Griswold Pride (The partnership to reduce the influence of drugs for everyone) ran a pair of very successful events over the weekend to help celebrate Red Ribbon Week.
Miranda Mahoney of Pride said in an email “GMS Chalk the Walk Red Ribbon Rally was a HUGE success. All 580 something students participated in chalking the sidewalk with positive, drug-free messages, as well as some community members and parents. The Rally was a great, safe, outdoor alternative to the normal assembly/pep rally. The students and staff had a blast. A big thank you to SNSN Radio for MCing the event and bringing the entertainment and music, and to the GHS SLC Students and Advisors for participating and supporting the middle school. Make sure you check out our FB for pictures. Videos will be posted next.” (GES Principal was so impressed with the GMS Chalk the Walk, that we are going to try and pull off a similar event for this week with that school too (weather permitting). The event took place on Friday, October 22.
The very next day was the DEA’s National Drug Take back Day where you can bring unwanted and expired medications to be properly destroyed. The event was from 10-2 in the parking lot of Griswold Town Hall. They were able to collect 185 pounds of meds, which brings their total to over 1900 pounds collected since drug take back days began in 2015. Volunteers on hand were Kelly Barrett from Matt’s Mission, First Selectman Todd Babbitt. Mahoney also gave props to the Jewett City resident state trooper for organizing the event.
The organization continues to work and offer all different types of programming and resources. For example, PRIDE and GMS administration are working together to bring in a speaker that will integrate the topics of social media, bullying, vaping, healthy choices and language all in one presentation with the theme of “Being and Bringing your Authentic Self” to every aspect of their lives. The assembly will be followed by break-out groups and discussions in their CREW (SEL) groups. The group will be led by Daryl McGraw of “Formerly Inc.”