Red
Cross, CSULB host summer safety camp
By Porscher Lowe
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
Over the last three weeks, elementary school
children from the greater Long Beach area
have been learning about safety by
participating in the Red Cross Summer Safety
Camp being held at Cal State Long Beach
this summer.
The week-long camp, which is funded by Red
Cross along with a $65 registration fee
per child, teaches children about earthquake,
water, and fire safety as well as safety
from strangers.
"The purpose of the camp is to teach
elementary school kids about safety and
try to make learning safety fun," Anna
Lindseth, the Red Cross Summer Safety Camp
director said.
Every day the camp focuses on a particular
safety issue and the children participate
in activities that reinforce the procedure
when faced with an emergency.
Monday, the children are given basic training
which is an overview of the different types
of emergency situations. Tuesday, the volunteers
stage a puppet show and use Sesame Street
characters to show disaster preparedness
and tell the children about earthquake and
fire safety. After the puppet show, the
children are taken to a fire station, where
they are given a tour and discuss fire safety
with actual firefighters.
Wednesday, children are taught water safety
in the morning and are taken to the Belmont
Shore Community Pool for a swim.
Thursday, the children finish with safety
lessons and also learn about stranger abduction
awareness and the importance of saying "no"
to strangers. They also learn bicycle safety
and each child is given a helmet at the
end of the training.
Friday ends the camp session and the children
are taken on a field trip.
"We're still undecided about where
to take the kids this week," said Lindseth.
"One of the campers is in a cast so
we have to takethat into consideration."
Matthew Pearson, a 7-year-old Red Cross
Camper said he enjoys the camp and is always
excited to come.
"I
love it. I like learning how to save people
and stuff. It's really fun," he said.
Youth volunteers, who are mostly high school
students from the Long Beach area, teach
the lessons. Christina Thai, a youth volunteer
and recent graduate of Long Beach Poly,
has worked for the summer camp for the last
three years. Thai, who will be a freshman
at CSULB in the fall said that the work
helps her get the experience with kids that
she needs since she is planning to become
a teacher.
"I'm
getting experience in working with kids
and having to practice patience with them,"
she said.
Henry Lao, another youth volunteer, said
that working with the kids not only gives
him something fun to do but helps him to
give back to his family and community. "Over
the past three weeks the things that I've
learned about children and safety I've been
passing down to my niece and nephew at home,
as well as to other kids who can't attend
the camp. I just enjoy that fact that I'm
giving to my community," he said.
Lindseth said that the camp does really
well and that the parents really appreciate
the service that it provides. "I think
the parents are generally really happy about
the fact that we offer this camp because
of the safety training we provide. We're
really the only camp that does this,"
she said.
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