NEGRIL, Westmoreland — HUNDREDS of residents in Hanover and Westmoreland recently benefited from a Sandals Negril, Beaches Negril and Beaches Sandy Bay driven safety awareness campaign dubbed ‘Sesame Street Comes to Negril’.

The resorts partnered with the Negril Police Department, Negril Fire Department, Negril Police Youth Club, CPR/First Aid Administrators and ATL Autohaus in delivering several presentations and performances surrounding safety.

“What we at the Fire Brigade often find is that many parents and children that we approach with brochures and other fire safety material, are not always very receptive of what we try to teach them,” said Beverly Reid, District Officer at the Savanna-la-Mar Fire Department. “However, we cannot deny that fire safety awareness is critical, especially in the summer months, when it is much hotter and children are away from school and parents are away at work. We are always trying to reach and educate as many Jamaicans as possible on these matters and what Sandals Resorts is doing now affords us that opportunity,” she explained.

And the Negril Police Department has stressed the importance of parents taking the first step to impact their communities and protect their children.

“Parents need to revisit the basics of safety,” said Corporal Antonio Johnson. “Parents need to dress their children modestly; they need to educate them about the little things like talking to strangers and what to do if they are caught in situations like that of a kidnapping.”

Corporal Melvin Martin stressed the need for parents to ensure that their children know the police emergency telephone numbers, their full address, their parents’ names and the names of their school.

Several characters from Sesame Street made appearances throughout the ‘Sesame Street Comes to Negril’ safety awareness event to enhance the presentations and entertain patrons.