National Night Out

Our neighborhood participated in our second annual National Night Out event last night. Being on the Public Safety Committee for our street, I was pleased to see a good turnout of kids and parents. Our HOA President put his fabulous communication skills to work and got our city's First Responders to visit our street.

Complete with lights flashing, the first one up the street was a Policeman with a small entourage of folks with him. The task force had been touring other neighborhoods on a set schedule and so he shared with us that the Fire Truck and Firemen were right behind him. 

Then he divulged a little secret to the kids ...the Firemen had a choice to either go to EastW*neighborhood, or come to our one cul-de-sac neighborhood.  The Firemen chose our neighborhood because they remembered that last year they got to play Four Square with the kids on the block and they wanted a re-match (very, very cool).  

Sure enough, the fire truck came down the street with lights flashing and firemen jumping out of the truck. The first one out said, "Where's the ball? Let's Play!"  Our HOA President's daughter had the game already drawn on the street and did a quick recap of the rules.  And then they were playing for the next 30 minutes rotating kids in and out of the square with firemen, policeman, and the Mayor of our small town.  It was awesome!

My two playing against the Police and Fire:

The Policeman trying to make his case that his gear got in the way of him making the shot (while others laughed):

And again, the Policeman trying to hold his own against the Firemen and kids:

She played in Heels!!!

The Policeman left National Night Out goody bags behind (donated by Target) filled with glow sticks, coupons to ice cream at local stops, stickers, hand sanitizers, personal ID kits, noise makers, and other fun things. The kids and adults had a fantastic night together to celebrate our unison in Crime Prevention and being One with our neighbors in helping each other keep our neighborhood and city safe. 

Yay to National Night Out and our amazing personal First Responders ... and to our awesome HOA President that put all the right people together for our street!