Project Charlie needs volunteers to help children

Kim Kelley of Cape Girardeau, Project Charlie volunteer for six years, has two school-age children. She said, "Anything you can do to steer them away from drugs, you'll do." Children share information openly in the classrooms, indicating their exposure to drugs. Kelley said, "They educate us all the time. When a second-grader referred to marijuana as 'bud' I learned something."

Project Charlie is a special drug-abuse prevention program helping children develop self esteem, making it easier to believe in themselves and resist peer pressure. Charlie, an acronym for Chemical Abuse Resolution Lies in Education, has three goals. They include promoting abstinence of drugs for school age students; inhibiting development of drug abuse and limiting adult drug use with regard to amount and frequency.

Training to become a Project Charlie volunteer will take place from 6 to 10 p.m. Tuesday at LaCroix United Methodist Church, 3102 Lexington Ave., Cape Girardeau. One day a week for 30 minutes is all the commitment it takes. The program lasts 14 weeks. "About 90 percent of our facilitators work full-time," said Kelley. "Some companies let facilitators off to provide this very important community service on company time."

The program is currently used in schools and communities in the United States, most provinces of Canada and several foreign countries. It affects 67 second- and fourth-grade classes in the Jackson and Cape Girardeau schools.

"We get 100 percent support from the Cape Police Department and the schools," said Kelley. "Kids love to see the drug dog demonstration the best." The focus on encouragement -- using "put-ups" instead of "put-downs" -- coincides with what schools already support. "Teachers follow through with this daily in the classroom, advocating what we teach," she said.

Tonya Buttry, president of the Jackson Project Charlie, said, "They want us there. If teachers don't hear from us they call to find out who their facilitator is."

New this year

"The biggest thing this year seems to be volunteers returning to school or starting new jobs. We need replacement volunteers to facilitate the program," said Buttry.

One way to fulfill the commitment is to share the weekly commitment by splitting it with another facilitator. Then one person can make the presentation every other week. Half the time requirement, an hour a month, is all that's required. Another creative idea for new facilitators is to team up so the weekly lesson is split between two individuals.

The rewards

"You may not know you're impacting their lives until you get the reward of a hug or recognition when you're out in public. They may not know your name but they do remember you're the Project Charlie lady. The kids catch on real quick and they start writing their own put-ups just for you. I've saved every one and when I take them out and look at them I start to tear up," Kelley said.