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May 2, 2008
Local Businesses Support
Parents and Underage Drinking Prevention
By
Doug Fessler
For
the month of May a county-wide t-shirt promotion is happening in local banks,
grocery stores and other businesses to promote the prevention of underage
drinking through the Start Talking Before They Start Drinking campaign. Employees at participating businesses will
wear the campaign
t-shirt
once a week in support of parents talking with their kids about underage
drinking prevention.
In an effort to strengthen parent-child
relationships, we are currently implementing the Start Talking Before They
Start Drinking campaign. The T-shirt
promotion is intended to raise awareness about the many resources the campaign
provides, including a list of reliable prevention websites, an electronic
version of the Power of Parents publication, and many articles from local
experts.
Austin
Smith, a local artist, designed the artwork featured on the T-shirts. He was inspired by the Start Talking message to
create an image depicting his hand and his daughter’s hand, symbolizing the
parent child relationship, and the support our children need in making healthy decisions.
We
know that parents are the #1 influence on their child’s decision to use or abstain
from alcohol and drugs. We also know
that children who report a close and supportive relationship with their parents
have a much greater chance of success in life, and are less likely to use
alcohol and drugs. The www.kccn-dfc.com website has a wealth of
resources for parents to help strengthen relationships.
Also
featured on the website are many articles from local prevention experts, health
care providers, mental health providers, youth, teachers, parents, and law
enforcement officers. These articles have been featured weekly in the Daily
Record. Information in the articles
provides education about underage drinking and practical suggestions for
improving parent-child communication.
Hats
off to the local business participating in the T-shirt promotion! Look for information on the campaign at these
local business in Ellensburg and Cle Elum:
·
Grand Meridian Cinema
·
Cottage Café
·
Super 1 Foods
·
Catholic Credit Union
·
US Bank
It’s not too late, is
your business interested in promoting awareness about this the Start Talking
campaign? All supplies for this T-shirt promotion are
provided for free. If your business is interested
in participating please contact Ann Riley or
Doug Fessler is the
co-chair of the Community Network Board and works locally for Fairpoint
Communications. Doug has been actively
involved in prevention work in our community for the last few years, including
work with youth and coalition development.
The Kittitas County
Community Network/Drug Free Communities Coalition and the Community Network
agency, through a federal Drug Free Communities grant, are implementing the
“Start Talking Before They Start Drinking” campaign as a community service for
parents. For more information go to
www.kccn-dfc.com.
