Hampden Kiwanis Teaming Up With Local PD To Help Runners Get Reflective Gear

Community organizations are often on the front lines of helping to solve problems that pop up within cities or towns.

The Kiwanis, for example, is a global organization, but it has local chapters. Their goal is to improve the lives of kids and also the lives of the communities around them.

In Hampden, the Hampden Kiwanis organization recently recognized a potential safety issue pertaining to a certain population of residents in town, and stepped up to help solve that problem.

According to Hampden Kiwanis treasurer, Eric Jarvi, who is also a member of the Hampden Town Council, the idea stemmed from a conversation that Hampden Police Chief Chris Bailey and Hampden Kiwanis President, Curt Slininger had over coffee last year.

They came up with an initiative called "Safe Vests For Safe Runners" as a result of that meeting.

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"It was mentioned that there were a lot of people running and walking at night, and you can't see them. Chief Bailey said 'you'd be surprised just how big the problem is,' so we got together in a planning session and we decided that one of the projects we could do this year was to fund the purchase of 20 safety vests that public safety could hand out-they'll have them in their police cars and there will be some available at the Town Office that runners can go and pick up."

The vests are made of a neon-yellow fabric, with reflective strips running up and down the front and back of them. They even come equipped with a front pocket to hold keys or a cellphone.

Jarvi says the organization's yearly budget is between 30 and 40 thousand dollars a year. The "Safe Vests" program came in at about $600 for the 30 vests. He says the vests were presented to the Hampden Town Council last week, and will be passed out, starting this week.

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He says the problem spots for most of the visibility issues in Hampden tend to be the roads in town that don't have sidewalks.

"There's just a lot of areas where people are exercising, that don't have sidewalks, and that's where we see the biggest challenge; runners and walkers who are trying to use just the shoulder of the road where they don't have sidewalks."

Jarvi says so far, the initiative has been well-received by folks in town. It remains to be seen as to whether this is a one time effort or if it will be an on-going initiative for the club.

He says if anyone would like to get involved with the Hampden Kiwanis Club, you can email him directly through his email, ericjarvi1973@gmail.com.