Celebrate Life, Live Drug Free with Red Ribbon Week
Belchertown, Mass. – The last week of October, Belchertown will put out the red carpet for an important campaign. That’s when the Red Ribbon Week message about the dangers of drug use will be championed in schools and around town.
The national program, promoted by the Drug-Free Communities Coalition, extends from October 23 through 31 across the United States. The Red Ribbon Campaign is the largest drug-abuse prevention campaign in the country. This year’s theme is “Celebrate Life. Live Drug Free.”
“We’re working toward a healthy lifestyle in our town,” said Cara Cannon, Community Coordinator for Drug-Free Communities Coalition. “And for people to be aware of the danger of drugs and to make better choices.”
Last year, the Red Ribbon Campaign was piloted in one Belchertown school with several interactive activities. Students and parents signed a pledge to make healthy lifestyle choices drug-free. Students dressed-up for spirit week like wearing clothes backwards for turning their back on drugs, or neon for a bright future.
“We had a good response to that and a lot of meaningful conversations from educators came up as well. We’re working to make it a little bit bigger every year,” Cannon said. “We’d like to see it be so accessible and so prominent with people knowing what to expect. I’m confident we’ll get there, but this year we just need more visibility.”
Seeing Red (Ribbon Week)
The Drug-Free Communities Coalition selected the Stand Out Truck® to help expand visibility of Red Ribbon Week and communicate the message to a wider audience. Cannon has seen the truck advertising other businesses in the surrounding area and knows that it has received a lot of favorable buzz.
“It was the biggest chatter of the town,” Cannon said. “All people were talking about was how cool it was to see the billboard truck rolling by and parking in different areas.”
With a lack of billboard space in Belchertown, the Stand Out Truck® was a solid option to ensure the highest visibility and to have the most impact.
The truck will park near the schools during student pick up and drop off, and will target other locations throughout the community during the week.
“We really want to create a buzz around the campaign,” Cannon added.
Empower and Educate
With increased awareness of the dangers of smoking, alcohol and illicit drug use over the past decade, some substance abuse has declined in youths across the county. However, deaths due to drug overdose continue to rise as does opioid and cannabis use.
“I think with what is happening across the country with opiates and cannabis, this is a really important message for us to get across,” said Chris Hoag, Program Director for Drug-Free Communities Coalition.
“We’re working to reduce any type of substance use in the town whether it’s tobacco or vaping or cannabis usage,” Cannon said. “Our biggest way to do this is to empower and educate parents, caregivers, community leaders and school staff.”
By building on last year’s pilot program, Cannon and Hoag hope the message will spread to even more students and leaders in the community. They’ll use some of the activities from last year while adding a red ribbon campaign, placing large ribbons throughout the town.
During Red Ribbon Week, the high school will host a community forum with Chris and Kathi Sullivan. Their program about alcohol and drug use, Speaking for Change, comes from their personal experience. Former Patriots player Chris Sullivan was in recovery for alcohol and drug use when he met Kathi at a parent program where they were both sharing the same message from a different perspective. Kathi’s life was forever changed when her daughter died from underage drinking.
Red Ribbon Week began in 1988 in memory of DEA special agent Enrique Camarena who was tortured and murdered by drug traffickers he was investigating in Mexico.
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