Bringing the community together for a night out, nationally; Project 365 launches

On Aug. 1 the Owego Police Department, and its Benevolent Association, was host to National Night Out at the Tioga County Fairgrounds in Owego. According to its website,  https://natw.org National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live.

For an area like Owego, it doesn’t take long to pull the community together. Over 1,500 guests arrived throughout the three-hour event on Tuesday, enjoying free food, live entertainment, free face painting, bounce houses, dunk tanks, a cornhole course, and so much more. An emergency transport helicopter was anticipated for landing, but had an emergency call come up – sending the crew off to do what they do.

Tuesday’s event was even more significant this year as the police and their Chaplain, Jay Geistdorfer from the Owego Nazarene Church, are helping to bring the plight of homelessness to the forefront. There were items collected by the church to include backpacks with snacks and personal hygiene items and more, and as they work to fulfill the goals of Project 365.

According to the Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, iProject 365 is a targeting component of the National Night Out program that helps communities identify specific problem areas and then work to resolve these problems over the next 365 days. In other words, the project begins on the annual National Night Out celebration day, and ends 365 days later.

No guarantees as the homeless plight is a complicated one, but the community is in action and area residents have emerged with the same kindness, caring and compassion that makes Tioga County, New York a great place to live.

Throughout the event many guests arrived asking how they could help the homeless, where they could direct their dollars and the basic question, “What can I do to help?”

Readers will be hearing more about Project 365, now at day five or six depending on when you are reading this.

Back to the event on Tuesday, which was one of many held regionally and nationally, sponsors arrived to help the PBA fund this free event.

There were hotdogs and burgers, snow cones and popcorn, face painting, live music by Devon Lawton & The In-Laws, and a variety of service vehicles on display to include fire trucks, EMS vehicles, all-terrain vehicles, squad cars, and even motorcycles, like that driven by Jerry Pierce and Rick McCulskey.

As for cars, the Shangri-La Cruisers carved out a small infield area for the anticipated numbers, but had to extend that several times as more and more vintage and collector cars arrived (to include this writer’s 1973 VW).

Helping shape the perimeter, area businesses participated by bringing down a truck or two for display. Trucks included an Upstate Shredding truck, Lopke, Taylor Garbage, Val-U Auto and Towing, Johnson’s Pools and Spas, and Scott Smith and Son, Inc.

Several were interactive, as well, like the Taylor Garbage demonstration of automation.

A school bus that arrived showed youth the aspects of staying safe, and the Family Reading Partnership Bus welcomed both youth and adults. Half way through the evening, in fact, the bus had already distributed over 150 books to guests.

Under the pavilion on the infield, village officials, law enforcement and volunteers helped to cook food and hand out drinks and chips.

Next to the pavilion was Walgreens, who provided gift bags to guests; Catholic Charities, with information on their services; CASA Trinity; and free face painting, a popular activity at this event. The Friends of the Evergreen Cemetery provided their cornhole course once again, infield.

The event, completely free of charge to guests, was sponsored by the PBA, as a main sponsor; Cops 4 A Cause; Tom McCartney; the Owego Nazarene Church; individual donations; Mario’s Pizza; Village DPW for helping with the venue and clean up; the Tioga County Fair Board for use of the Agricultural Stage; Tioga County Sanitary Service; and the Pumpelly House in Owego, who arrived with a surprise donation.

John and Stephanie Whitmore, who recently purchased the Front Street Bed & Breakfast in July of this year, stopped by the event with a $1,000 donation.

“The donation was a big surprise, and will definitely help pay for the event,” stated Owego Police Chief Joseph Kennedy, who puts in much of his own time to pull everything together for the event.

Chief Kennedy spoke about volunteers, and gave special recognition to Owego Fire Chief Jim Morris and his wife, Jessica. According to Kennedy, the Chief and his wife are very supportive of everything that goes on in the community, and they need to be recognized for this.

And there are others that lend a hand, too, helping to bring everyone together during good times or bad. Connecting the community is the thread that holds it all together, and events like National Night Out build upon that foundation.

Mark your calendar for Village Appreciation Night, set for Oct. 6 with a bonfire, music, and more! Stay tuned.