National Drug & Alcohol Facts Week To Be Celebrated In Schools Across Florida

Once again, Informed Families is partnering with NIDA to implement National Drug & Alcohol Facts Week in schools and communities across Florida. Specifically, Informed Families will provide science-based prevention materials to hundreds of schools as part of the 2018 Lock Your Meds Campaign.

Additionally, Informed Families will share NIDA's National Drug & Alcohol IQ Challenge quiz (Test Your Knowledge Now) during National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week, which helps teens test their knowledge about drugs, alcohol, and drug abuse with an interactive quiz.

East Lake Elementary School & Sims Family Win 2017 National & Florida Red Ribbon Week Photo Contests

$2,500 Earned for Drug Prevention from NFP, Informed Families & DEA

‘Tis the season for giving! East Lake Elementary School and the Sims family are the proud winners of the much-anticipated 2017 National Red Ribbon Week and Informed Families’ Florida Red Ribbon Week Photo Contests. Students, faculty and staff were fearlessly led by Teacher Jean Jupa in decorating the campus with this year’s theme, “Your Future Is Key, So Stay Drug Free®”. At the same time, the Sims family honored the tradition of the nation’s oldest drug prevention campaign by decorating the front of their home to promote their commitment to living a healthy and drug-free lifestyle during Red Ribbon Week ® (Oct. 23-31).

Jean Jupa and the Sims Family will each receive an iPad from NFP, the school will receive $500 from Informed Families for winning the Florida Red Ribbon Photo Contest and a $2,000 prize from National Red Ribbon Photo Contest co-sponsors, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), to be used toward drug prevention.

Freda Colley may be a relatively new Informed Families Ambassador, but she is no stranger to prevention. Colley, a Certified Prevention Specialist and the Northeast Florida Coordinator for Keep Kids Drug Free (KKDF), has been dedicating her time and talent to preventing youth substance abuse for 18 years.

Colley, an employee of Gateway Community Services, works to help students grow up safe, healthy and drug free through Informed Families’ four campaigns and several other initiatives. She learned about the ambassador program through a colleague, Vicki Kress from SMA Behavioral Health.

In her role with KKDF, she manages evidence-based prevention programs. This year, she incorporated Red Ribbon Week into her efforts for the first time and it was a huge success.

"I had connections in the community for working in prevention for so long," said Colley. "I contacted a local school, Chimney Lakes Elementary, with a strong PTA and parent base. We made sure to do something each day for the whole week, starting with an assembly with the students letting them know what and why we were doing. We focused on creating awareness that if you want to be an athlete, a singer, for example, or have success, drugs cannot be a part of your life. Students got involved and helped us by coming up with some ideas."

One particular success arising from the campaign was Colley's ability to reach parents with the drug prevention message. A total of 200 signed parent pledges were collected by the end of the week. While many children and teens are positively impacted by her programs directly, Colley, much like Informed Families, believes it is just as important to directly each their parents.

A Time To Give Thanks

November signifies a time of gratitude for all things. As we gather with our families for delicious dinners prepared with the best trimmings, we reflect deeply on what truly means the most to us and express gratitude for those things.

After 35 years of providing families with the tools to help kids make healthy choices, I am extremely thankful for the success of Informed Families. This year, I have plenty to be thankful for.

I am thankful for the hard-working staff of Informed Families for working diligently to ensure that families and children are united to combat the social pressures of underage drinking and illegal drug use.

I am thankful for an active Board of Trustees, who altruistically dedicates their time to supporting our mission and achieving our vision.  

Thanks to a generous grant from the 2017 State Attorney's Safer & Healthier Communities Fund through the Miami Foundation, Informed Families will be expanding our Safe Homes Smart Parties campaign to address safe driving.

The program will reduce impaired driving by educating over 40,000 teens and families in 30 Miami-Dade high schools about the danger, consequences, illegality and social unacceptability of impaired driving through educational materials, educational activities and a targeted, interactive awareness campaign in schools and online.

In it's 29th year, National Red Ribbon Week® is alive and thriving. The State of Florida, which has always been a leading state in Red Ribbon Week participation, led by Statewide Sponsor Informed Families, is a wonderful example of the power of grassroots to create lasting change. With the current opioid epidemic, Red Ribbon Week is more important than ever.

Families, schools and communities across Florida demonstrated their commitment to a Drug-Free America during 2017 Red Ribbon Week® (October 23-31). Informed Families partnered with volunteer Ambassadors, agencies, organizations and businesses, leveraging resources and reaching more children and families with prevention messages.

Red Ribbon Week, the oldest and largest drug prevention program in the nation, was created after the death of DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, who was kidnapped, tortured and killed in Mexico in 1985. In 1988, the inaugural National Red Ribbon Week®, sponsored by the National Family Partnership, was created. An estimated 80 million people celebrating each year.

Here are some highlights from 2017 Red Ribbon Week:

Why Simple Things Really Do Make A Difference

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending the Annual Conference of the Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School. What’s the latest?  We are all stressed, the world is spinning faster and we feel a loss of control, which is creating more anxiety. We live in a VUCA world…VUCA is an acronym for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. 

Some simple things to know are: 

1. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. EVERYONE IS EXPERIENCING this rapid rate of change and uncertainty.

2. Don’t try to keep up or get ahead of the curve. Learn how to live effectively. 

3. Put down and turn off the screens. We are driving OURSELVES CRAZY. Who said you had to respond to every email, tweet, and message?

4. Do Mindful meditation for yourself and with your family…there are proven health results.

We are a society addicted to experts, silver bullets and having the right answer, but the new research is showing that the expert is YOU.  Being in Community with others is critical for health and wellness – and the first community we have is our family. We have an immunity to change; we tell ourselves something, but do something else. Yet, by spending time with ourselves and our families, we start to find meaningful answers.

Red Ribbon Week is here! Join us in showing support for a drug-free America.

Fun Fact: Did you know that the Red Ribbon Campaign is the oldest and largest drug prevention program in the nation? You also may not know that National Red Ribbon Week® (October 23-31) is organized out of Informed Families' offices in Florida. Our President & CEO Peggy Sapp is also the volunteer President of the National Family Partnership, the national sponsor of Red Ribbon Week.

Red Ribbon is intended to be fun AND effective. Here are 5 ways to celebrate:

Congratulations to the Person Family of Miami-Dade County, the Navarrete Family of Collier County and the Clisby Family of Volusia County on being randomly selected to win a $100 Publix gift card in the 2017 Family Day Photo Contest. Thank you for sharing your family dinner photo on social media with #flfamilyday to help spread the message about the importance of family dinners to help kids grow up safe, healthy and drug free.

Stay tuned for our announcement of the school with the most family entries in Florida. The winning school will receive $250 from Informed Families.

Check out some of our favorite family dinner photos from across Florida...

Normal Day, Let Me Be Aware Of The Treasure You Are

If nothing else, Hurricane Irma helps us to greatly appreciate uneventful times and the normalcy of our regular routines.

We take normal routines for granted; we don’t think about electricity, cable, phones, etc. until they are not functioning.  Then, we get anxious and angry…someone let us down!  Who? FPL, the cable company, the city, surely there is someone to blame for inconveniencing my routine. Unfortunately, Mother Nature doesn’t care about inconvenience to my little routine.

Hurricanes get our attention and force us to reexamine our place in the universe. I love the line, “Do you want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans.”  We witness resilience from people whose house and cars are destroyed. Most say the same thing, “we still have our lives.” 

Normal Day, Let Me Be Aware Of The Treasure You Are for someday I will want to hold you and you will be gone. As our routines return to normal, let’s treasure each routine and normal day.