(Photo by Jennifer Corr)
The community showed up on Aug. 3 at Whitney Pond Park for music, educational resources, give-a-ways, community vendors, refreshments and much more as part of National Night Out.
National Night Out, according to the initiative’s website, is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police and community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie. Millions of neighborhoods hold their own National Night Out events across the United States, U.S. territories and military bases every year. The event was first introduced in August of 1984.
(Photos by Jennifer Corr)
“That’s exactly what this is for: building bridges and breaking down those walls and those barriers, getting to know each other,” Patrick Ryder, the Nassau County Police Department commissioner, said. “We’re letting them know who we are, letting them know what we have available and it helps us build that future recruitment too.”
The Nassau County Police Department Sixth Precinct set up a table with free toys and activity booklets for children inside Whitney Pond Park. They were surrounded by booths from local organizations, such as the Kiwanis Club of Manhasset-Port Washington, the Manhasset Chamber of Commerce, the Knights of Columbus 2122 and the Shelter Rock Food Pantry.
“Our mission is to serve our community, our parishes and our family,” Daniel Garcia of the local Knights of Columbus said. “We’re very happy to be here to do what needs to be done and it’s a way to see the organizations here that can use a helping hand from the Knights. We’re all about doing that.”
Gina Kang of the Shelter Rock Church food pantry said she was also happy to raise awareness about the services the pantry could offer the community, as well as raise community support by the means of monetary and food donations.
“We’re open every Tuesday, we’ve been here for years,” Kang said. “We used to serve 75 families in the area before the pandemic and after the pandemic we served up to 550 families. Right now the number has come down to 160 families, which is manageable.”
Today, those families can actually come to the Hagedorn Community Center from 4 to 6 p.m. located at 65 High St. to shop inside the food pantry. Community members attending the National Night Out had the chance to learn more about the pantry through the table set up by the church, as well as a fun game they hosted.
“We’re always excited to be participating in the community and helping out in anyway that we can,” Kathy Levinson, of the Kiwanis Club of Manhasset-Port Washington, said. She was sitting at a booth with Jeff Stone of the Kiwanis, right across from Shelter Rock’s table.
“When you bring the community and families together, then people can see that they can support and be helpful to one another. And that’s always a good thing, a healthy thing.”
After surviving a long pandemic, Ryder said it is a good to get out there again and enjoy one another’s company.
