Hey Yo PRIDE Team! It's time to represent!" It's the first line in the PRIDE song "Drugs Kill," and a call-to-arms for about 60 teens in Montgomery County each week. Crawfordsville PRIDE has been around since 1989 and many of you have probably heard of them and possibly even seen them. Maybe you were even been a member at one time yourself! With 20 years history, you can bet this PRIDE program has seen it's share of changes. Let me tell you a little about where we are today.
The Crawfordsville PRIDE team is a member of a much larger International organization, PRIDE Youth Programs, which was founded in Atlanta, Georgia, and is currently based out of Michigan. PRIDE Youth Programs offers four levels of membership: PRIDE Pals - for elementary students, Club PRIDE - for middle school, America's PRIDE - for high school, and PRIDE Unlimited for college age students. Our local team is America's PRIDE. While we currently have students form North Montgomery, Crawfordsville and Southmont high schools, we are open to any area students in grades 9 - 12.
Safe and drug-free youth are the focus of this internationally recognized prevention program. Locally members sign a contract promising to live lives of character, be a role model for their peers and younger students, to refrain from the use of violence, and to keep their bodies free from alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs. PRIDE is a peer-to-peer prevention program, meaning that it uses youth to teach other youth the benefits of living drug- and violence-free. They do this using the four pillars of PRIDE: Community Service, Community Outreach, Drug Education, and Drug-free Activities. Here's how you may have seen us do this in the past few years:
Community Service: Volunteered for the American Red Cross selling bracelets, helped at the Kiwanis spaghetti supper, raked leaves, picked up trash downtown, gathered walnuts at Milligan Park, distributed blankets for Binky Patrol, collected and donated items to FISH Food pantry and Crisis Shelter, prepared care-packages for soldiers in Iraq, walked dogs for the Animal Shelter.
Community Outreach: Shared our positive message through performances for local elementary and middle schools, provided entertainment for the Milligan Park pre-fireworks show, presented during the Crawfordsville Christmas Parade, provided all of the children's activities for the Milligan Park July 4th Celebration, provided free childcare during Downtown Party Night, hosted a safe fright-night at Milligan Park for Halloween, presented our message for audiences at Indianapolis Fever games.
Drug-Education: Created informative radio public service announcements played on local radio stations, developed and posted creative posters, flyers and brochures with information about physical and drug abuse, handed out candy with prevention messages to children at the Christmas parade, hosted State-wide prevention conferences to educate high school and middle school students throughout the state, attended World-wide prevention conferences.
Drug-free Activities: Hosted Lose The Booze Luau for middle and high school students in Montgomery County, took a canoe trips on Sugar Creek (cleaning up trash as we went along,) held a substance-free camp-out, have an annual Christmas dinner, hosted a Freshman Fun Fest.
So though you may not have realized it at the time, you can see that this PRIDE team certainly does "represent" and is proud to do so. If you want to learn more about Crawfordsville PRIDE Team please call me at 765-362-5678.
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Members of PRIDE Youth Programs' Crawfordsville Team took to the streets of Indianapolis on October 16, 2002 urging parents to "wake up" to the risks of teen marijuana use. Gathering near the city's Monument Circle with signs, alarm clocks and noisemakers, the students encouraged parents to talk to their kids about the harmful effects of using marijuana. The Crawfordsville PRIDE team and nearby North Montgomery PRIDE team get funding through a local anti-drug coalition called AHEAD, which serves as the fiscal agent for tobacco settlement money as well as other grants. The PRIDE teams are awarded mini-grants to help offset costs for conferences and other activities, and the teams are regularly represented at coalition meetings. The local coalition is active with many prevention activities including tobacco compliance checks, a positive steps program and a tobacco cessation program.
