A fun event for a serious issue

Since the shutdown in 1992 of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program in Huntington Beach schools, Shirley Carey has been searching for a way to rally the entire city in addressing what she sees as a growing problem.

Carey moved to the city in 1969. It was a great place to raise a family, and the community needs to help it stay that way, she said.

“You have to get a group of people to move forward to address issues like this,” Carey said.

She may have found a way to bring the city together in a fun and educational family event planned for Saturday at Dwyer Middle School.

From 10 a.m. to noon, about 300 kids and their parents are expected to attend the first Red Ribbon Week Kick-Off Event in Huntington Beach history. Every year, schools around the city and nation participate in the drug awareness week, but this is the first year the city will hold a party issuing in the events.

More than 20,000 fliers were sent to every educational facility in the city, spanning three school districts and involving every learning institution in Huntington Beach, both public and private.

Everyone attending will be handed a free raffle ticket for a chance to win a skateboard autographed by Tony Hawk. Parents can look forward to a chance to win a city municipal parking pass.

But the lighthearted event addresses a serious message, Carey said.

“Alcohol is a huge problem in high school, and kids are certainly using it,” she said. “This Saturday is more about opening that dialogue and getting that discussion open.”

All ages are invited, and although high schools have always been more of a concern, it’s not true anymore.

Those getting heavily caught up in drugs and alcohol abuse are getting younger every year, Carey said. And she’s not the only one who has seen this trend.

Much research shows drug use at the junior-high level, where it was once mainly seen in high school and above, Huntington Beach High School Asst. Principal Jason Ross said.

The staff at Huntington Beach High has big plans for the week ahead.

The party starts Friday night with a black-and-red Mardi Gras dance, and it just gets crazier, said Pam Hostetler, an English teacher at Huntington. Hostetler heads Friday Night Live, a group of teens that support positive lifestyles without substance abuse, the group behind much of the planning for Red Ribbon Week.

Free T-shirts, banana splits, pie-eating contests and lobbing water balloons are a few of the activities on the list for next week. Of course, while attempting to douse the principal, students will have to wear goggles that simulate the disorientation experienced while under the influence of alcohol.

Every activity has an awareness message behind it, Hostetler said.

“It’s extremely motivational to student sets the tone for a safe school year and helps kids really think about what their values are,” Hostetler said.

“It’s often very lonely for students choosing not to use,” Hostetler said. “I think when they see so many community resources, it helps them to understand that the decision they are making is a really solid one.”

One of the main purposes of the event is to open up dialogue between adults and the children, Carey said.

“There is a real tendency for a parent to say, ‘not my kid,’” Carey said. “It is an issue in this community.”