Wear red with your Halloween costume for Red Ribbon Week

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Annie Dance, 2015-16 Elks Drug Awareness Program Chairwoman, Danbury Elks Lodge #120

The Danbury Elks Lodge invites you to celebrate Red Ribbon Week this Halloween

We invite you to wear red with your Halloween costume. Red Ribbon Week ends Saturday Oct. 31. Take a photo and send it to us, or post it on our Facebook page to show your support.

Elks Drug Awareness Program and Resources

The Danbury Elks Lodge #120, located at 36 Sugar Hollow Road (Route 7), encourages celebration and participation in Red Ribbon Week 2015, which runs until Oct. 31. The Elks Drug Awarness Program (DAP) strives to teach children and parents about the dangers of illegal drug use and to prevent the abuse of legalized and prescription drugs. This year’s national theme is “Just Don’t Do It.”

“The Elks National Drug Awareness Program, the largest volunteer drug awareness program in the United States, was started in 1982”, said Lisa Knapp, Exalted Ruler of the Danbury Elks Lodge #120. “It was the first drug awareness program in the U.S. established by a private organization.”

Since its inception in 1982, the Elks Drug Awareness Program has worked to prevent drug use by our youth through education. The Elks Drug Awareness Program is proud of partnerships with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Drug Free America, Marvel Comics, and many other private and public institutions who are all dedicated to eliminate illegal drugs from our country. These partnerships ensure the Elks drug awareness programs address the most common and most destructive drug abuse issues facing communities today. The Danbury Elks focus much of their efforts on targeting young children to educate them and their families.

The Elks Drug Awareness Program has teamed up with Marvel Comics to produce an Action Comic Book featuring Spider Man, Fantastic Four, and Elroy the Elk. The goal of this program is to help educate school children in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades about the dangers of underage drinking and negative peer pressures. The program includes the comic books, teachers’ guide, and posters.

“We want to get the message out to these kids as early as possible,” said Knapp. Children of parents who talk to their teens regularly about the dangers of drugs are 42 percent less likely to use drugs than those who do not, yet only a quarter of teens report having these conversations with their parents. The Elks Drug Awareness Programs helps to get youth, parents, and their community involved, though an Essay Contest, Poster Contest, Red Ribbon Week, and the Enrique Camerena Award Program.

Although many drug awareness programs were popping up all around the country in the early to mid-1980s, the red ribbon gained significance and became a symbol for many such programs after the torture and murder of undercover Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985. Before joining the DEA, his mother reportedly tried to talk him out of it. “I’m only one person,” he told her, “but I want to make a difference.”

On Feb. 7, 1985, 37-year-old Camarena, who was working undercover in Mexico, was abducted in broad daylight. It is believed that five corrupt Mexican police officers ambushed him and shoved him into a car. One month later, Camarena’s body was found; he had been tortured to death. In honor of Camarena’s memory, sacrifice and his battle against illegal drugs, friends and neighbors began to wear red badges of satin.

Parents, sick of the destruction of alcohol and other drugs they had witnessed, began forming coalitions. Some of these new coalitions took Camarena as their model and embraced his belief that one person can make a difference. These coalitions also adopted the symbol of Camarena’s memory, the red ribbon. Today, wearing red ribbons is a symbol of the commitment to raise awareness of the death and destruction cause by drugs in the U.S., serving as a catalyst to mobilize communities to educate children and teens and encourage participation in drug prevention activities.

In addition to Red Ribbon Week, the Elks welcome participation in the upcoming Drug Awareness contests. More information may be accessed on the links below from CTElks.org. For more information about the Drug Awareness Program please contact Annie Dance, Danbury Elks Lodge #120 Drug Awareness Program Chairwoman at AMcCarthyDance@gmail.com.

The Danbury Elks Lodge welcomes you to download more information:

• Drug Awareness Poster, Essay & Video Contest Rules 2015-2016
• Drug Awareness Poster Contest 2015-2016
• Drug Awareness Essay Contest 2015-2016
• Drug Awareness Video Contest 2015-2016

The Elks Drug Awareness Program, together with Marvel Entertainment and the federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, has created the Hard Choices comic book, featuring Marvel Superheroes and Elroy the Elk in a battle against underage drinking! Hard Choices is designed to educate fourth-through eighth-graders about the perils of underage drinking. Want see Elroy the Elk and his Superhero friends in Hard Choices? Look no further. This year, the comic is available right here in digital format. To Check It Out Click Here!

Other resources:

• 101 Fun Ideas for Red Ribbon Week
• How Can I Tell If My Child Is Using Drugs
• A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Inhalant Abuse
• Legalizing Marijuana
• Underage Drinking: Myths vs. Facts
• Binge Drinking: Just the Facts
• Tips about Tobacco
• Kids, Cars and Marijuana
• Tips about Cocaine
• Anabolic Steroids - Hidden Dangers
• Methamphetamine