Cumberland Prevention Coalition Takes To Schools During Red Ribbon Week

The Cumberland Prevention Coalition rolling out its annual celebration of Red Ribbon Week to schools across Cumberland County.

Red Ribbon Week is a nationwide alcohol, tobacco, smoking, and drug prevention awareness campaign. Cumberland Prevention Coalition Program Coordinator Samantha Walker said her organization mainly focuses on preventing first-time use.

“Kids at a certain age at some point in their life are going to be exposed to these things,” Walker said. “So it’s really great to have a campaign like this with media and giveaways and it’s just a really good way for us to get into the schools and raise awareness about the dangers of ever beginning to use any of these substances.”

Walker said the Prevention Coalition has done a lot for the week, including delivering posters, bracelets, and bookmarks to schools. Walker said that the red ribbon in the week is simply used as a tool to signify and brand the week for alcohol and drug prevention.

Walker said the Coalition partnered with School Coordinated Health to hold an I Pledge To Kick Vaping kickball tournament.

“It targets very young kids with a lot of the advertisements, and flavors, and cotton candy, and cartoon characters,” Walker said. “But it’s also very much marketed toward ‘everyone’s vaping’, the football players, and cheerleaders, and the smart kids, and the rebels.”

Walker said a big goal during these efforts is for kids to get to know Coalition members and know they can be used as a resource.

“They’ll be able to reach out to us if they ever have questions or if they are using and they want to stop or anything like that, that they know we are a resource they can come to,” Walker said.

Walker said that the Coalition always gets a positive response while distributing the information and goods for Red Ribbon Week. Walker said the more kids take ownership of the materials the more other kids can see the support and be influenced against first-time use.