sfw | LIFE
“We partner with community safety organizations to
Safety Village of South Dakota
coordinate comprehensive safety programs. Our goal
Working to keep children in our communities safe
children and adults learn life-saving safety skills.”
By Margaret Pennock
– Roxanna McKenna
is to be a hands-on, injury prevention facility where
Executive Director Safety Village of South Dakota
T
ypically, being noted in the top three of anything is a great honor. However, being noted in the top three when it comes to the number of unintentional deaths of children under the age of 19 it’s tragic. According to safekids.org, South Dakota ranked 49th following Wyoming and Alaska with childhood unintentional injury death rates - well above the national average.
public about safety and injury prevention on topics ranging from fire, home and farm safety to poison prevention, bicycle and pedestrian safety, and impaired and distracted driving. A nonprofit organization, it relies heavily on volunteers and donations to support its mission serving more than 6,000 children ages 4-18 and their families annually.
For Safety Village of South Dakota’s Executive Director Roxanna McKenna, this fact makes her commitment to work collaboratively with local first-responders, county emergency management departments, businesses, donors and volunteers critical. She shares, “Children are precious and we need to safeguard them in our state. Our programming is focused on reducing unintentional injury death rates in South Dakota through education.”
“Our goal is to educate children and adults to make safe choices when presented with opportunities to make this choice. We help them to understand and give them the tools to make the best decision possible. The support we’ve gotten from our community has been amazing and makes what we do possible.”
Founded in 1998, Safety Village of South Dakota educates the 16
SiouxFallsWoman.net | August/September 2022
Located at the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds, the Safety Village offers multiple opportunities both on-site and through outreach opportunities, all at no or minimal cost for participants.
