By Kimberly Gasuras
CCN Reporter

BUCYRUS — In 2013, Sarah Lipscomb met with Bucyrus Police Chief Dave Koepke to find out what she could do to help the community.

“For my silver award in Girl Scouts, I wanted to do something to help the police and the community,” Lipscomb said.

As Lipscomb spoke with Koepke, she noticed the white board behind him.

“It included a list of things that needed to be done in the future and the one that stuck out to me was Safety Town,” said Lipscomb, who is a senior at Bucyrus High School.

Koepke provided Lipscomb with information about Safety Town, which is a program for children that teaches them about things like fire safety, gun safety, pedestrians and traffic, water safety, poisons, stranger danger and classroom safety. It also includes a replica town that is created to instruct children about safety measures.

“I didn’t know what it was, but the more he told me, the more I knew I wanted to bring it back since our town had not had one for almost 20 years,” Lipscomb said.

Lipscomb sent letters out for donations and was able to hold her first Safety Town event in 2014, and on Friday, a ribbon cutting ceremony took place at the new permanent location for Safety Town at Bucyrus Elementary School.

“Richland Seal Coating painted our permanent village on the pavement for us,” Lipscomb said.

The company also was one of many donors that provided the funding for the project.

Lipscomb said 66 children participated in Safety Town this week.

“We have space for 80 kids, 40 in the morning session and 40 in the afternoon. We were happy that we got 66 this year because we were competing with two Vacation Bible Schools and the nature camp at Lowe-Volk Park,” Lipscomb said.

Seventeen volunteers helped facilitate the weeklong event along with five adult leaders that included Lipscomb’s mother, Nancy.

Koepke said the new permanent area at the school will help children remember the lessons they learned.

“It kind of anchors it for them when they see it every day at their school,” Koepke said.

Max Miller, director of the Bucyrus Tourism and Visitors Bureau, was on hand for the ribbon cutting with the Bucyrus Area Chamber of Commerce.

“Safety Town is a great way to teach kids how to stay safe,” Miller said.

Miller said he hopes the permanent location for Safety Town will inspire other cities to hold the event for their youth.

Graduation from Safety Town was occurred Friday for the children that participated.

“We had a great week,” Lipscomb said.