Vernon Junior Women's Club Helping Newtown Start a New Safety Town Program

The Vernon Junior Women's Club has reached out to Newtown in an effort to help the town get its own Safety Town program started.

The club has sponsored the Vernon Safety Town program for more than 40 years.

Local club officials said Newtown plans on implementing its Safety Town Program in July. The club had invited some Newtown Residents to a past session so they could observe how the program works.

The club recently voted to support Newtown's program with donations.

"They visited the program during one of the sessions, got a chance to see how it was conducted, and spoke with our head teacher, Jill Darby," said Christine Brouillard, the president and Safety Town chair for Vernon Junior Women's Club.

She said Newtown residents had heard about the Vernon program from the  Connecticut Junior Women's Club, which is the parent organization for VJWC.
Newtown wants to start its own program for the incoming kindergarten class."

The program is for children heading into kindergarten and highlights topics like bus safety, fire safety, how to contact 911, and stranger danger.

The club has Also helped Tolland and South Windsor get its programs started, Brouillard said.

Now, Newtown "takes on a whole new meaning," after the December shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Brouillard said.

"This safety program seems more important than ever before," she said.

Registration for this year's Safety Town program in Vernon are now open. For more information, you can contact Brouillard at cebrouillard@gmail.com or 860-604-1919.