Evansville Attorney Gayle Gerling Pettinga Joins Residents in Annual National Night Out

Attorney Gayle Gerling Pettinga, owner and managing attorney of Gerling Law, will participate in the Evansville National Night Out event held at Wesselman Park on August 7, 2018, from 6-8:30 p.m.

National Night Out is sponsored by the Evansville Police Department. “Gerling Law has been involved with National Night Out since 2006,” said Gerling Pettinga. “We started in the early years providing bicycle helmets to the kids. The last three years we have given away 6 to 8 bicycles, locks, and helmets in a drawing at the end of the night. Gerling Law has given away over 7,500 helmets since 2006.” Gerling Law also has given away thousands of recycling bags to National Night Out participants.

National Night Out is a free event designed to heighten crime and drug prevention awareness, generate support for and participation in local anti-crime efforts, strengthen neighborhood and police partnerships, and send a positive message to criminals that the neighborhoods are fighting back.

“Residents from the forty-three neighborhoods will lock their doors, turn on outside lights and spend the evening with neighbors and police and firefighters in a variety of activities at Wesselman Park,” noted Gerling Pettinga. “The success of National Night Out is due to the strong cooperation between the neighborhoods, police, firefighters, and positive support from our neighborhood businesses and organizations.”

Matt Peskin, founder and executive director of National Association of Town Watch (NATW), established in 1981, introduced the National Night Out program in August of 1984 through an already established network of law enforcement agencies, neighborhood watch groups, civic groups, state and regional crime prevention associations and volunteers across the nation.

“The first annual National Night Out involved 2.5 million neighbors across 400 communities in 23 states,” Peskin explains on the NATW website. “However, the event soon grew to a celebration beyond just front porch vigils. Neighborhoods across the nation began to host block parties, festivals, parades, cookouts and various other community events with safety demonstrations, seminars, youth events, visits from emergency personnel, exhibits and much, much more. Today, 38 million neighbors in 16 thousand communities across the nation take part in National Night Out.”

This year, Gerling Law will be handing out recycling bags as they have in the past couple of years. “Since 2008,” Gerling Pettinga stated, “we have distributed over 23,000 recycle bags at various community events and to organizations, such as Evansville Christian Life Center for Thanksgiving meal distribution, Homeless Coalition for distribution of personal hygiene supplies, and at back-to-school events where supplies and uniforms are given to students in need.”

About Gerling Law 
For over five decades, Gerling Law has pursued justice and fair compensation for people who have been injured by someone’s actions or neglect, along with people who can no longer support themselves because of an illness or injury. Practice areas include personal injury, medical malpractice, and Social Security disability. Gerling Law has four locations: 519 Main Street, Evansville, IN 47708; 120 East Market Street, Suite 1271, Indianapolis, IN 46204; 4965 U.S. Highway 42, Suite 1000, Louisville, KY 40222; and 2645 Frederica Street, Suite 200-A, Owensboro, KY 42301. For more information, please call (888) 437-5464, or visit http://www.gerlinglaw.com.

About the NALA™ 
The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALA’s mission is to promote a business’ relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. The information and content in this article are not in conjunction with the views of the NALA. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361.