Red Ribbon week draws support from schools, community

Jonah Hinebaugh, Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, Ind.
·2 min read

Oct. 25—Students in schools across Cass County are pledging to be drug free by taking part in this year's Red Ribbon week.

According to Nikki Malott, who serves as the Local Coordinating Council for the nonprofit Partners for a Drug Free Cass County, elementary school students created posters "portraying their desire to stay drug free" while middle and high school students wrote essays about "why they want to remain drug free, or how they feel drugs would negatively affect their lives."

On Wednesday, winners will be chosen by a panel and celebrated during a breakfast over the weekend.

"The kids get certificates, gift cards for Walmart, and other goodies each year," Malott said in a press release. "They are welcomed on stage and honored in front of their family and friends. It is a fun occasion. This year we have participation from almost every school in the county, with the exception of just a few."

Most schools will host a spirit week with different themes for each day. Schools will also do extra activities that vary.

At Logansport High School, students submitted entries for a Red Ribbon billboard on Main Street while students at Caston signed a banner pledging to be drug free. Lewis Cass helped raise funds for the Youth Services Alliance, a local nonprofit that works with substance abuse prevention. Malott is the project coordinator for the YSA.

In conjunction with Red Ribbon week, YSA, along with Cass County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, Area 5 and Indiana Youth Institute put together a panel about substance abuse on Thursday evening. Registration is free, and dinner will be served to those who RSVP at bit.ly/3DtZWme.

The panel will feature Cass County Sheriff Ed Schroder, Superintendent Michelle Starkey, School Resource Officer Eric Binney, Human Resource Director of Small Parts Kathy Dunderman and Kevin Collins, a person in recovery. They will discuss how substance abuse affects their work and how the community can support prevention and intervention efforts being made in Cass County.

According to the Red Ribbon campaigns website, it began when DEA agent Enrique Camarena was tortured and killed in Mexico in 1985. Friends and neighbors began wearing red satin ribbons to honor him. Later, parents and youth began to wear red ribbons in his honor and began forming coalitions across the U.S. The red ribbon signifies their dedication to creating awareness of the danger of drugs in their communities and the desire to live a drug free life.