“Save A Child’s Life” Event Dec. 6
Locally, 1 in 5 teens have tried prescription drugs.
Age 12 is the average age to start drinking alcohol here and across the US. Use of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana before the age of 15 increases the chances of drug abuse times. For the first time there are just as many new prescription drug abusers among teens (over 12) as marijuana users. (SAMSA,2006)
Join us on Monday night, December 6, and you just might "save a child's life". CHILL, HEY the Drug Task Force and Project Success are sponsoring a free community event with national speaker and author, Ginger Katz, at Martinsville High School auditorium at 7:00 pm.
Ginger Katz is author of Sunny's Story and CEO and Founder of The Courage To Speak® Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to save lives by empowering youth to be drug free and encouraging parents to communicate effectively with their children about the dangers of drugs. The organization was founded in 1996 shortly after the death of her son, Ian from a drug overdose.
Based on her own experience and research, Mrs. Katz realized that merely providing information about drug use and its consequences could not overcome the obstacles of peer pressure, cynicism, ignorance, and apathy that our young people face every day. To truly change their attitude and behavior, The Courage To Speak® would have to reach them in a more direct and personal way, encourage their families to support them in rejecting drug use, and engage the community in this battle by increasing its awareness.
The dynamic, riveting, and thought-provoking presentation by Mrs. Katz combines the intensely personal story of a family shattered by drugs with the latest information and statistics on substance abuse and prevention. Told with quiet intensity and rigorous emotional integrity in schools, places of worship, conferences and other community venues, her story calls forth a willingness to trust her and the advice, and information that she has to offer.
One parent who heard her wrote: "On our way home from your presentation, my son told me he knew of kids in his eighth grade class who were taking drugs. On the way to your talk, he had emphatically said just the opposite. Thank-you for enabling him to confide in us."
Immediately after her presentations, Ginger's husband, Larry Katz, will be hosting a breakout session for parents, teachers and counselors who are interested in their groundbreaking parenting course, Courageous Parenting 101. This will focus on fostering some life-saving changes in knowledge, beliefs and attitudes.
Before the presentations, the SPCA will have members there with their special dogs, like Sunny, to greet attendees in the foyer of the auditorium. In addition, art work about "Sunny's Story" (Ginger Katz's book about their family dog's loss of his best friend, Ian) from area 5th graders will be displayed. These youth have expressed their desire to help "Save a Child's Life", too. Refreshments also will be served before the presentation.
Ginger has reached over a million people across the country telling Ian's story in the Courage to Speak Presentation. She has given over 1000 presentations to students, parents, educators, law enforcement professionals, and state and national conferences. Among the more notable are the Association of Secondary School Principals, Keynote at National Narcotic Officers Association, the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, the U.S. DEA, and the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) National Youth Conference.
