Lieutenant William Carter returned home.
On Tuesday evening — years after he played his last game of basketball at Lawton Street Community Center — Carter returned to the facility for Akron’s National Night Out, representing the Akron Fire Department in its continuing mission to get to know residents.
He’s from West Akron, so this event meant a lot to him.
“I felt at home,” said Carter, who graduated from Firestone High School in 2008.
Carter was one of dozens of first responders, city officials and residents who flooded Akron’s wards on National Night Out, an annual opportunity to build relationships, create trust and generate dialogue in community spaces.
It also gives residents, especially children, an opportunity to see police officers and firefighters in a different light.
Cleveland Clinic Police Officer Brandon Clark raced Elio Ouedraogo down slides at Summit Lake Community Center. Also there was Akron Mayor Shammas Malik, who chatted with a collection of community partners tabling the event.
At Patterson Park, Akron firefighter Sarah Kline gave Kar-diare Walker, 6, and his friend, Ta’Riq Jackson, 7, a tour of a firetruck. And Melinda Tucker, 14, of Bath Township, held her 5-year-old brother, Isaiah, out of the top hatch of a Community Rescue Vehicle used by Akron SWAT.
For three years, Shennia Molina, 33, has stopped by the Patterson Park Community Center with her four children. They live a few blocks away.
Molina thinks it’s pretty neat that first responders attend events such as National Night Out as they “keep the community safe for the most part.”
National Night Out consisted of more than Akron’s police officers and firefighters. Organizations introduced or reminded residents of their services.
And individuals such as Keith Sayre.
Sayre, who works in the rubber industry for Akrochem Corp., stood at a “Prayer Fueling Station” with a warm smile as people walked past, curious as to what he and his partner, Steve Cole, offered.
The duo gave people an opportunity to write intimate prayer requests on small, cardstock-like paper or be prayed over — on the spot.
“My buddy Steve invited me to come out and pray with people,” Sayre said.
Attendance at Tuesday’s events varied from Summit Lake Community Center (Ward 3) and Ellet Community Center (Ward 6) to Linda Theatre on Goodyear Boulevard (Ward 10) and Church of Our Savior (Ward 1), showcasing a mixture of outreach success and engagement that still needs to be done. That’s why Sergeant Utomhin Okoh of the Akron Police Department doesn’t take for granted opportunities to interact with residents.
“It’s given us the opportunity to work with partnering agencies, to work with the community leaders to show a different side of police that people don’t often get to see,” Okoh said.
“We’re your neighbors, uncles, brothers, sisters; we’re in the same community.”