DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — Days are getting shorter and nights are getting longer. 

As Durham community members prepare for the holidays, some like Keisha McEachin have safety concerns, especially when shopping at night.

“Sometimes, I don’t come out at night because it can be kind of dangerous coming out at night as a woman by yourself,” McEachin said. “And sometimes, I have to have my kids.”

To help out, Durham Minister Paul Scott launched the Daylight Save-a-Life Campaign on Monday. 

The initiative asks men to keep an eye out, from a distance, and make sure more vulnerable people are getting back to their cars safely.

“One day, this lady said ‘you know I really feel safer when I see you walking through the community,'” Scott said. “So I said ‘why not make that a thing in Durham where people just unify and make sure our loved ones are safe?'”

Right now, the Durham Police Department is dealing with over 100 officer vacancies.

So Scott says people can lend a hand in preventing crime, simply by looking out when they’re doing their shopping.

“We, especially the men in Durham, we have to be the eyes and ears in our community to make sure that our women, our elders and our children are getting to their cars safely at night,” he said.

It’s an approach that McEachin thinks would make others in the community feel safer.

“It would be helpful for a woman of my age and sometimes older women that could have young, mid-aged men maybe to help us get safely to our cars,” she said.