At the Kiwanis meeting on Thursday, February 4, Marshfield Kiwanis President Mike Seyffert and Kiwanis member Dick Stetson presented Marshfield FACTS with a check for $2500. The funds will be used to pay a professional grant writer to assist in the Marshfield FACTS application for a federal Drug Free Communities grant.
Marshfield FACTS (Families Adolescents and Community
Together Against Substances) is Marshfield’s community coalition for substance
abuse prevention, a group of residents collaborating on ways to promote mental
and physical wellness and prevent addiction in town. The coalition is made up of parents, health
care professionals, school department staff and administrators, representatives
of town, county and state government, representatives from civic groups, faith
leaders and other concerned citizens.
Marshfield Kiwanis has demonstrated serious commitment to
addressing addiction in Marshfield. The club organized the “Klubbing Out
Addiction” golf tournament in September to raise money for prevention efforts,
donated flags for the Overdose Awareness Day candlelight vigil in August and
helped fund the October performance of Drug Story Theater at Marshfield High
School. By working together, Marshfield Kiwanis and Marshfield FACTS hope to
bring a Drug Free Communities grant to Marshfield.
As described by the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy, “The Drug-Free Communities Support Program (DFC) is a Federal
grant program that provides funding to community-based coalitions that organize
to prevent youth substance use. Since
the passage of the DFC Act in 1997, the DFC Program has funded more than 2,000
coalitions and currently mobilizes nearly 9,000 community volunteers across the
country. The philosophy behind the DFC Program is that local drug problems
require local solutions. With a small
Federal investment, the DFC Program doubles the amount of funding through the
DFC Program’s match requirement, to address youth substance use. Recent evaluation data indicate that where
DFC dollars are invested, youth substance use is lower. Over the life of the DFC Program, youth
living in DFC communities have experienced reductions in alcohol, tobacco, and
marijuana use.”
