Tracey Diamond | July 21, 2015
I recently saw a post online about a police officer who was giving out "ice cream tickets" to kids wearing their bike helmets. I thought how great of an idea that is and would be to do that here in Montclair. I reached out to a friend of mine on the police force, Officer Vincent Russo, who loved the idea and helped me to connect to the right department - leading to Sargent Williams of the Community Service Unit. He also loved the idea. At the same time, a lot of my clients are in the food business, so I reached out to a few that would represent the different sections of town causing no overlap in the project based on where tickets would be handed out.
Sgt Williams will be giving CSU officers tickets (small business card sized tickets) to kids they see wearing their bike helmets. It is a random giving out of tickets, so you never know if you will be surprised by being handed one. It is all about bringing an awareness to the importance of safety for the kids. Hopefully it will also bring awareness to the adults as well for themselves. But the tickets are for kids - any age - and that is any child that the officers see on their routes in the sections of town, not just Montclair residents. When a child is handed a ticket, they will be able to bring it to the location on the ticket - one of four bakeries - to "pay their fine" by handing in their ticket for a tasty treat at the shop.
So, if you are sighted in Upper Montclair - you will receive a ticket for The Little Daisy Bake Shop....Watchung Plaza area - Tiny Elephant.....Walnut Street - Montclair Bread Company......and the South End - a new bakery, Cakeaholic Obsession.
Everyone is really excited about the project. It officially kicked off July 13th with our photo shoot on the MPD front steps, and starting to get word out, and runs until August 31 (ticket expiration date). So, helmets on and enjoy a safe and sweet summer!!!
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