After a year’s absence, Edmonds on Tuesday night relaunched its unique Night Out Against Crime celebration with demonstrations, face painting, bouncy toys, tours of fire trucks and police cars, and even a chance to pat Dash, the handsome four-legged star of Edmonds’ K-9 unit. The event was canceled last year due to city budget cuts, which limited the availability of staff to attend the event.
According to event coordinator Robin Heslop, there are two main reasons why the Edmonds event occurs the week before National Night Out Against Crime activities, which happen on Aug. 3 in most communities nationwide. First, such scheduling allows the city to avoid conflicts with emergency responders, who are often asked to staff several events on one night, and second, it permits local sponsors to contribute to the Edmonds event. (The National Night Out organization prohibits local sponsors from participating, Heslop said.)
The Edmonds Police Foundation would like to thank the generous sponsors who made the event possible, including Allstate Insurance Company, Campbell-Nelson VW Nissan, Chevron, The Hagen Firm PLLC, The McDevitt Family and Edmonds QFC.
It’s not accurate to say that the NNO organization prohibits local sponsorship of the evening’s events – quite the contrary really.
The event is designed to encourage neighbors (in the surrounding of their neighborhood) to get to know each other, create crime watch groups, strengthen police-community partnerships, and increase neighborhood organization.
I’ve helped organize for other (non-Edmonds) South Sno County cities in the recent past, and saw first hand how the event helped neighbors get to know each other, share experiences, and create an environment that allowed neighbors to get comfortable with each other. NNO provides all types of FREE games and organizing aides.
I’m all for a community party – but I also think we should re-examine the intent of NNO and find ways to accomplish it’s very important mission in our community. In these times, neighborhood familiarity and awareness can be hard to conjure up, and NNO has found a good way to facilitate it.
Regarding NNO logo and name use, the NNO site specifically states other for profit companies CAN use the brand: “If your organization enlists the assistance of a company to support your local NNO (e.g. funds, in-kind donations), that is permitted.”
In fact, my task has been to call upon local South County businesses to promote and donate to the neighborhood parties. BTW, Target gives very generously to support the neighborhood parties.
Food for Thought.