In The NewsFriendly Two-state Battle Under Way
Originally printed in The Westerly Sun
Monday, November 24, 2008WESTERLY - The Westerly Substance Abuse Youth Task Force is described as a "group of teenagers who want to help fight drug and alcohol abuse in our town," by Youth Task Force president Franklin Patton.
In an effort to support its parent group, the Westerly Substance Abuse Task Force, the youth group is holding its third annual Penny War.
"This is an important fund-raiser for us and it gets the whole community involved, not just teenagers," said Patton, a 14-year-old Westerly High School freshman.
The Penny War works this way: loose change is collected in jars and points are accumulated. For each penny donated, a point is earned.
Penny War jars are located at around 50 shops and other businesses and organizations in both Westerly and Pawcatuck as well as in Westerly schools. At the high school, the war is waged homeroom versus homeroom. At the Westerly Middle School, it's team against team. And the five elementary schools are battling against each other.
"We are asking people, kids and adults, to donate their small change into these jars. The money that we collect will be donated to the Westerly Substance Abuse Task Force and will go towards the prevention and treatment of drug and alcohol abuse in Westerly," Patton said.
So far, it's been a pretty friendly war. But youth organizers hope to raise more money this year than last when more than $2,600 was collected.
"Last year was great but we hope we do even better this year," said Michael Genese, WSAYTF co-president. Like Patton, Genese is 14 and a WHS freshman.
The youth task force, growing daily, is made up of scores of kids from sixth graders to high school seniors, all committed to getting the message out there that, "not all kids are drinking or using drugs" "Most kids are not using alcohol or drugs. That's the message. But there are plenty that are and we should all be concerned about that. These kids are," said WSATF coordinator Mary Lou Serra.
"We encourage the community to validate the efforts of these great kids by supporting them in the Penny War," Serra encouraged.
The youth task force is involved in much more and recently held a pasta dinner and wishes to thank all the merchants that donated food and centerpieces including Sunrise Market, Party Express, Ritaccos Market, McQuades Marketplace, Westerly Packing and Dunns Corner's Pizza.