A large group of people from the Virso community gathered Saturday at the Virso Recreation and Community Center, not just for fellowship and food, but also to be better servants to each other.

They gathered for the annual Virso Neighborhood Watch Community Day.

“The purpose is to bring neighbors together to get to know each other and to be a part of the neighborhood watch,” said Leigh District Supervisor Jerry Townsend, who is the neighborhood watch captain.

Townsend spearheads the event but said it’s a product of everyone’s contribution as a community.

“It’s a fellowship … everybody contributes a dish or a monetary donation,” he said. “We come together, feast and just have music, fun, games for the kids, finger face paintings, etc.”

Townsend said the neighborhood watch was initiated about seven years ago through the Prince Edward County Sheriff’s Office as part of Sheriff Wesley W. Reed’s crime prevention program.

The fellowship taking place during the day lays the foundation for an effective neighborhood watch.

“So many people live next door to each other and never even know who they are, don’t even know their name,” Townsend said. “They don’t know them enough to know if something’s out of the norm. And that’s what it’s about.”

Reed was present Saturday and pleased to see the strong turnout from the community.

“They’re into the neighborhood watch, looking out for each other,” he said. “We as police officers, we’ve got a small agency. We can’t see everything and hear everything, but these are my ears and my eyes, and I truly appreciate that.”