Did you by chance pick up any Lee’s Chicken this week—or stop by Tom’s Deli for a beer this weekend? Or did you go to Studabaker’s for a meal—or any of the other 15 carryout restaurants to pick up something for Super Bowl Sunday. If you did you should have gotten a card with your food that spoke about the epidemic of drug abuse in this community. Created by the high school youth of a cascading mentoring after school program, students of the group, DEFY (Drug Education for Youth), were proud to be able to alert their community about this danger.
This growing group of high school students, under the mentorship of Family and Youth Initiatives educator, Leslie Nurton, learn leadership skills, relationship and responsibility building, and then mentor the middle school students about drug prevention, integrity, and honesty. Following a goals and values orientated curricula, the group picks a topic about drug prevention or a related topic each week, decides on activities to use to illustrate the topic, then goes to the middle school and educates the students there about the topic. Using family groups to divide the middle schoolers into smaller groups so many more can ask questions, express their opinions, and reinforce their values. Leslie beams as she talks about her “kids” in the group and expresses that they, “are in charge of the group and make their decisions, with little help, as to what to talk about each week, then plan how to bring it to the middle school youth in a positive manner. They have been great and we have had many discussions about the consequences of bad choices. The youth see many of the problems of the community and work hard to encourage their younger peers to make positive choices instead. I am very proud of the youth in our program. The creation of the drug information card is just an example of what my ‘kids’ can do.”
FYI works hard through its all of its programs to give the youth and families the tools and values of responsibility, integrity, relationships, honesty, and long term goals. Sparked by the rise of heroin addiction, as well as the death 4 years ago of Cole Smoot from taking a methadone pill, the concern of many students at Tecumseh has been building ever since.
Danielle Smoot helped begin the group, SHAWC, with many of the people who knew Cole so well. As they started many signed up for voluntary drug testing, used the TIP SUMBIT app on their phones to let authorities know of drug activity, and had many events that emphasized the importance of drug prevention. And for three years the group did so much to help prevent many students from trying drugs that could hurt or kill them.
The colorful cards passed out this week were made as part of a grant from Cardinal Health Foundation who is dedicated to helping communities stop drug abuse. Students designed the cards and with the help of Cole’s Warriors Task Force, New Carlisle News and FOA – Families of Addicts—they were printed locally and passed out to restaurants and carry outs. The community is invited and encouraged to join Cole’s Warriors Task Force. Meetings are monthly on the second Wednesday of the month from 3-4:30 pm in the FYI main office conference room. Next meeting will be February 11. Please call FYI at 845-0403 for more information.
