The Riverhead Community Awareness Program is seeking community volunteers to help facilitate its 2024-2025 Too Good for Drugs Prevention Program to fifth and sixth-grade students at Pulaski Street Intermediate School.
The “Too Good for Drugs” curriculum at Pulaski Street Intermediate School is an evidence-based, life skills program that is designed to reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors related to alcohol, nicotine, and cannabis use. The lessons introduce and develop social and emotional skills for making healthy choices, building positive friendships, developing self-efficacy, communicating effectively, and resisting peer pressure and influence. Research has linked these skills with healthy development and academic success.
Dawn Vogel, controller at Apple Honda and longtime CAP volunteer started volunteering when her children were in school. “It was very important that I provided good, solid information to my children so that they could make good choices in life,” she said.
“The program is light and fun, and it takes just a few hours a month out of my personal life to learn the program and then present it to the children at Pulaski. It is really great to see how the kids grow throughout the year and how they really begin to embrace and look forward to having CAP come for their monthly visit,” Vogel said.
By committing just a few hours a month to teaching Pulaski students about the importance of making healthy choices, “CAP volunteers send a clear message to our youth that this is a community that cares about preventing and reducing youth substance use,” Riverhead CAP Prevention Supervisor Cynthia Redmond said.
“Many of our volunteers are able to fit volunteering for the CAP program into their work lunch hour once a month. Some volunteers are parents, retirees, or college students looking for community service experience. CAP volunteers are a diverse group of volunteers who have a genuine interest in improving the lives of young people,” Redmond said.
Between training and the monthly lesson at Pulaski Street, the total time commitment is only about 2-3 hours per month during the school year, according to a CAP press release.
No experience is necessary. Riverhead CAP ensures that volunteers are fully trained and prepared to teach the scripted program by providing a flexible training schedule. Both English and Spanish-speaking volunteers are needed.
For more information about becoming a CAP volunteer or to sign up, contact Cynthia Redmond, Prevention Supervisor, at (631) 727-3722, Volunteer@RiverheadCAP.org, or visit CAP’s website at RiverheadCAP.org.
Source: Riverhead Community Awareness Program press release
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