The newest installation of the Jackson County Sheriff's Office's life jacket loan program stands at Vineyard Lake County Park in Norvell Township. (Photo courtesy of Jackson County Sheriff's Office).
JACKSON COUNTY, MI -- An initiative to make Jackson County’s lakes safer this summer just broke new ground.
A new Life Jacket Safety Loan Station has been built at Vineyard Lake County Park in Norvell Township. Jackson County now has four lakeside life jacket loan stations, with the other at Vandercook Lake, Grass Lake and Clark Lake, officials said.
RELATED: Life jacket loan stations aim to prevent drownings in Jackson County parks
Construction of the Vineyard Lake station was unanimously approved by the Norvell Township Board of Trustees earlier this summer. The sign that adorns the station was built by Spry Sign, and Eagle Point Marina donated the life jackets, officials said.
The county’s Life Jacket Safety Program, which started May 28, loans life jackets to families, free of charge to use while swimming or boating, with the request that visitors “kindly return (them) when they are finished.”
“Every year our community experiences drownings at our lakes,” Jackson County Sheriff Gary Schuette previously said. “Often the victims are children who don’t know how to swim but went into the water to cool off on a hot summer day.”
The idea for the life jacket loan stations came from Deputy Jay Truchan, who recognized the need and began searching for a way to make the program happen, officials said.
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