Give crime and drugs a going away party on Tuesday, August 7, by attending the 29th annual National Night Out. The event, celebrated in more than 15,325 communities in the United States, is designed to heighten crime and drug prevention awareness, gain participation for local anticrime efforts, and strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community relationships. The West Windsor event is organized by West Windsor Township Police Department, West Windsor Township Recreation Department, and PBA 271.
West Windsor residents are asked to lock their doors, turn on outside lights, and spend the evening outside with neighbors and police at Community Park from 6 to 10 p.m. Many organizations will be gathering and providing information, refreshments, and entertainment. There will be inflatable rides and pony rides. Refreshments include Kona Ice and Rita’s (free while supplies last).
“This is a night for West Windsor to stand together to promote awareness, safety and neighborhood unity,” says Patrolman Justin Insalaco, a member of West Windsor Police and the event coordinator. “National Night Out showcases the vital importance of police-community partnerships and citizen involvement in our goal to build the safest community.
“We need to send a message to criminals that neighborhoods are getting organized and fighting back,” says Insalaco. Businesses, organizations, or community members interested in participating should contact Insalaco at 908-692-4139 or E-mail insalaco@westwindsorpolice.com
This year’s event focuses on the organization created by the Wyers family of Mansfield. The parents are Curtis, an athletic director at Robbinsville High School, and Leslie, a learning consultant in the West Windsor-Plainsboro school district. Their three children are twin boys, Logan and Drew, 8, and Kylie, 6.
Two of the children have been affected by nephronophthisis, a genetic disease that causes cysts to form in the kidneys, making them more susceptible to bone disease, heart disease, high blood pressure, and disrupting overall development.
Logan was diagnosed last summer and had a kidney transplant last fall at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. His mother was a match, and he received one of her kidneys. His healthy twin brother is eight inches taller and 35 pounds heavier.
Now Kylie has only 50 percent kidney function and she will need a transplant by the time she is a teenager. Her father is not a match, so they will have to depend on an unknown donor.
“The Wyers are continuously searching for alternate treatments,” says Insalaco. “They have made many, many trips back and forth to CHOP, and they never know what is going to come day to day.”
They have created a website and support group to seek help for Kylie and the community who has been affected by nephronophthisis in whole. They want to generate further research and bring families who have been afflicted closer together.
“With their website they are seeking corporate donations, but mostly a pharmaceutical company that would do clinical tests for a drug that might slow the progress of the disease,” says Insalaco. “They will do anything to help Kylie.”
Leslie has been in contact with Dr. Friedhelm Hildebrant, a professor of pediatric and human genetics at the University of Michigan — and the person who discovered the gene that causes the disease. “Hildebrant informed Leslie that no support groups existed but it was a good idea to start one,” says Insalaco.
Curtis then reached out to students at Robbinsville High, and they created the website. A friend of the family handled the foundation’s paperwork. “They are very impressed with the outpouring of community support they have received. The family has become much more religious and has a great deal of faith,” says Insalaco. Visit www.nephhope.org for information.
National Night Out, West Windsor Township Police Department, West Windsor Community Park, 193 Princeton-Hightstown Road, West Windsor. Tuesday, August 7, 6 to 10 p.m. Free. 609-799-1222 or www.westwindsorpolice.com.
