The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Community stands tall at National Night Out
Sheffield Township’s Clearview High School located at 4700 Broadway Ave. hosted a National Night Out event on Aug. 1 along with communities across the country as part of a national effort to build relationships between emergency service personnel and the people they serve.
The event’s first year being held at Clearview High School featured appearances by Sheffield Township Fire and EMS, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Lorain County Sheriff Department Bomb Squad and a dramatic entrance by two MedEvac helicopters who landed directly onto Tom Hoch Field.
In addition, youngsters had the chance to go through the “smokehouse” which is a mobile unit that simulates a burning building and helps teach proper techniques on how to escape.
“I think it’s wonderful. We get the community involved in the awareness of crime. Every community should have this event,” said Sheffield Township Fire Chief Joe Bandagski
Sheffield Township Trustee Chad Parsons got involved in starting the event several years ago shortly after being elected for the first time.
“I heard about this event, and said to myself, ‘this seems pretty interesting, this will be fun, let’s get it together,” Parsons said.
After being held at Sheffield Township municipal headquarters at 5166 Clinton Ave. for the first year, the event moved to the St. Lad’s Club at 4221 Clinton Ave. where it was held for the past eight years prior to moving to Clearview for 2017.
The event was an immediate hit with the community and has regularly attracted between 800 to 1200 people every year in creating a fun environment to engage the community about public safety and the people who help keep our communities safe.
“It’s all about safety and creating public safety and no matter how hard I work throughout the year, if one child or one person from here can save someone’s life it pays off. You can’t put a price on that,” Parsons said.
Parsons said the Clearview Local Schools reached out to him directly and this year’s event included the Stuff to Bus fundraising program where donations were collected to raise money for the purchase of school supplies.
The National Night Out was established in 1984 as part of a collaborative effort to promote collective engagement and community-building between law enforcement and members of the community. Each year 16,000 communities across the United States and Canada.