The First Baptist Church of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania held its seventh annual ‘Touch a Truck’ event Saturday, Sept. 30, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event was created in 2011 for the families of the community to come together and spend the day exploring different vehicles: fire trucks, police cruisers and dump trucks.

Each year, the event has been held, the number of people to attend has expanded. Last year, the event had more than 800 children and their families attend to explore all of the vehicles. At the Sept. 30 event, that number grew to more than 900.

“Over the last few years, the event has grown bigger and the number of people has been going up, which excites me to see that this event means so much to the community,” said Dawn Mankey, events coordinator for the First Baptist Church of Waynesburg.

Other attractions at the event included a Chinese auction, face painting, piñatas and a scavenger hunt. Additionally, a free lunch was provided for each person in attendance.

The main attractions were the fire trucks, buses, construction vehicles and police cars for children and their families to explore. According to Mankey, ‘Touch a Truck’ is centered around giving kids the opportunity to be interactive with the vehicles. They were allowed to touch and climb into the vehicles, as well as honk the horns. Around each of the vehicles, there was someone there to make sure that the child was safe while they explored the vehicles.

The ‘Touch a Truck’ event was free of charge and was open to the public. Each child that attended the event was given a free t-shirt and a Bible from the staff working the event.

“The kids love this event,” said Mankey, “just because they get to do almost everything other than driving the vehicles.”

“This whole event is all about equality for the community,” said Mankey. “Each child gets the exact same amount of tickets to win [prizes].”

The sponsors that join the event are what made the whole event possible, according to Mankey. Those sponsors included Rice Energy, Heartman and Heartman Construction, Apex Energy and the American Red Cross.

“If the consistent growth of attendance is any indication, the community will continue to have this event for many years to come and allow it to further pursue its mission to bring the community together as a whole,” said Mankey.