September marks the 10th annual Camp 911 for all second and third grade students in Iroquois County. Over the past 9 years the children have learned safety techniques and how to get through emergency situations, knowledge they will keep for a lifetime.

Camp 9-1-1 started its presentations today (Tuesday) and will visit Iroquois County students all this month.

Over the last nine years students have used the safety techniques they learned in real life situations:

- At one school in the county a suspicious looking van occupied by a strange looking man was outside the school, the male subject approached the students and they ran inside the school yelling stranger danger, stranger danger and immediately told their teacher
- A boy cut his finger on a soup can while he was making an after school snack. He called 911 and an ambulance was dispatched.
- A girl went to a relative's house after school, but the relative wasn't home. There was a miscommunication in where the girl was supposed to be and she called 911 because she was scared. A police officer was dispatched and assisted the girl in finding her family members.
- There have been fires where children have gone up to the firefighters afterwards and told them they used the techniques they learned at Camp 911.
- One year a student was able to actually save her grandfather's life using the knowledge she gained from a previous Camp 911!
- Just this last year a child was touched inappropriately by a family member, told their parents and the family member was arrested.

These situations were all success stories because of what the children learned at Camp 911.

This year's camp is about Bicycle Safety. Each of the approximately 800 students will take home a reflective book bag containing a T-shirt, pencil, coloring books. Each student will spend priceless time with our local experienced emergency personnel, which will help them to understand the importance of safety and being prepared for an emergency. The camps start at 8:40am and end at 11:20am.
A list of where the camps are:

September 1 – Watseka 2nd Grade
September 2 – Watseka 3rd Grade
September 4 – Cissna Park
September 8 – St Paul's in Woodworth
September 9 - Milford
September 10 – St John's in Buckley
September 11 – Crescent
September 15 - Chebanse 2nd Grade
September 16 – Chebanse 3rd Grade
September 18 - Donovan
September 29 - Iroquois West 2nd Grade in Gilman
September 30 – Iroquois West 3rd Grade in Gilman

Camp 911 is funded 100% by donations and anyone interested in donating to Camp 911 can send donations to Camp 911, 1001 East Grant, Watseka, IL 60970.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Nita L. Dubble at 815-432-6956.

94.1 WGFA