Fort Hunt and Hybla Valley residents will be hosting barbecues and ice cream socials out in front of their homes as an opportunity to get to know each other and, as a result, try to make the neighborhood a safer place.

Between 6:30 and 9 p.m. Tuesday, residents are invited to turn on their porch lights and mingle as part of National Night Out. Already, more than 100 communities in Virginia are registered to participate.

The idea behind the event is that if residents get to know each other better, they will be more likely to work together to help keep their neighborhoods safe.

In 2011, Herndon won an award for the quality of the community’s National Night Out program, including organization and planning, participation and results. (See coverage of Herndon’s 2011 National Night Out here.)

This nationwide event began in the 1970s as a way to get people out of their homes and meet each other with the common purpose of making communities safer by raising crime prevention awareness.

More information on National Night Out is available at www.natw.org/nno.

-- Patch’s Adam Swart and Joan Dentler contributed to this report.

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