Respect Your Community - Richland County Comes Together

The countdown has begun for Red Ribbon Week, Oct. 23-31, and the Oct. 27 "Respect Your Community - Richland County Comes Together" assembly and concert, with guest speakers Dr. Gary Dale, former Montana State medical examiner, and Kat Perkins, speaker and singer/songwriter. Perkins, a finalist from "The Voice", will be performing a concert hosted by Checkers, Inc. Red Ribbon Week has been a drug awareness movement that has involved schools, parents and students since it went nation-wide in 1988; it is the perfect time for a county-wide push towards drug awareness and prevention.

The Sidney High School (SHS) will now be the location of the entire event including the community feed and concert. Between Shakespeare in Schools in the gym that morning and District Volleyball Tournaments the next day, SHS will house the entire event.

"Red Ribbon Week involves schools across the country and our schools are drug-free zones for students and visitors. We are excited to be involved with promoting the message of drug-free living to the community," said SHS Principal Sue Andersen.

Keeping everything at one location means less set-up and take-down and the building will be able to accommodate more people for the county-wide event. There will be a drug awareness presentation for Sidney, Lambert, Savage and Fairview students from 1-3:15 p.m. and a free community feed will be held at 4:30.p.m. in the high school cafeteria, catered by Judge Greg Mohr.

Dr. Dale will speak to the community about the dangers of drug use and Perkins will captivate during the concert to follow. The Richland County Event Center was made available in the event the evening's events couldn't be held at SHS and everyone involved is very grateful to the Event Center's commitment to seeing thi powerful message delivered.

"It will definitely attract young people and community members and the response is going to be exciting to see. We are looking forward to meeting the presenters and everyone who's involved; it's an important message," commented Andersen. She also noted that the drug-free message is promoted by teachers, advisors and coaches and feels it will be good to have a fresh voice reinforcing that in a new and exciting way.

Checkers along with community officials, the DUI Taskforce, District II Alcohol & Drug, RSVP and the Richland County Health Department, the Foundation for Community Care, law enforcement, county and city officials and local businesses are all working together to raise funds to cover the entire cost of the event, an estimated $30,000. Any extra funds available will be going to provide monthly awareness on through to the next Red Ribbon Week event in 2016 and to help with any prevention programs in the county.

For anyone who would like to volunteer, contact RSVP at 406-433-2207; for anyone who would like to contribute, checks can be made out to the Foundation for Community Care but MUST be earmarked for Red Ribbon Week. Contributions can be dropped off or mailed to the Foundation for Community Care, 221 2nd St NW, Sidney, MT, 59270 or Checkers, Inc., PO Box 899 Sidney, MT, 59270. All donations made to the Foundation for Community Care are greatly appreciated and are 501c3 tax deductible and donors will receive a year end statement from the Foundation for Community Care. Text DRUG to 41444 and a message will be sent with a link to complete the donation or go to http://igfn.us/f/j2g/n for online giving. This link can be shared on Facebook and is currently on the Foundation for Community Care's Facebook page; after donating, contributors can access an online tracking thermometer.