Focused on providing local residents resources for a safer community, Tuesday's Tamaqua Night Out event, held along the 100 block of Pine Street, brought numerous local emergency services, community and volunteer organizations together for an interactive evening of fun activities and informative presentations.

Organized with partnerships between the Tamaqua Safety Initiative, Tamaqua Community Arts Center and Tamaqua Police Department, the event was held in conjunction with National Night Out (NNO), a nationally recognized community-police awareness-raising event held the first Tuesday of August.NNO has been held annually since 1984 and is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch in the United States and Canada."The event was held to increase awareness about police programs in communities, such as drug prevention, town watch, neighborhood watch, and other anti-crime efforts," said event coordinator Leona Rega, who also serves as director for the Tamaqua Safety Initiative (TSI).Volunteers estimated about 450-500 visitors took advantage of the event. During the event, numerous community organizations spent time talking to visitors about various aspects of crime prevention and community safety.Some groups participating were Tamaqua Girls/Boy Scouts, Schuylkill Elder Abuse Prevention Alliance, The Tamaqua Police Department (Kid Print Program), members of the DARE Program, Shafer's Pharmacy, Tamaqua Community Crime Watch, Tamaqua Youth Ministries, St. Lukes Hospital, Barry Isett & Associates, Citizens Fire Company, American Hose Company, Right Turn Auto, Majestic House Apartments, local LOL Youth Writers group and others.In addition, visitors would get a card punched at each organization. If you got a majority of the card punched, you were eligible for free gifts when you were done.Some of the many items given away to visitors consisted of caps, T-shirts, backpacks, glow sticks, flashlights, food and drinks."The event heightened crime prevention awareness in the community, as well as generated support and participation for local anti-crime programs," added Rega. "It also strengthened neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships.""The committee did a great job putting this together," said event committee member Micah Gursky, who estimated that approximately 500 visitors came out to enjoy the community event.In addition to crime-related topics, many participating organizations brought up other related factors for making a safer community. Some topics ranged from fire prevention, senior abuse prevention, car care, medication storage, eating healthy and so on."It is not just physical abuse, it is emotional, self, caregiver and emotional abuse," said Jennifer Drake, board member, Schuylkill Elder Abuse Prevention Alliance, who spent time educating visitors regarding the different forms of elderly abuse."This provided us a one-on-one approach to meeting with local parents of students we help," said Tamaqua DARE secretary Cathy Klingaman. "It really promoted positive community involvement.""It is absolutely necessary to bring neighbors and family members together to help improve their community," said event volunteer Kyle Weaver, 16."This was an excellent way to get local residents a chance to ask questions and leave feedback," said Tamaqua Police Officer Mike Hobbs, praising the event. "The event provided residents a great way to interact with the police and other community-minded organizations.""The turnout of public interest was fantastic," said Tamaqua Mayor Chris Morrison. "This is all about taking care of your community. Police can't do it alone. You don't have to be a crime watcher to report crime.""I loved all the organizations providing information," said local resident Carolyn Suzadail. "I got a great vibe from the event.""We are sending a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are becoming more organized and fighting back," said Rega.