National Night Out during COVID

Jul 27

Have you participated in National Night Out (NNO) before? Traditionally, it's been an evening of connection, fun, laughter, and an opportunity for neighbors to meet one other.

Historically this event is held on the first Tuesday of every August. This year, due to the Coronoviurs, Minneapolis's National Night Out has been rescheduled for Sept. 15, 2020.

The City has however approved permits to still be issued on Aug. 4 if if you decide you would like to keep the original date. You can register your NNO event here.

Looking for some great ideas on what to do during your event? Keep in mind ways to minimize contact and keep safe distances.

Actvities you can do together:

Beautify a common area	Presentation by an arborist (Dutch elm disease, etc.)
Collect for a food shelf	Sign all ages up for library cards
Cover graffiti	Use e-mail to communicate more with your block club
Nominate a block club or an individual for a crime prevention award	Voter registration drive
Plan a fall clean-up or bulb planting	Community impact statements or petitions

Simple Refreshments: Have someone serve food to reduce multiple contact points.

Bring your favorite snack	Mini-donut stand
Coffee, tea, and dessert	Popcorn
Cookie exchange	Potluck
Fruit and cheese plates	Pretzels and pop
Hot dogs and brats	Root beer floats
Ice cream cones/make your own sundaes	Watermelon
Lemonade and cookies

With COVID 19 numbers still rising, we thought we would put together a few helpful healthy hints in hosting a socially distant event to help protect one another.

BEFORE HAND:

Please wear a mask when you door knock to invite folks.
Collect phone numbers so you can communicate through text or calls (have them give you their number if they are comfortable and type it in your phone yourself.)
Paint a sign with kids on the block that reminds people: PLEASE SOCIALLY DISTANCE FOR THE HEALTH OF ALL PEOPLE

DAY OF:

Offer free masks to neighbors who don't have any.
Have hand sanitizer available that everyone must use before getting food.
Have someone serving food who is wearing a mask AND gloves so that there is no cross contamination.
Have snacks and drinks in individual servings, not large jugs or bags of chips to cut down on cross contamination.
Offer garbage, recycling, AND compost to help do our part in reducing waste.

If you are unable to get any of these items, please reach out the FNA and we can do our best to help secure masks and hand sanitizer. We also offer $50 to each Block party when you send an email to info@folwell.org notifying us of your event. We deliver funds on night of the event.

If you feel any symptoms, please stay home. Symptoms can include high temperature, cough, loss of taste or smell, headache. It incredibly important for each of us to do our part to keep others safe. A reminder that you may be asymptomatic for several days after a possible exposure.

The Folwell Neighborhood Association (FNA) does not host their own event. We believe in the mission of NNO where neighbors connect more deeply with those on their block. FNA board and staff will be out to come visit your event and get to know you!

Do you have questions? We can help! Email us: info@folwell.org

Check out these pictures from all the fun last year! While we know it won't be exactly the same, we believe in how creative folks are in their ability to gather but gather safely.