vernonia prevention coalition
july26
2011
The content on this page is provided by the Vernonia Prevention Coalition
15
Be a Piece of the Puzzle: Positive Spin on Prevention
Vernonia Prevention Coalition -Year 3
Kids Can Eat FR EE 5 days a Week
Prevention is about
three things: Preventing
people from experimenting,
reducing the experimenta-
tion time, and lessoning the
long term damage if engaged in abusive
behavior. To provide support and influ-
ence positive community norms, Ver-
nonia Prevention Coalition (VPC) has
partnered with over 20 organizations to
improve collaboration and partnerships.
This year alone, children have had the
opportunity to participate over 7500
times in school programs and events on
bullying, healthy relationships, leader-
ship, ATOD Prevention on campus, sup-
port groups, career exploration, personal
development, curriculum enrichment,
mentorship, summer meal programs
events, after school programming, plays,
etc…
Additionally, adults in our com-
munity have been exposed over 44,000
times either actively or passively, to
articles, ads, programs, volunteer train-
ings, best practice information, coalition
meetings, planning events, attending
events and more. Vernonia 47J School
district administrators, staff and volun-
teers have had participating Safe School
initiatives, emergency response training,
bully intervention and prevention. This
has all been in effort to improve services
to our children.
Behavior modification curricu-
lum has been purchased by the VPC to
be used in both elementary classrooms
and groups. These programs help ad-
dress the social and behavioral issues
faced by young people today so they can
be better equipped to deal with negative
community norms surrounding ATOD
abuse in their communities. Since Octo-
ber 2010, 150+ young students between
k-6th grades participate in these pro-
grams weekly.
To counteract the sharp increase
of experimentation of ATODs by stu-
dents in middle school, supportive ma-
terials and training has been provided to
the staff of the Vernonia schools. EV-
ERY seventh grader has participated in
the Project Alert program that reinforces
resistance skills when it comes to peer
influence. Student’s role play resistance
skills and team teach on the dangers ex-
perimenting and benefits of never using
ATODs. Further, EVERY eighth grader
has participated in healthy relation-
ship building and resistance to physical
abuse.
In response to the increase
suicide ideation in Columbia County,
suicide prevention and intervention
programming has been increased. To
empower our youth to work with their
peers, over 60 teens have been trained in
QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) Suicide
Intervention training. VPC sponsored
the High School leadership class to at-
tend conferences highlighting issues that
confront kids today: Bullying, positive
school environment, leadership in tough
times and student body interaction. Ad-
ditional efforts were made to help many
groups to attend programming outside of
school so they could bring back informa-
tion to benefit their school.
OSSOM has continued and is
bigger than ever. This year 30+ students
hosted a Teen Health week in April 2011.
Over 500 students attended a health fair
designed and implemented by teens.
The staff was overjoyed at the informa-
tion shared and the kids reported back it
was a good thing. These kids met up to
three times a month to ensure planning
and preparation was completed for this
Summer Meal Program
June 20th — August 19th
Vernonia Middle School Cafeteria
Breakfast
Scheduled
Activity
8:30
Adults $1.25
9- 11
11:30
All REGISTERED volunteers & staff are provided a meal on the day they participate
Over 1
4 00
Youth
Meals
Served
to Dat
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te
la
Choco
k
Mil
e am
Ice Cr
s
Friday
Pizza
Wedn
esday
s
Waffle
Breakfast
ull You Can
Eat Salad bar
August 5
Any questions please contact
Cathy Meyer (503) 429-8033 or (503) 522-5311
USDu and the State of Oregon are
equal opportunity Providers and Employers
1-800-273-TALK (8255)
suicidepreventionlifeline.org
Are you feeling desperate, alone
or hopeless? Call the National
Suicide Prevention Lifeline a
free, 24-hour hotline available
to anyone in suicidal crisis or
emotional distress. Your call will
be routed to the nearest crisis
center to you.
Veterans Suicide
Prevention Hotline
1-800-273-TALK (8255) Press 1
Summer Meals Program
Vernonia School Cafeteria
Breakfast 8:30 Lunch 11:30
Vernonia Talent Show/Fundraiser
Washington Grade School
7—10pm
August 5-7
Jamboree and Logging Show
August 8-9
Echoing Evergreen Day Camp
The Vernonia Summer Meal’s Program committee has agreed to provide a set of
guiding principles that help ensure the sanitation and safety of the whole
Participant Standards
All youth under the age of 10 must be with an older sibling, parent or care provider (ORS
163.545)
Any youth, under 10, without a chaperone WILL be fed and sent home if they cannot provide
name of older care provider
All participants WILL have shoes and shirts ( T-shirts available to borrow)
National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline
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F
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Adults $2.00
staff person. The VPC is a collaboration
of individuals whom represent 12 identi-
fied sectors to give voice to community
needs. But it doesn’t stop there. It is the
purpose of these sector representatives
to speak to their peers and gather infor-
mation that actually formulates the plan
for the year. Questions are asked about
how individually they see a healthy and
safe community working. Even further,
it is asked of individuals to measure that
success. It is the mission of the VPC is
to develop safe and healthy neighbor-
hoods through collaborative planning,
community action, policy advocacy
and enforcement. If you would like to
know more about the VPC, please con-
tact DeAnna Pearl, Director, @ 503 369
7370 or DeAnna@vernonia-or.gov.
rt Our Youth
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Upcoming Eve
August 1-19
Lunch
week of education for their peers on the
dangers of ATOD’s and the long term ef-
fects it can have on their health. Every
15 Minute program was again included
in the weeks happening as well as a
school town hall to highlight the dangers
of underage drinking.
This year the VPC has stepped
up even more in an effort to connect free
services to our kids. With the direct help
of Heather Lewis, Resource/Volunteer
Coordinator, resources and connections
have been greatly enhanced between
school, community programs, schools of
higher education, health resources and
much more. This is to provide addition-
al opportunities to engage our children
and increase protective factors of their
lives. The greater the number of protec-
tive factors increases the opportunity for
young adults to make informed healthy
choice for their future. This is the actual
environmental change that is needed to
ensure a healthy community.
Further, in partnership with nu-
merous agencies, St. Helen’s School
district, churches, programs, volunteers,
parents, students and paid staff, the First
Annual Summer Meals Program has been
a resounding success. On average, the
meal site provides over 85 meals a day
to children between 1-18 years of age.
Sports camps, summer school, summer
bible school, daycare and families are
utilizing this FREE program. Serendipi-
tously, adult meals are being purchased
on an average of 5 a day. Even greater,
over 40 registered, back ground checked
and approved volunteers are fed on the
day they work! Next time you see Nic
Welch, thank him for being the greatest
SMP Volunteer Coordinator there ever
was!
All this is not done by one lone
August 24
August 30
Vernonia, Oregon
Camp Wilkerson,
Columbia County Park
Vernonia Night Out
Anderson Park
Fun Begins at 4:30
5th Tuesday Coalition Meeting
“Bullying: What’s New”
6:30 —8:00 pm
Be a Piece of the Puzzle
Volunteers Keep It Together!
