The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Community
Though the atmosphere may be festive, the fun never masks the serious goal of the event, to promote a safe environment in Norristown.
“What we’re trying to do now is get more people involved in the community, churches, organizations and agencies, to come out and put a table out and offer their services to the neighborhood,” Bishop said. “National Night Out is about the community coming together. We don’t want to commercialize it; we want the community members to come out and talk to us and get to know what the issues are that are affecting their specific neighborhoods and maybe we can take some action steps to help them out.”
A highlight of this year’s National Night Out was the awarding of a bike to 10-year-old Seymone Gatewood for her winning essay on Keeping Norristown Beautiful.
“She wants to clean up Norristown (trash & recycling) to make it beautiful,” Bishop explained. “The one thing that’s different this year is that there was an essay contest for kids under 17, with the theme “What would you do to change Norristown when you grow up?’ The bikes were donated to the Police Department earlier this year but for us to stay a neutral third party, we’re having church groups read the essays that were presented to them by these kids and let them pick the winners.”
Created in 1984 as a trust-building measure with local law enforcement and a possible means to crime reduction, National Night Out, according to the organization’s website, natw.org, “enhances the relationship between neighbors and law enforcement while bringing back a true sense of community … (providing) a great opportunity to bring police and neighbors together under positive circumstances.”
Bishop noted that some changes are in the works for next year’s National Night Out.
“Next year’s (2020) event is being planned for West End of town, possibly along the West Marshall Street corridor,” he said.