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Salvation Army National Night Out Hopes To Build Relationships

Salvation Army logo/sign

The Salvation Army Kroc Center, in partnership with the Garfield Park Neighborhood Association, is once again participating in National Night Out. 

This free event will focus on neighborhood safety will feature other family fun activities at the Kroc Center.

“I think that National Night Out has taken on a life of its own.  Just in terms of making a statement about community and the fact that we really want to build a relationship with people in our neighborhoods.”

That’s Jon Shaner, Marketing and P.R. Director for the Salvation Army Kroc Center, where residents will soon gather for another National Night Out event.  The free event is focus on neighborhood safety and strengthening neighborhood ties, relationships?

“National Night Out began in the 1980’s as a way for people to interact with law enforcement in a positive way… So, it’s continuing that tradition.”

Shaner says while there may be difficulties in some neighborhoods between residents and law enforcement… the National Night Out events can help bridge the gap.

“We understand that this isn’t completely going to repair that, but it’s a good place to start, especially when you’re talking about young people who can meet a police officer, pet a police dog and understand that they’re not always the enemy all the time; they’re here to protect and to serve.”

Shaner adds that not only will law enforcement be on hand, but lots of community resources and a lot of fun.

“So we’re treating this as half of a family fun night and half resource fair… so that people can get information from resources like LincUp and Grand Rapids Public Schools will be here, but I think the biggest draw will be our slip n slide, which people will line up to do throughout the evening.”

The event will be held Tuesday August 1st from 5 pm to 8:30 pm at the Kroc Center on South Division. It is free and open to the public. 

Jennifer is an award winning broadcast news journalist with more than two decades of professional television news experience including the nation's fifth largest news market. She's worked as both news reporter and news anchor for television and radio in markets from Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo all the way to San Francisco, California.