Oct. 17,
2009
8th
Annual ¡Soy Unica! ¡Soy Latina!
A Huge
Success…. |
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Over 225 young
women ages 9 – 18, their mothers/caregivers, and other attendees participated in
the eighth annual ¡Soy Unica! ¡Soy Latina! (I am Unique! I am Latina!) Community
Celebration on Saturday, October 17th at Washington Middle School. The event
presented education and information on developing and maintaining healthy
lifestyles while also building self-esteem. Guest speakers included Meriden
Mayor Mike Rhode, Assistant Vice Principal of Lincoln Middle School Lysette
Torres and State Representative Cathy Abercrombie. The keynote speaker Ana
Alfaro encouraged the group to seek role models and to network with people. She
also challenged the young women to get an education.
The
celebration also featured 12 community agencies as part of the wellness expo
that distributed information to the attendees. After lunch the girls and
mothers/caregivers were treated to entertainment by five-year-old Miguel
Cardona, Jr. and his three-year-old sister Celine. Other performances included
local groups Xtreme Impact, Young Stars and Unique Stylez. These dancers also
taught their moves to participants of all ages!
The day ended
with door prizes from a large number of area businesses and individuals.
Special thanks to Matthew Fiderio for setting up his sound system. One
participant wrote on her evaluation, “I think Soy Unica! Soy Latina! is a really
great program for all girls because they can come together and just talk about
anything. I’m looking forward to coming NEXT YEAR!! THANKS.”
Major
sponsorship for Soy Unica! Soy Latina! was provided by Cox Communications and
the James H. Napier Foundation. Other sponsors included the Patricia Aubé
Memorial Foundation, Cuno Foundation, Rushford, Inc., and MidState Medical
Center. The Meriden and Wallingford Substance Abuse Council organized the event,
along with an organizing committee from various agencies. |
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Oct. 27,
2009
B.A.B.E.S.
helps them learn about life
By Samaia
Hernandez
Record-Journal staff
Photos by Christopher
Zajac /Record-Journal
WALLINGFORD — Entertaining four classes of first-graders and simultaneously
teaching vital life skills can be a challenge for any adult, but for the group
of eight retired female volunteers who spend the first day of the work week at
public and parochial schools in Meriden and Wallingford— for the entire school
year — it’s not a task at all.
 The
team was at Moses Y. Beach School Monday, rallying students with colorful
stuffed animals and puppets while singing songs and telling stories about
characters such as “Myth Mary,” the gossipy squirrel, and “Recovering Reggie,” a
yellow dog overcoming drug and alcohol addiction.
The program was introduced to local schools in 2000 by the Meriden & Wallingford
Substance Abuse Council. It uses the national Beginning Awareness Basic
Education Studies, or B.A.B.E.S., to reinforce and introduce lessons about
self-empowerment, good decision making, bullying, peer pressure and early
alcohol- and drug-abuse awareness for children in the first three grades.
“If you share your feelings, it’s better than keeping them inside, because if
you keep them inside they can make you sick,” said senior volunteer Maureen
Bilger — or “Ms. B” — of Meriden, while discussing coping skills with the
children who sat cross-legged on the gymnasium floor, engrossed in the stories.
The retirees spend four weeks in individual classrooms before the big finale,
when the grades come together to see fifth-graders in costume as the puppet
characters.
The final lesson struck a chord with Cameron Stawarz, who took a liking to the
green frog character and was reminded of a time when he was “being bad” at home
by accidently hitting his sister and making her cry. “They taught us about
making a good decision,” the first grader said.
After five weeks of Monday visits and corresponding homework coloring lessons,
the children start to learn the concepts that are being discussed, said Terry
Dietlmeier, school psychologist. The key is “having them come back every week
and reinforcing what they’ve learned,” she said.
 Christelle
Aube, prevention coordinator for the substance abuse council, was certified in
the curriculum more than
nine years ago when she began the program as a one-woman show and then decided
to recruit senior volunteers.
“I think it’s a great
intergenerational learning experience for them because some of the kids might
not have grandparents around, or nearby,” Aube said. The program receives
funding from several local agencies, including the United Way of Meriden and
Wallingford and the Meriden and Wallingford Kiwanis Clubs.
Once the show was over and
students had posed for photos with the life-size puppets, the group packed up
and headed off to Hanover School in Meriden to present the same program to
second-graders. In its fifth week, the children receive B.A.B.E.S. pencils and a
certificate of completion.
Next week, the process
starts all over again at Highland School in Wallingford and John Barry in
Meriden.
“I look forward to every
Monday,” said retiree Alta Nickodemski of Meriden, known to children as “Ms. N.”
“I miss it when we’re all through.” |
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--
Ongoing Events --
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B.A.B.E.S.
Program
Click for details |
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Call For your Drug Free
Workplace Kit
MAWSAC is offering local businesses a free kit on creating
and sustaining a drug free and safer workplace. The
resource is filled with easy to use posters, fact sheets
and low cost ideas for keeping employees and customers
safe. It is appropriate for any size business. Don’t miss
out, call now 294-3591. |
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MAWSAC
Joins with DMHAS To Start CT
Statewide Task Force on Inhalants
In recent years, inhaling house hold products
or “huffing” has
become prevalent among young
people. Children,
some as young as 5th graders, have begun to
inhale anything they can find in the hope of getting
“high” from its fumes.
Some of the products used by these children have
been lighter fluid, hair spray, white out, deodorant, air
freshener, and gasoline, and the list goes on and on.
In recent years, this has led to brain damage in
some children and even death.
In fact, 36% of youth who die from inhalant use die on the first time they
use an inhalant.
The problem is that these products
that are commonly found in households and schools and can
easily be purchased contain poisonous chemicals that are
harmful or even fatal when inhaled.
Youth, parents and other adults are just unaware of
this fact. In
addition, these products are readily available to them.
In response to this problem, the
Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction
Services, in conjunction with the
Meriden
and Wallingford Substance Abuse Council, recently
established the CT Inhalant Task Force.
Their goal is twofold:
to increase the awareness of inhalant abuse and to
prevent inhalant abuse.
This task force is comprised of police officers,
members of Connecticut Safe Kids, Connecticut Poison
Control, Department
of Health and Human Services,
Governor's Prevention Partnership, and various
health and youth serving organizations who work toward the
welfare and safety of children.
Some of the warning signs are:
a change in friends or interests, decline in school
performance, disoriented/dazed appearance, slurred speech,
chemical odors on cloths/breath/backpack, red spots or
sores around nose and/or mouth,
headaches more than usual,
finding empty lighters
or spray cans or household
cleaner containers, and finding
of rags or plastic bags with chemical odors on
them.
For more information on the CT Task
Force on Inhalants, contact
MAWSAC at mawsac@aol.com.
If you think your child may be experimenting with
inhalants, please consider these resources:
Infoline at 211 or on the web at
www.inhalant.org.
In a poison emergency, call 1-800-222-1222 or 911
in CT. |
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