer Bob” passed away.

“He was a very special person that really did a lot for these kids and the community,” Collins said. “Safety Town has remained popular and we get kids from all over the Butler County area to participate and we get volunteers to come and help us teach the kids.”

Michaela Waldeck, 20, is a graduate of Fairfield High School and current student at Miami University who has volunteered at Safety Town for several years.

“We just want to keep our 4- and 5-year-olds safe,” she said. “I have been doing this for seven or eight years and I guess I am going to pass the baton now, but I am going to miss it.”

The city’s program was one of the first developed in the nation, according to Wentz, a retired member of the Hamilton Fire Department.

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