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\u201cOur coalition, Warrick Country Cares is an affiliate of Youth First, which is our lead fiscal agent.\u00a0 Warrick County Cares\u2019 vision is to be a community of healthy, productive families, free of drug and alcohol-misuse that engages in community and educational activities to present ourselves as positive role models,\u201d said Margery C. Gianopoulos<\/strong>, Assistant Director of Programs, Youth First and Warrick County Cares Coordinator. \u201cWe were awarded the DFC grant in 2013 and are getting ready to enter Year 9! From the beginning, one of our key strategies was to celebrate our accomplishments.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis was our eighth I Care Awards<\/em>, but due to COVID, this was the seventh time we\u2019ve held it in person, so that\u2019s why we refer to it as the 7\u00ba<\/sup> I Care Awards<\/em>.\u00a0 We thought we needed to celebrate the community and celebrate what we\u2019ve been able to accomplish, especially given all the challenges the last year has given us in the country.\u00a0 This year, for the first time, we had multiple honorees for each category.\u00a0 We decided to have a gathering with local stakeholders, government, and all the sectors and community members represented.\u00a0 Our aim is simple \u2013 we look to recognize individuals, organizations and youth that go above and beyond their call to duty by giving back to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis year we had 3 individuals, 3 organizations, 2 middle-school and 3 high-school teens nominated; the most we\u2019ve ever had.\u00a0 It then comes to our coalitions and our members to vote on the recipients of the I Care Awards<\/em>. We make it a point to highlight all nominees though. At the end, we also award a Coalition Member of the Year, to an individual or group within our coalition that was integral in the successes of the past year.\u00a0 This year it went to our local library, who helps us coordinate and conduct all our meetings, which was paramount this past year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDue to the pandemic and working our way back to normal as a community, we decided to hold this year\u2019s event outside. We had law enforcement, several county council members, the superintendent of schools among the members of the community who attended.\u00a0 Our coalition chair said \u201cIt\u2019s so nice to have a meeting and not to have to worry about muting your mic on Zoom!\u201d She introduced our guest speaker, Dr. Ronald Rochon<\/strong>, CADCA Board of Directors member and President of the University of Southern Indiana. He spoke so authentically about how substance use disorders affect those who suffer from it and their family members but can also teach us so many lessons from those experiences that can help in the long-term.\u00a0 He also spoke directly to teenagers and was so engaging and supportive of them and how they are able to look beyond the negativity we hear about so often and focus on positive change.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA huge part and reason for this event is capacity building through promotion. We want to let others in the community know what we\u2019re doing, how we are affiliated with all these other organizations and how we\u2019re making an impact, so that we raise awareness and participation in our coalition\u2019s efforts.\u00a0 This year, among other initiatives, we were able to distribute hand sanitizers, continue our social norms campaign – even when schools shut down -and continued our Positive Ticket campaign which has teachers honor their students with tickets, equating to a $10 Amazon gift card and a letter home, signed by the coalition chair and the school principal. In fact, over 2,000 kids in the last 7 years have received a Positive Ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI then read the bios and achievements of all the nominees.\u00a0 We hear so many negative things these days in the media that it\u2019s nice to have some positivity spoken so people know that are good things happening in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n Overall, this is such a great opportunity to speak to the great things that are happening in our county.\u00a0 It really brings us all together.\u00a0 There is no other event that gives our community the chance to come together like this.\u00a0 Last year obviously brought challenges to holding an event like this, but we were able to pivot and share information about the nominees and recipients through an email campaign, which worked out really well.\u00a0 That being said, it just felt good to be back together in-person and this was our first opportunity to hold an in-person event such as this. We are already looking forward to next year\u2019s nominees!\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cOur coalition, Warrick Country Cares is an affiliate of Youth First, which is our lead fiscal agent.\u00a0 Warrick County Cares\u2019<\/p>","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":13318,"template":"","resource_type":[281],"drug_specific_issues":[],"action_to_do":[],"class_list":["post-17066","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resource_type-coalitions-online"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n