Operation Safe Summer for Kids Was a Complete Success

An estimated 100 residents from Lemon Grove attended Operation Safe Summer for Kids, an inaugural community sponsored event aimed at promoting safety for children in Lemon Grove. The event also promoted the new Lemon Grove Library as a safe “cool zone” for the summer.

Attendees received valuable information and common-sense tips on how to keep children and the neighborhood safe, how to be on a look out for predators, how to avoid being in a bad situation, and when to call 911, among a wide-array of information provided to the standing-room only crowd.

Lemon Grove Councilmember Racquel Vasquez graciously served as the events emcee and answered questions and concerns from constituents about what the City is doing to keep its residents safe and how to become more involved in the community.

Members from Heartland Fire & Rescue, which serves Lemon Grove, talked about some of the typical response calls they receive, including responding to drug overdoses, domestic fires, car crashes, and swimming accidents.

Did you know that a child can drown in standing water that is only 2-inches deep  and that drowning is the most common cause of death in children  5 years of age or younger? Needless to say, the importance of not leaving children unattended in pools or plastic splash pools was well taken by both parents and children.

The firefighters also explained how and when it is safe to help people in distress or in vehicle accidents, when to provide CPR, and when to call 911, among numerous questions from the interactive crowd.

The San Diego County Sherriff’s Department also spoke on a wide-array of safety topics and received numerous questions from the concerned parents and children. Among some of the topics they covered were Cyber/Internet Safety, Megan’s Law awareness; Predator Safety, the Neighborhood Watch program; and  the Senior Volunteer Patrol’s  Home Vacation Checks and the Your are not Alone (YANA) Program. The YANA program provides a weekly personal visit from a Volunteer Patrol team and a daily telephone call to disabled or home-bound senior citizens living by themselves.

Parents and children in attendance provided a loud, appreciative applause to both the deputies and the firefighters concluding the question & answer session, and quickly formed long lines to fill out individual Child Identification Fingerprint Cards and ask more in-depth or personal questions to both deputies and firefighters. 

Thrive Lemon Grove will now work to have another free event later next month. The theme: Back to School Kid Safety. Look for more details about this event soon.