Polk County’s First and Only Red Ribbon Half Marathon & Kids Fun Run - Saturday, November 9, 2013

Get excited for the Publix Red Ribbon Half Marathon & Run! Building on InnerAct Alliance’s successful 20+ years of momentum in presenting one of the largest Red Ribbon Campaigns in the state, the popular Red Ribbon Run tradition continues with Polk County’s First and Only Half Marathon & Fun Run on Saturday, November 9, 2013. Half marathons have become increasingly popular with running enthusiasts because they offer an achievable racing challenge for beginners, experts, and everyone in between.

The Red Ribbon Half Marathon & Fun Run, presented by Title Sponsor Publix Super Markets, Inc., is a Family Weekend where parents can compete in the half marathon and children can participate in the Kids Fun Run. Exercising as a family not only builds better relationships and healthy habits that last a lifetime, but prevention research also shows that parents who spend quality time with their kids are more likely to have kids who stay out of trouble!

Registration for the Half Marathon, as well as the Kids Fun Run, will take place at the event website at www.RedRibbonHalf.com. The Half Marathon course will take place along picturesque Lake Mirror and Lakeland’s beautiful downtown and Lake to Lake area. Start time for the Half Marathon on Saturday morning, November 9^th, will be at 7:00 a.m. with the Kids Fun Run beginning at 8:00 a.m. Registration check in will take place at the Lake Mirror Auditorium.

Students in grades K-8 enjoy free registration, which includes a commemorative Run t-shirt for race participants and free refreshments! The Fun Run will start and finish at Lake Mirror Promenade, 121 S. Lake Ave., in Lakeland, and the route will loop around Lake Mirror. Special awards will be given for first, second, and third place runners in gender categories. Awards will also be given to the top 3 elementary schools and top middle school with the largest percentage of participating students, based on school census number.

Festivities also include the Kid’s Health & Wellness Carnival on Friday evening, November 8, 2013 at LEGOLAND Florida’s interactive theme park for families with children ages 2-12. Families who are interested in attending are encouraged to visit the event web site to pre-order tickets in advance. Admission to LEGOLAND is limited to the first 5,000 people and requires a $5.00 donation/admission ticket. 

Link: https://runsignup.com/Race/Store/FL/Lakeland/InnerActAllianceRedRibbonHalfMarathonRun  

For additional details and event info, please contact InnerAct Alliance’s executive director, Angie Ellison, at (863) 802-0777. Info is also available at the official event website at: www.redribbonhalf.com, and on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/RedRibbonHalf and Facebook:  www.facebook.com/RedRibbonHalf.

4th Annual Tri-County Drug Summit on Thursday, September 12, 2013

Polk County, FL – Own The Upside, the Coalition Partnership of Hardee, Highlands, and Polk Counties is proud to present the 4^th Annual Tri-County Drug Summit on Thursday, September 12, 2013, from 8 am to 4 pm, at the Bartow Civic Center, 2250 S. Floral Avenue, in Bartow. This collaborative event will inform attendees about the latest drug trends, and help develop proactive measures to prevent substance abuse in our families, schools and businesses.

Speakers include Perdue Pharmaceuticals representatives to discuss Safety and Security, Rx Patrol, Lawful Prescribing, and more. Representatives from the Hardee, Highlands, and Polk County Sheriff’s Department will also be on hand to discuss current community trends. An impressive Community Panel includes Representative Cary Pigman, Judge Stargel, and others. Attendees will also hear an informative presentation from the Medical Examiner.

Visit https://secure.qgiv.com/for/standup to register online to attend the Drug Summit. Participants may earn free CEU’s and a Certificate of Attendance. The Registration Fee for the Drug Summit event is $25.00, and includes breakfast and lunch.

For more information, call local coalitions Hardee County ASAPP at (863) 767-0401); Drug Free Highlands at (863) 382-2138; or Stand UP Polk at (863) 802-0777.

Results of Local Compliance Checks by Polk County Sheriff’s Office

The StandUP Polk Coalition for a Drug-Free Polk and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office would like to share the results of recent Compliance Checks of retail stores in the Auburndale, Bartow, north and south Lakeland, Mulberry, Polk City, and Winter Haven areas, held on July 30, August 1, and August 2, 2013.

Compliance checks are conducted periodically throughout our community by Polk County Sheriff’s Office School Resource deputies, assisted by high school student volunteers who serve as Polk County Sheriff’s Office Explorers. We would like to pass along our thanks and appreciation to the Deputies and Explorers for their efforts in conducting “Operation Pop Top”, and highlight the many retail stores in our area who are following the law by not selling to minors, and who consistently check for proper identification to verify legal age!

On July 30, 2013, 14 of the 15 businesses checked in the Auburndale, Winter Haven, and Polk City areas were found in compliance of the Florida State Statutes prohibiting the sale of tobacco and alcohol to minors.

Two days later, PCSO Deputies and Explorers conducted another check of stores in the South Lakeland, Mulberry, and Bartow areas of the county. Of the 15 establishments visited, 14 were in compliance of the law.

A third Operation Pop Top was conducted on August 2, 2013 of 15 stores in north and south Lakeland. Only one of the 15 stores visited were found in noncompliance.

Of the 45 retail establishments checked in this recent operation, only 3 were NOT in compliance, and the clerks on duty at those stores were charged with Sale of an Alcoholic Beverage to a person under age 21, and booked into the Polk County Jail.   

The StandUP Polk Coalition and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office are committed to working together to educate the local community and business owners.

Angie Ellison, executive director of InnerAct Alliance and fiscal agent for StandUP Polk Coalition, said, “We appreciate the majority of retail outlets that are doing their part to keep alcohol out of the hands of minors, and we are encouraged by recent research that shows 75% of Polk County Students in 6th through 12th Grades choose not to drink alcohol!”

Sheriff Grady Judd had this to say about the initiative, “I commend the businesses and conscientious store clerks for complying with the law. For those who do not comply, make no mistake, we will arrest you for selling alcohol and tobacco

to minors.”

StandUP Polk, the Coalition for a Drug-Free Polk, is a group of concerned citizens, law enforcement, community and business leaders working together to take a stand against drugs and bring about positive change for Polk County. For more information, please contact StandUP Polk at (863) 802-0777.

Get Excited for Red Ribbon Half Marathon & Kids Run - November 9, 2013!

GET EXCITED FOR

Saturday, November 9, 2013
8 AM

Around Lake Mirror - Downtown Lakeland
Lake to Lake Area

After 21 years of building one of the largest one-mile youth running events in the State of Florida, InnerAct Alliance is taking the next step by adding Polk County’s First & Only Half Marathon to the already successful Red Ribbon Run festivities in 2013! The location will move to the picturesque Lake Mirror and Lakeland’s beautiful downtown and Lake to Lake area.

The Red Ribbon Half Marathon & Fun Run will be a family weekend where parents can compete in the Half Marathon and children can take part in the Kid’s Fun Run. K-2^nd grade students will run a shorter half-mile course, and 3^rd-5^th graders will run one mile. All K-5 students receive free registration and a Run t-shirt, along with refreshments! Festivities also include the Kids’ Health & Wellness Carnival on Friday evening, November 8, 2013 at LEGOLAND Florida’s interactive theme park dedicated to families with children ages 2-12.

            

Register today to get the best price for the Red Ribbon Half Marathon…prices go up as the event draws closer, so don’t wait! Additional information, as well as online Registration for the Half Marathon and Kids Fun Run events, may be found at our official event web site at www.redribbonhalf.com 

You can also follow us on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/RRRHalfMarathon and like us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Red-Ribbon-Run-Half-Marathon/824402050980680?fref-ts

Awesome sponsorship opportunities are now available for Business and Community Organizations to join us at the starting line for this exciting event, so please call InnerAct Alliance at 802-0777 and we will be happy to mail you a Red Ribbon Half Marathon Sponsorship Brochure.

4th Annual Drug Summit - September 12, 2013

4^th  Annual Drug Summit

Date
Thursday, September 12, 2013

Time    8:00 am – 4:00 pm

Registration Fee    $25.00

Location

Bartow Civic Center
2250 S. Floral Avenue
Bartow, FL

CEU’s
Certificate of Attendance
Breakfast
Lunch
Workshops offered by Perdue Pharma
 Q & A with Local Officials and much more!!

For Information Please CallStandUP Polk (863) 802-0777
                                      

Prescription Stimulant Abuse Is a Major Problem According to Teens Recently Surveyed

Prescription Stimulant Abuse Is a Major Problem
According to Teens Recently Surveyed

The results of a new survey reported by Join Together and The Partnership at Drugfree.org has found that 35% of the young adults surveyed, ranging in age from 10-18, think that prescription stimulant abuse is a major problem among their peers. 

Of the teens surveyed, 15% admitted they had used stimulants at some point in their lives, with 7.5 percent reporting they had used stimulants such as Adderall or Ritalin in the last month, and 3.9 percent saying the drugs were taken for nonmedical reasons. Results also showed the prescription stimulant rates were up in rural areas.

This study was conducted among 11,000 teens in urban, suburban, and rural areas including Seattle, Los Angeles, Denver, Houston, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Tampa, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Researchers visited typical places where youth tend to congregate, such as malls, movie theatres, and skate parks.

The teens were given booklets with pictures of drugs, and were asked questions designed to measure current levels and signals of misuse, abuse, and diversion of prescription stimulants. They were also questioned about access to prescription medication – where they got them, how they got them, and how often they took the drugs and why – and asked to suggest strategies to prevent kids from using other people’s medication.

The findings from this survey were announced at a recent annual meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence.  Linda B. Cottler, PhD, MPH, and chair of the Department of Epidemiology in the College of Public Health and Health Professions, and College of Medicine at the University of Florida, shared some of the comments and suggestions from the teens surveyed, “Teens said they want to be warned truthfully about prescription drugs, but they don’t want the danger exaggerated. They want to make their own decisions.”

Dr. Cottler warned that the study confirmed how important it is that parents and other family members be cautious about where they leave their medication. She observed, “We need to reduce access and teach young people who are taking prescribed ADHD medication that other kids would like to get their hands on their drugs, so they have to be careful and not share them.”

Data like this reminds us that the problem of prescription drug abuse among teens is very real! It’s more important than ever that we take a more proactive role in educating and preventing teen substance abuse. 

If you would like to learn more about what is being done in our community, please mark September 12, 2013 on your calendar and plan to attend the 4^th Annual Drug Summit.  Call (863) 802-0777 for more information!

SAFE SUBSTANCE–FREE SUMMERTIME!

Have a Safe Substance-Free Summer!

Summer should be a time for chilling out, not stressing out. That goes for parents as well as kids. It’s no secret that vacation time can be a risky time for teens. Some tend to make poor decisions when they have unstructured, unsupervised time.  The lack of structure and supervision, added freedom, and more time with friends may increase temptation to experiment with alcohol and drugs.

In the July 2^nd edition of Drug Free Charlotte County’s Prevention Wire Newsletter, former DFCC Executive Director, Amity Chandler, shared some excellent tips to prepare for summer with teens:

Out with Alcohol – It’s a good idea to throw out any left-over liquor bottles that are sitting around from the holiday parties. If teens are going to experiment, it will likely be with items around the home that you are least likely to look at or touch. This also means old prescriptions and the cigarettes you might have quit a month ago. Also consider most Florida teens say when they drink they do so at another friend’s home. Consider the possibility that there’s a parent somewhere that hasn’t gotten the memo...talk to the parents of our friends and ask direct questions, such as, does my teen have access to alcohol in your home? Worst-case scenario is you’ll embarrass your teen. Let’s just say it won’t be the first or last time.

Banish the Boredom Blues – Don’t let your teens fall victim to the “I’m bored” routine. Work with your teens to make plans in advance and stick with a 24-hour notice rule for any outside activity they have planned outside of the home. Ensuring that teens are engaged in positive activities like camps, volunteering, or supervised outings with friends can be a great way to deter youth from things that are harmful to them, like alcohol and other drug use.

Secure Safe Summer Relationships – Summer jobs are great for teaching responsibility, earning money, and other valuable life lessons for teens. But, a summer job can also be a gateway resulting in relationships between your teen and older, legal drinking-age individuals. Talk to your teen about work relationships, new friends, and your expectations while they are working for the summer, including curfews and work hours.

Schedule Summer Fun – Besides structured activities and guidelines, plan for summer fun and down time too! These days teenagers are often more stressed and over-extended than previous generations of teens. Sleeping in or enjoying days at the beach with an approved list of friends might be just what they need to decompress. Do some fun things as a family too, such as going to the movies, taking a walk, or sharing a meal out.

Teens who spend time, talk, and have a close relationship with their parents are much less likely to drink, take drugs, or have sex. Have a fun summer!