Red Ribbon Week is Coming!!

Red Ribbon week is the largest and oldest drug prevention program in the United States. This year, millions of young people will participate in Red Ribbon Week from October 23rd through October 31st. This is a great time to renew our commitment to a healthy alcohol and drug-free lifestyle and to support education and prevention efforts in our schools and communities.

To help you make this Red Ribbon Week the most effective and memorable one yet, here are 10 creative, fun ideas to use in planning your own program:

1. Invite students, teachers, parents and community members to take the Red Ribbon Pledge and support a drug-free America.

2. Encourage everyone to show their support for an alcohol and drug-free lifestyle by wearing red for one day during the week.

3. Support the initiatives of Red Ribbon Week while helping local families in need by hosting a canned food drive with the theme “We CAN Say No to Drugs and Alcohol!” Donate the collected foods to a local food bank.

4. Have a special Red Ribbon meal at your school. Serve all the red foods you can think of, like apples, cherry popsicles, tomato soup or red velvet cake!

5. Combine Red Ribbon Week with other special events, like Homecoming, a big football game or another community event.

6. Decorate shopping bags with prevention messages and red ribbons for use in local stores during the week.

7. Decorate all the doors in your school with messages that promote a drug-free lifestyle. Create posters to hang up in classrooms that show the negative effects of alcohol and drugs.

8. Challenge students to write prevention essays or poems and share them with your class.

9. Get local businesses involved – ask them to offer special discounts or give-aways to customers wearing Red Ribbons for a day.

10. Host your own positive prevention program by inviting a speaker from the Drive to Save Lives Tour to present at your school or community event. For more information about our powerful speakers, contact us today!

Red Ribbon Week is October 23 – October 31, 2013. There is still time to get involved and plan a great prevention program at your school!!