Prevention Coalition Celebration Luncheon

The San Juan Island Prevention Coalition held their Annual Celebration Luncheon on Friday and had a very good turnout with about 53 people representing various organizations in the community.

A good turnout at the SJI Prevention Luncheon – Tim Dustrude photo

The event opened with FHHS Juniors Echo Wood and Samantha Finch presenting their community service project entitled appropriately: “Project Prevention” wherein they surveyed other high school students to gather information about under age substance abuse and also helped create the new prevention club at FHMS, H.O.T.S Jr. (Helping Out Teens Society).

One of the cool things about their project was their focus on the positives, such as the percent of students who are Drug Free (they found the majority of students have chosen to be drug free), and that they promoted healthy, positive options as activities for students to do, as opposed to listing things they shouldn’t. It was a very thoughtful and well done presentation.

They were followed by luncheon attendees introducing themselves and sharing their “celebration” of the Prevention Coalition. For example, Island Rec thanked the SJIPC for the financial support they’ve received over the past 10 years to help fund their programs and celebrated their conscious decision that all Island Rec programming would be alcohol-free.

Attendees included representatives from the following (in no particular order:

• Compass Health
• Island Rec
• SJI Community Foundation
• SJC Dept. of Health & Community Service
• Family Resource Center
• FH High School
• Right of Way Driving School
• FH Middle School
• SJ County Sheriff
• SJI School District
• WA State Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery (all the way here from Olympia)
• Soroptimists of Friday Harbor
• SJC Juvenile Court Services
• Safe Harbor Insurance
• League of Women Voters
• SJ Community Home Trust
• Chamber of Commerce
• United Way of San Juan County
• SJI Library
• SJ County
• Kiwanis Club
• Single Moms in Recovery
• The San Juan Update

The Prevention Coalition was founded in 2003 as a result of deaths caused by a DUI incident. Their mission is to reduce substance abuse among youth and to create a community culture supporting healthy choices and responsible behaviors by youths AND adults. For more information on what they do and to find out how you can help, check out their website or call 360-378-9683

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