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Raleigh, NC – The Pleasant Ridge & Ramsgate Community Watch, building a safe and informed family community, celebrated National Night Out 2009 with over 80 neighbors and representatives from our local Fire, Police, and EMS departments.
I’m eating chocolate cake and trying to decide what was best about Tuesday night. The cake is left over from the Pleasant Ridge & Ramsgate Community Watch National Night Out (NNO) 2009 celebration. This was our fourth one, and by far our best. Shelia (the event coordinator and also Secretary) truly outdid herself this year. Where do I start? Target, the NNO sponsor, donated water, freezer pops, beach balls, and more. They even sent some employees that came out and helped us get set-up. Other local businesses helped out too. Steve from Grocery Boy Jr., WRAL, NBC 17, Wal-Mart, Tarts Produce at the Farmer’s Market, CPI Security, were just a few of the donaters for goody bags. Ben once again provided our sound system.
My favorite donation was “time” from the Wake County EMS, City of Raleigh Fire Department, Wake County Sheriff’s Office, State Highway Patrol, and last but not least, the Raleigh Police Department (RPD). Neighbors got to climb in the fire truck, the ambulance, and patrol car. Kids got to try on hats, jackets and ask lots of questions. These departments stayed all night. They even participated in the 2nd annual NNO Name that Tune contest. SHP vs. EMS, RFD vs. SWAT. It was close, but EMS and RFD really know their TV show theme songs. (That’s all I’m saying about that.)
We interviewed the departments asking what National Night Out meant to them, and they all had a similar answers: “Getting to know your neighbors,” “Coming together and keeping your neighborhood safe,” “The eyes and ears of the community,” and “The good guys win” were just some things they mentioned. I have to agree. I met lots of new people and there were some definite themes claiming this area as our turf!
Neighbors interview Captain Perry
Captain Perry from RPD SouthWest District spent a good hour talking with us and addressing issues in the neighborhood. With his 18 years of experience, Captain Perry provided information about our district, our beats, and crime prevention tips. One particular hot topic was speeding. Captain Perry assured the neighbors that RPD will be looking into this and trying to slow things down.
Neighbors got to play BINGO, sign up for the upcoming 911 tour, meet their Block Captains, learn if they didn’t have a Block Captain, donate to the Community Watch, and win a watermelon cake (congratulations Katy). There were goody bags with pencils, police stickers and tattoos, beach balls, information on home safety, kid safety, bike safety and more!
NNO kicks off our yearly fundrasier. We’re a small organization run on donations only. This year, our goal is to raise $250.00. We got a great start Tuesday night and raised over $100 in donations thanks to our strong community. Another way to help our organization is to link your Food Lion MVP card with their Shop & Share program.
The kids had a great time too. In our biggest costume contest yet, there were 8 kids vying for the best costume. It came down to the top three, a ballerina, a doctor, and a police officer. But to us they were all winners!
Bubba reigned order inside the jail.
Bubba our jail bird mascot reigned order inside the “jail.” A sign nearby warned if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime. The evening ended on a loud note as the emergency vehicles all pulled out with lights a twirling and sirens a blaring!
I’m now reminded how this started out as a simple watermelon social just a few years ago. We’ve kept that tradition. There was watermelon at NNO 2009, but I didn’t get any. I saw several people eating some and it looked tastey. Did I tell you all about the rain? We were ready to set up at 6:00 PM, but the powers that be had other ideas, and it rained until about 6:30 PM. By 7:15 PM you wouldn’t have know it was pouring rain 30 minutes earlier. We had a host of volunteers that helped get us set up. Before, during and after, there were so many people that helped make this a success, Janice, Debra, Paula, Mary, Barbara, Tom, just to name a few.
I’m sure there is something I missed, but mostly, I was so excited to see the 80 or so people that were there, united, for our neighborhood. It was a great feeling. I can’t wait for next year.
Yep, I got to have my cake and eat it too!
More pictures and coverage:
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About: Tabitha: President of the Pleasant Ridge & Ramsgate Community Watch program. |
Tags: EMS, fire_department, national_night_out, nbc17, nno, raleigh, RPD, WRAL