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Event Connects Kids And Cops With Dump Trucks

Tegan Wendland
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WWNO

An organization in Covington is doing what it can to help families of children with disabilities.

Northshore Families Helping Families is a family-driven resource center that provides information and referrals for families along the Northshore. One of their key events is called “Touch a Truck.” It’s a fundraiser for the organization, but also an opportunity for kids to interact with law enforcement and have fun.

During the event in Mandeville back in November, kids enjoyed climbing on the big machinery, law enforcement vehicles and municipal trucks — like Rodney Keys' garbage truck. Keys said the event is fun, but also educational.

“It has been really positive, I mean, they’re enjoying themselves, they’re wanting to learn, they’re seeing how different things operate,” Keys said. He has enjoyed the experience himself. “I love being around all of these kids. The environment and the happiness is what I love,” said Keys.

Kids took rides on a miniature train around the parking lot, climbed up into the cab of a tractor and started it up, climbed on fire trucks and tried out the police car siren.

Patricia Templet’s six-year-old son has autism and attention deficit disorder. She said he is usually afraid of loud sounds, but being exposed to them in a healthy, safe environment makes him more brave. Being able to interact with the big machinery is stimulating and healthy.

“Being able to touch and climb in and hear all of the sounds of cars and trucks and so forth — it helps get some kind of stimulation in his system,” explained Templet. 

Credit Tegan Wendland / WWNO
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WWNO
Kids watch as north shore law enforcement officials demonstrate robotics.

Volunteer Shelly Marengo said it also helps the kids become more comfortable with law enforcement. “It really allows kids to interact with vehicles and with people, firemen, police officers — we don’t want them to be afraid of them. So they get to interact with them, they get to see the vehicles that maybe they only usually get to see from a distance. I think that’s what’s really important.” 

Captain Ricky Payne, of St. Tammany Parish Fire District 13, said in the long run events like this make the community safer.

“The kids become familiar with firemen and the fire service and fire trucks, we kind of become their friends and that way they’re not scared if they ever need us," Payne said. "And they learn what to do in case of a fire or emergency.”

Executive director of Northshore Families Helping Families, Sue Ellen Stewart, said the event starts important conversations for families.

“It also creates an opportunity for a parent to interact with a child about that particular truck, whether it’s for fire safety or an ambulance, fire safety, policeman — and just kind of open that conversation between a parent and a child.” Stewart said about 1,000 people attended the Touch a Truck event.

Each year Northshore Families Helping Families serves about 15,000 families of children with disabilities, mostly developmental disabilities.
 

Credit Tegan Wendland / WWNO
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WWNO
Kids and parents enjoy a train ride.

Marengo said she gets a lot of help from the organization, which is why she volunteers with them. She likes the fact that everyone employed at Families Helping Families has personal experience with disabilities, many of them have family members with disabilities.

“They’re very compassionate and they’re very passionate about what they do," she said. "They’re the liaison and they help me with the schools to make sure that my son has the accommodations that he needs. I can’t help but want to volunteer for these people because they do so much for me.”

Stewart said it is also a great opportunity for all sorts of families to spend time together and have fun.

“We are an organization that believes in true inclusion of individuals with disabilities with typical kids, so what we find is that, with this environment, everybody is in one place just having fun together," she said. "So it opens them up to new experiences and for typical kids to see that kids with disabilities are just like them.”

Templet said maybe the experience will plant some seeds for her son’s future. “He’s been fascinated with trucks since he was a baby, so I think being able to touch them and sit in them will give him a bigger understanding of how they work, and maybe that will develop into something that will lead into a career for him later on.”

Tegan has reported on the coast for WWNO since 2015. In this role she has covered a wide range of issues and subjects related to coastal land loss, coastal restoration, and the culture and economy of Louisiana’s coastal zone, with a focus on solutions and the human dimensions of climate change. Her reporting has been aired nationally on Planet Money, Reveal, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Marketplace, BBC, CBC and other outlets. She’s a recipient of the Pulitzer Connected Coastlines grant, CUNY Resilience Fellowship, Metcalf Fellowship, and countless national and regional awards.

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