Red Ribbon Week is October 23-31

Red-Ribbon-CampaignThe Porter County Red Ribbon Campaign will be holding its Kick-Off on Monday, October 21 at Portage City Hall, 6070 Central Avenue in downtown Portage. Kick-Off will begin at 10 a.m. Students from four Porter County Elementary Schools will be participating in the activities and releasing a balloon with a drug free message attached. Portage Mayor James Snyder will be speaking to the children about living a drug-free life.

During Red Ribbon Week children in the Porter County elementary schools will sign a pledge stating, “I pledge to lead a drug-free life. I will say no to drugs and encourage my friends to say no to drugs.” Parents too can become involved with their elementary-age children by discussing the dangers of drug use, setting rules about not using drugs, setting a good example by not using illegal drugs or medicine without a prescription, and monitoring children’s behavior. Children of parents who talk to their teens regularly about drugs are 42% less likely to use drugs than those who don’t.

Red Ribbon inspired lesson plans have been created for use in an interdisciplinary approach throughout the middle schools. All week during Red Ribbon Week lesson plans focusing on the hazards of drug use will be used in math, language arts, social studies, science, and health classes. Parents of 6th, 7th and 8th graders can ask their children about the most commonly used and abused drug among youth (alcohol), how many teens begin smoking each year (3,000), the effects of drugs on an adolescent’s brain, or the 18th Amendment.

In conjunction with the Red Ribbon Campaign, restaurants around the county will feature placemats drawn by Porter County children. There are two billboards featuring one of this year’s Red Ribbon Campaign winners. The billboards are at the corners of SR49 and I-80 and US6 and SR149. Lake County’s Red Ribbon poster winner is featured on a billboard on I-65.

Red Ribbon is the nation’s oldest prevention program. It reaches millions of Americans every year. Started in 1985, in response to a Drug Enforcement Agent’s death, the campaign aims to raise awareness of the killing and destruction caused by drugs in the U.S.