Hundreds of residents showed up for Toledo’s National Night Out at the Frederick Douglass Community Center on Tuesday as part of a continuing effort to connect the community with resources and build relationships between residents and public safety officials.

“I think it’s critical that we’re out here in the community,” said Gina Shubeta, acting lieutenant of the Toledo Fire and Rescue Department’s community outreach, employee engagement, recruitment, and public education bureau. “It’s important for the community to see Toledo Fire engaging with them, so that we can build a relationship and build trust.”

The department had a strong presence at the event, providing fire safety resources and giving fire engine tours. The Toledo Police Department was also at the event, and the two departments have worked together to help educate the community.

“We like to also partner with the Toledo Police Department so they can see their safety forces out here in the community serving them, and teaching them about fire safety and safety in general,” Lt. Shubeta said.

The event was done in partnership with the city through the Human Relations Commission. Co-chairman Penny Meeker said that building that trust is especially important for the city’s youth.

“We want kids to run toward them, not away from them,” she said.

The event also went beyond police and fire departments, offering activities ranging from rock climbing and bounce houses to yoga and chess. Those in attendance enjoyed the wide range of things to do along with the resources offered.

“The bounce house for the kids, the rock climbing that they’re enjoying…the fire truck because they gave me some smoke alarms for my house,” said Denesha Thomas, a West Toledo resident attending the event with family.

Ms. Thomas said that she thought the event was an important one, especially for Toledo’s youth.

“It gives the kids something to do to stay out of trouble,” she said. “There’s a lot going on in this city, and I feel like events like this is really good for the youth.”

Given the turnout of this year’s event, Ms. Meeker hopes to see even more people coming to National Night Out in the future.

“We’re hoping to have bigger and bigger turnouts, especially as the community gets to know that this is an annual event. We have so much going on here,” Ms. Meeker said.

Toledo joined other cities across the country taking part in the event for the first time since 2019, as the city put the event on hold in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

First Published August 2, 2022, 10:18 p.m.