Steven and Jo Anne sat in Saturday’s sun, catching some rays while a whirlwind of activity encircled them.

Jo Anne tells kids about child abuse, fire safety and tobacco abuse. Steven helps out with the child abuse message delivered from far-eastern Harlan County to far-western McCracken County in Kentucky by South Central Kentucky Kids on the Block based in Bowling Green.

On Saturday, in a clearing across Ky. 231 and the go-kart track at Phil Moore Park, Kids on the Block puppets Steven and Jo Anne sat in a blue kayak while the organizers of Green River Scrubs Paddle for Puppets, now in its second year, registered participants for the fundraiser.

Amanda Guerra, Kids on the Block program coordinator, said the kayak event, where more than 100 participants put into Drakes Creek at Romanza Johnson Park for a leisurely float, with oars lapping the water, would help with program expansions.

“You get on the water,” said Tangi Stivers, owner of Green River Scrubs on Chestnut Street in Bowling Green. “It is peaceful and quiet; there is a calmness.” Stivers said there were triple the participants this year compared to last year, with many members of the Bowling Green Canoe and Kayak Club among them.

That brought Charles Read, 64, of Hodgensville, to the site Saturday. He likes to ply the river in southcentral Kentucky every six weeks or so. There is a site about 20 minutes from his house on the Green River where he can put in his kayak. Read said he’s found he likes kayaking more than just hitting the water in a boat.

“I went out and bought a bass boat, but I didn’t like it. Too many people,” he said. “I sold it and bought another kayak.”

Read said he supports Kids on the Block because of the important message it brings to children.

Annabelle Cooper, 17, who just graduated from Butler County High School in Morgantown, appreciates the scenery found on a kayak trip. “It’s also good exercise,” she said.

Cooper will attend Centre College in Danville this fall.

Kids on the Block has a staff of five and an annual budget of more than $200,000 to bring the puppet educational programs to 34 Kentucky counties. Money raised from Paddle for Puppets will finance free, unlimited shows in Warren County, Guerra said. Kids on the Block’s goal this year is to present more than 300 school programs in the schools for kids in kindergarten through sixth grade, and also for kids in pre-kindergarten programs.

“This helps out with everyone in the community,” said Tyler Kirby, 17, of Alvaton, who provided water craft through TK’s Canoe and Kayak Rentals. He is a rising senior at Greenwood High School.

While on Drakes Creek Saturday the groups were also conducting a trash pick-up, said Stivers. Green River Scrubs markets medical uniforms and Stivers’ love of kayaking is displayed in the little kayak found in the firm’s logo.

Stivers said she started kayaking “before it was cool” while growing up in western Tennessee and liked the idea of combining kayaking and Kids on the Block in the fundraiser. 

“This has been a huge success,” she said.

Guerra said if Steven and Jo Anne could talk, no doubt they would be excited about the paddle event “so that they can go into more schoolrooms.”

Of course, they were too busy catching rays Saturday, knowing the important lessons they impart to children across the commonwealth are ahead.

— Follow business reporter Charles A. Mason on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.