In August 2005, The London Middlesex Civitan Club delivered eight brand new bicycles to the London YMCA Children's Safety Village, for use in their programs with children of the area.  These bicycles were to replace ones 'worn out' after almost five years of use since the Village opened. This club had donated the funds used to purchase the original bicycles.

The Village, located at Fanshawe Park, consists of a main building with two classrooms and a miniature town and is built on four acres of land provided by the UpperThames Conservation Authority, with approximately 30 scaled-down buildings, roadways, traffic lights, signs, an operational railway crossing and a school bus. After classroom instruction by police, fire and other safety personnel the children demonstrate their knowledge of safety through use of electric cars, bicycles and by walking around. The target market is 15,000 students each school year in the London area from Grade 1 to Grade 4.

The YMCA have recently taken over the day to day operation of the Village, and during the summer they hold day camps, with two classes going through the village each morning and afternoon.

London Middlesex Civitan Club had, in conversation with Bill Brock, Chairman of the Village, discovered that several of their children's bicycles were in need of replacement, and have gladly donated these new bikes for the children's use, all of which are fitted with special licence plates showing them as having come from Civitan.

We plan to continue working with the Village in the future to provide more funding where needed.  Recently, we voted to provide funds through the Village ongoing over the next five years to provide Henkel Hooks to elementary schools, day care centres, or other places where children are unsupervised and safety hooks are needed. The funds for 2006-07 put over 70 hooks into area schools.

We participated for the second time, in the Children's Safety Village 6th Birthday Party on June 3, 2007, by taking over the fire department classroom for a C.H.I.L.D. Over 120 children were fingerprinted and photographed in the four hours from noon until 4pm.  Activities that day were varied from a Teddy Bear Hospital, a parade led by a pipe band, hot dogs provided by the Lions Club, birthday cake, Ricky Riccardo (magician) and Civitans.  At more than one point, the classroom was crowded with children and parents, eagerly waiting for our services.  That's 120 plus children who have parents with additional peace of mind, thanks to Civitan. We were there again June 1, 2008, taking over the Fire Department Classroom. This year, over 150 kids were photographed and fingerprinted. Way to go!!