By: Jasmine White, Follow South Jersey Community Journalist
MERCHANTVILLE, N.J. – Music reverberated throughout the streets of Merchantville as hundreds of town residents, family and friends made their way to the Merchantville Community Center for Merchantville’s National Night Out. It is a tradition that began over 15 years ago, but is still carried on today to bring unity to the community.
The children were met with inflatable fun and face paint, while the older kids and parents were greeted by informational tables and volunteer opportunities.
Upon entry, the first table was the Camden County Health Department, handing out lists of resources for healthcare, along with services it provides. The names of the health providers and contact information for each subsection of treatment was listed on the pamphlets as well.
Moving down the line, Camden County Community College sent representatives to bring light to all the opportunities their community college has to offer.
Lani Nguyen, a representative for Camden County Community College, shared the importance of providing the public with academic advisories and information to help guide first generational students and anyone looking to further their education.
“Camden County College is very important to our community, while in turn our community is very important to Camden County College,” Nguyen said. “We want everyone to be aware of our opportunities so that we can help them and build a stronger community.”
The Merchantville Fire Department and the Merchantville Police Department were also present. The police department allowed for children to try on their police gear and gave them the opportunity to go inside the police cars and turn on the lights.
Richard Grassia, the chief of police, assumed the position after the retirement of Chief Wayne Bauer who began the night out tradition in Merchantville. It is every year’s first Tuesday of August to give the town a chance to be more involved with one another and acquainted with law enforcement.
“We do raffle tickets for Mr. Softie and we’re doing a bike raffle this year for the kids,” Grassia said. “We have our equipment here, our tactical homes and our ballistic vests. We take everything out of it just to put it on the kids, so they can get a feel for what we wear everyday.”
The police department offered free beverages and the table next to them, American Legion Post 68, gave out hot dogs and pretzels that were donated by the Merchantville Fire Department.
Cheryl Hill, a representative for the American Legion Post 68, explained the importance of helping out our veterans.
“We raise money to give to the veterans home, and at Christmas time, we fill up stockings to ship overseas to soldiers,” Hill said.
The American Legion also selects juniors from various high schools and sends them to Georgia Port University for educational seminars where they learn about politics, how it works and overall gain knowledge on how to be more involved in their communities.
“You learn how to campaign for yourself and how to garner the votes and get them in,” Hill said.
The Merchantville Fire Department brought one of their fire trucks for its tabling, and talked to people interested in volunteering for the fire department.
Matt Gaskill, one of the representatives for the fire department, explained how the junior program for kids under 18 works and how to get involved in the volunteer fire department.
“It’s mainly to be present for the public, but also as a volunteer fire department, we are always looking for new volunteers,” Gaskill said.
The turnout for this year’s National Night Out was much larger than expected, making it an overall success for the community and everyone involved.
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