Impact Stories

The facts are clear: one of the most powerful deterrents for alcohol and other drug use is simply talking with our youngsters. Though we think they may not be listening, we have to keep doing it. An innovative and effective way to reach youth was recently celebrated in Norwalk at the West Rocks Middle School Auditorium. The event was the Courage To Speak Foundation Family Night. There was a full house – families, youngsters, teachers, and local education, public safety and le

In a crowded auditorium at West Rocks Middle School in Norwalk Monday evening, hundreds gathered to celebrate the annual Courage to Speak Foundation’s Family Night, an event designed to spread the foundation’s mission of empowering youth to be drug-free and to recognize the kids who have completed its drug prevention curriculum. Among those students was Nathan Hale Middle School seventh-grader Jack Patterson. He presented a letter he wrote to Ginger Katz, who with her husband

A dog’s account of watching his young owner succumb to drug abuse was read to fourth-graders at Brookside Elementary School Thursday in a program that discourages children from using drugs and helps parents and teachers provide support in avoiding them. Only one-third of parents talk to their children about drugs, said Ginger Katz, author of “Sunny’s Story,” before entering a classroom to observe teacher Dorothy Brown read the first half of the book to her class. Katz, found