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Lebanon, Ore.
The Lebanon Fire District is seeking help from the community to keep the Life Jacket Kiosk program afloat.
“The weather is turning warmer, and more community members are borrowing life jackets,” says Division Chief Jason Bolen. “We’ve had over 80 waiver forms turned in this year, but unfortunately we are missing fourteen life jackets. Each kiosk only contains fourteen life jackets, so that's clearly a large impact to the program.”
The Life Jacket Kiosk program was created last year by the Fire & Life Safety Division of the Lebanon Fire District and supported by a one-time grant from the Lebanon Chamber of Commerce. Materials and labor for the kiosks were donated by numerous local businesses.
“While the grant from the Chamber and support from our community helped get this program started, it now must be maintained through the District’s operating budget,” says Bolen. “We need each life jacket to be returned to keep the program running and keep our community members safe.”
Three life jacket kiosks are located throughout Lebanon. There are currently kiosks at each boat ramp at Waterloo park, and one at the boat ramp at Gill’s Landing. Life jackets are free for single-day use. The borrower simply fills out a waiver form, uses the life jacket, and then returns it to the kiosk when finished. The red life jackets range in size from infant to adult large and are stamped with the LFD logo.
“Our hope is that people will see the life jackets outside of the parks and encourage the borrowers to return them. Or they’ll remember ‘Hey, we borrowed life jackets last weekend and left them in the boat,’ and return them quickly.”
Life jackets can be returned to any of the three kiosks, or dropped off at Station 31 at 1050 W. Oak St.
“There’s no punishment for turning in your life jacket late,” says Bolen. “We just need them back so we can continue to keep our citizens and our children safe on the river.”