A NIGHT OUT
Community comes together with games, car show, dunk tank Event activities benefit Keystone Opportunity Center
Even though Off. Jeff Lukens had his police uniform and badge on, it didn’t stop anyone from sending him falling into the Souderton Community Night Out dunk tank.
“I was in the water a lot, enough that I lost count,” Lukens said.
This was the fourth year he was one of the people in the dunk tank, he said. Lifeguards from the Souderton Community Pool also took turns on the dunking seat.
A basket containing cash paid by people to get a chance to dunk the officer or lifeguards showed the results.
“They’re filling up their basket pretty quick,” Lukens said.
The money received benefited Keystone Opportunity Center, he said.
This year’s Souderton Community Night was initially scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 13, then moved to Thursday, Aug. 15 because of inclement weather on Tuesday night.
“Everybody’s having a good time,” Dianna Fields, Souderton Police administrative assistant, said as she surveyed the activities in Souderton Community Park.
The fire companies and police departments were able to attend on the rescheduled night, she said, although in some cases the officers on hand were not the same ones as originally planned because of their work shifts. Some of the other organizations that originally planned to be there were not able to make it on the rescheduled night, she said.
“It brings community together with law enforcement, first responders,” Fields said of the event. “Everybody has a good time.”
About 25 volunteers helped with the evening, she said. Along with doing the dunk tank, the pool staff was also helping with the moonbounce and the obstacle course, which was added this year, she said.
Kent Lloyd, of Harleysville, said he’s also been there previous years.
“I brought out my two kids and the dog and we’re having a good night out. It’s nice,” he said.
As he spoke while holding one of the children, the child pointed toward a play area and said he wanted to go that way.
“I know, there’s so many things to do,” Lloyd told him.
The car show along with Community Night Out normally has between 80 and 100 vehicles, but this year’s number was less, probably because of the change in the date, said Jim Hunsberger, one of the leaders of East Penn Modifiers Club, which holds the car show.
About 7 p.m., there were 36 cars registered, with
some additional ones expected to arrive later, he said.
The vehicles included a 1928 Dodge that was probably the oldest one in the show, he said.
Although the car club is based in Souderton, it has members from several towns, including Collegeville, Quakertown and Coopersburg, he said.
Cars in the show came from as far away as the Allentown area, he said.
“We draw cars from all
over,” Hunsberger said.
“In years prior to this, there was a guy who used to come out of north Jersey,” he said. “He couldn’t make it tonight.”
Proceeds from the car show were going to benefit Keystone Opportunity Center, Indian Valley Boys & Girls Club and the Bean Bag food project, he said.
“We do 10 shows a year and all the shows are charitable events,” Hunsberger said. “A lot of them are for local charities. We also do some for veterans’ charities, local and national.”
The Community Night Out also included several raffles. Persons bringing
non-perishable food items for the Keystone Opportunity Center food pantry received one raffle ticket for each item brought.
“It’s not just about the pantry. It’s about Keystone Opportunity Center as a whole,” said Alan Raisman, Keystone’s manager of advancement.
That includes programs for people facing food insecurity, housing and educational needs, he said.
“At every event we go to in the community, we showcase all of our programs, our immediate needs that we have for the week, our special events going on,” he said. “We love
coming out to community events to show the community what we’re doing to support them.”
Keystone’s annual SleepOut will be Friday, October 25 through Saturday, October 26 at Zion Mennonite Church in Souderton. The event, for youth groups, includes sleeping out in cardboard shelters made by the participants, having a soup kitchentype meal and hearing from people sharing stories about homelessness and hunger.