Late one Saturday night, Michael was on his way to a party. A car approached him and two bald-headed men exited the vehicle.

“When they got out of the car, one of them started flashing gang signs,” said Michael.

As soon as they approached him, one of them asked him, “Where you from?” Michael replied, “Nowhere man.”

Assuming he was lying, they started to push and shove him. Michael tried to fight back, but they overpowered him. After about five minutes of pounding, they finally left him alone, at the cost of his new sneakers.

“I was lucky to get out of their alive,” Michael said. “I thought I was going to die.”

Michael, a student at Garfield High, was one of the more than 100 people who gathered for the first National Night Out at Garfield High School on August 5. This is a national event where people from different neighborhoods assemble to prevent this sort of crime. They come together to show their support for one another. Strong supporters, like Elizabeth Torres, one of the event’s organizers, think that events like this are very much necessary.

“This is basically a night to have awareness with the community about crime and trying to prevent it,” said Torres, who works for Healthy Start.

Events like this are held annually to reach out to communities with a high crime rate. National Night Out events send a message to everyone about stopping crime, especially to adolescents who start committing crimes at a young age.

Torres said her expectations for the event are to “make people aware of the drugs, violence and crime in our neighborhoods.”

Not only is National Night Out preventing drugs and crime from entering our communities, but also it is helping people who commit crimes or are addicted to drugs, to stop, with the help of organizations like VELA. VELA (the founder’s last name) is an organization that gets “junkies” off the streets and off drugs, and helps them get and education. It is organizations like this that make the dropout rate lower.

“I really hope this event impacts the community at large, in a positive way, also parents and especially public officials,” Torres said.