SMYRNA – Chenango County Sheriff’s Office personnel will be taking a break from their routine work this month and dedicating their time to reaching out to children at their annual summer camp in Smyrna.

The Sheriff’s Camp is free of charge for area kids ages 9 through 12, and has been in operation for 16 years at Camp Thompson in Smyrna.

For five weeks of the summer, Sheriff Ernest Cutting Jr. said it’s a place where kids can have fun surrounded by great role models, in a safe and healthy environment.

“We try to teach civic virtue, community participation and mutual respect through a number of fun outdoor activities with our staff. It’s as much fun for them as it is for the kids really. A lot of us look forward to this every year and it’s one of the most important proactive programs we do,” said Cutting.

As one might imagine, the Sheriff’s Camp has countless structured activities including sports, swimming, boating, education, group functions, and social awareness.

One of the camp’s main goals is to promote a message of respect, caring and honesty along with several other community-oriented qualities. To help educate the campers, the Sheriff’s Office employs several of its officers to perform demonstrations on their wide range of specialties.

Also mixed into the activities are several hours of free time, three meal periods and presentations by emergency personnel.

Sitting on green fields or around campfires, kids will hear demonstrations from local law enforcement, corrections and dispatch officials as they explain the different aspects of their jobs. The presentations include SCUBA diving, fire extinguisher usage, the K-9 unit, bike patrols, fire trucks, a visit from the Life Net of New York EMS helicopter and the day-to-day life of emergency service personnel.