Working Together Coalition

It's been awhile!

2012-02-23T08:46:00.000-08:00

Kelly and I are busy working on our communications and media plan. It is our goal to update our website as well as keep up with our blog!

The next few months will be extra busy so stay tuned....

2011-11-11T08:54:00.001-08:00

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CADCA's 10th Annual Mid Year Training Institute

2011-07-25T10:10:00.001-07:00

This week Kelly is in Anaheim California at CADCA's Mid Year training. This morning we have had the opportunity to hear from our DFC funders and the Community Anti Drug Coalitions of America about what is happening at the National Level! The remainer of the week will be sessions on how to take our Community Coalition (WTC) to the next level.... to continue doing great work to keep our kids safe and healthy!

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LeeAnn's going away party!

2011-07-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

One of our Coalition Members in Pine River-Backus hosted a going away party for LeeAnn. Her last day with the Coalition was June 30th and she and her husband will be moving on to another adventure! Thank you LeeAnn for all that you have done for the Coalition, you have certainly brought us to another level! You will be missed.

Take It To The Box

2011-07-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

Cass County Environmental Services, Public Health, Sheriff's Office and the WTC are collaborating and working together to implement a safe disposal program for Prescription Drugs. Soon there will be a drop box at the Cass County Sheriff's Office for people of Cass County to drop off unused drugs.

More information to follow!

Working Together Coalition Celebration

2011-07-14T12:00:00.001-07:00

WTC Annual Coalition Celebration

2011-07-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Close to 50 community members from Walker-Hackensack-Akeley, Pine River-Backus and the Northland Community attended the celebration.

June and July Presentations

2011-07-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

Thank you to the following agencies that have asked us to join their meetings to share information about the Working Together Coalition and what we are doing in our community to keep our kids safe and healthy.

Walker-Hackensack-Akeley PTO (Search Assets)
Pine River-Backus School Board (Search Assets)
Northland Ministerial Meeting (Search Assets)
Cass County Public Health (Strategic Planning Session)
Cass County Board of Commissioners (Project Sticker Shock and Take it to the box intiative)
Walker Rotary (Search Assets)
Cass County Criminal Justice Workgroup Meeting (Zero Adult Providers)

Hackensack Parade

2011-07-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from us at the Hackensack Parade with the Cass County Sheriff's Office (CCSO). Thank you to the CCSO for allowing us to walk with you and give our conversation starters and information on preventing underage drinking. What a great partnership!!

Walker Amazing Race

2011-07-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

The WTC Team recieved 1st place at the Amazing Race in Walker, MN! Way to Go!! The TLTW from Northland also did a great job this year, better than last year :)

The WTC also sponsored a challenge, thank you to Kelcie B. and Scott T. for volunteering your time, you did a great job!

Parent Connection to be Parent and Community Connections

2011-06-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

At our Walker-Hackensack-Akeley Parent Connection meeting we decided to expand our group to include Parent and Community Connections. As parents we want to have the entire community on board with getting an environment for our kids to grow up safe and healthy. The concept of "it takes a village to raise a child". More information to follow.

Backus Family Day

2011-06-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

Pine River Parade

2011-06-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the Pine River Summer Fest Parade with the Cass County Sheriff's Office.

ZAP Meeting

2011-06-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

We had a great ZAP meeting today with ideas of how and what we can do to make things better. Looking forward to the next step of where we can go!

TLTW End of the Year Celebration

2011-06-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

We all met at Kelly's place in Hackensack to celebrate all the work that we have done in the past year! Plus we got to spend time with students from all three school districts!

Responsible Beverage Server Trainings

2011-06-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

Held Reponsible Beverage Server Training in

Walker

Hackensack

Pine River

Remer

Longville

Thank you to all the businesses that sent your employees! Your concern for our youth is noticed!

June Coalition Meetings

2011-06-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

We held a Coalition meeting in each school district this month! We reviewed our strategic and action plan and reviewed what we have done in the past month. Our Coalition meetings for the months of July and August will be together with all three school districts! We will do our celebration in July and then our planning session will be in August.

Social Host Forums

2011-06-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

The Working Together Coalition was asked to sit on a panel for the MN Prevention Resource Center for Social Host. This was held in Brainerd, MN.

PR-B Teens Leading The Way Year End Lunch Party

2011-05-24T15:00:00.000-07:00

Teens Leading The Way celebrating a great year at Pine River Backus School!

PR-B Teens Leading The Way attend Pizza Party!

2011-05-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

On a beautiful sunny Tuesday afternoon Teens Leading The Way members attended 4th Grade Pizza Party at Pine River/Backus School. The pizza party was held to celebrate the completion of the curriculum Keep A Clear Mind. During pizza time, the teens met with the 4th graders and asked the students questions from the coalition's new "Conversation Starters". The conversation starters focus on the Search Institute's 40 developmental assets. Assets build the "good stuff" in kids to help them resist the "bad stuff".

The Difference

2011-05-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

A variety of community members came out to the Hackensack Senior Center to hear Craig Hillier share some inspiring ideas on how to interact with youth and really show them how they are important! It was a fun and motivational evening!

MORP Dance

2011-05-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

Teens Leading The Way sponsored the annual MORP dance on April 1 at the PR-B School for
7-9th graders. MORP is PROM spelled backwards. :)

Pre Prom Assembly

2011-04-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

A pre-prom assembly was held at Pine River-Backus High School on April 28th for 10-12th graders by the Cass County Sheriff's Department.

Teens attend Youth Jam 2011

2011-04-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

A group of us from PR-B pictured with one of the music artists at the MADD Youth Jam in Mankato on April 21st. This event was for youth and adults from all over MN to learn, share and engage in strategies for the prevention of underage drinking and teen driving hazards.

Video Premiere

2011-04-07T19:06:00.001-07:00

Most of Us Video

2011-04-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

MORP 2011

2011-04-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

MORP which was held on April 1, 2011 at the Pine River Backus High School was Out Of This World this year with the space theme! MORP is PROM spelled backwards and is a formal dance for 7-9th grades sponsored by the Pine River-Backus Teens Leading The Way.

Hidden In Plain Sight

2011-03-09T12:45:00.000-08:00

93 people attended Hidden In Plain Sight at the Women's Expo at the Northern Lights Casino on March 5th! This demonstration shows where a teen might hide drugs/alcohol in their bedroom.
A special thanks to Sandy P. and Barb B. from Pine River, the Cass Co. Sheriff's Department, and the Pine River Police Dept.

PR-B Family Fun Night

2011-03-09T12:41:00.001-08:00

Elementary students and their families attended the Pine River-Backus Family Fun Night on March 4th. They were able to play games and win prizes. Teens from PR-B lead the game "Prize Walk".

Ibedirod 2011

2011-02-28T08:22:00.000-08:00

We all had a freezing good time at Ibedirod 2011 at Ski Gull on Saturday, February 26th. Due to the hill conditions, all teams had to ride down the hill on tubes rather than the air mattresses this year. Thanks to all those who donated their time and $ to the fundraiser for Kinship Partners!

ONDCP

2011-02-15T13:53:00.000-08:00

After the Working Together Coalition graduated from the National Coalition Academy at CADCA on February 8th, we were able to meet Director Kerlikowske of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Pleased that prevention of substance abuse is at the national level!

TLTW Parent Dinner

2011-01-18T07:32:00.001-08:00

What a wonderful way to spend a cold January evening. Thanks to all of you who came to the Teens Leading The Way Parent Dinner at the Pine River Backus School on Monday night.

New Most of Us Billboard

2011-01-07T10:23:00.001-08:00

Have you noticed the new billboard driving into Pine River on 371 N?

Coalition of The Year!

2010-12-20T11:19:00.000-08:00

On December 13th in Bloomington, MN, The Working Together Coalition was awared

The Coalition of The Year Award from the Minnesota Prevention Resource Center. Each year at The Shutting Off The Tap To Teens and Young Adults Conference, a coalition is noticed for their efforts to reduce underage drinking.

On behalf of the coalition, these people accepted the award: Cass County Sheriff Elect-Tom Burch, Pine River Police Chief Josh Ebert, Leech Lake Tribal Officer-Scott Kellar- PRB Elementary Youth and Family Service Worker-Denise Koring,

Coordinators LeeAnn Sampson and Kelly Felton

A presentation on the successes and lessons learned was also given by these individuals.

CONGRATULATIONS!

PRB December Meeting

2010-12-09T08:38:00.000-08:00

Had a great meeting at The Warehouse in Pine River on December 8th! Kathy Stephan was nominated as the new PR-B Chairperson and will start in January 2011.

Thanks Carol Lovro for being the Chair in 2010!Thanks to all who attended the meeting. We appreciate you!

Youth Leadership Academy Dec. 2010

2010-12-07T06:04:00.000-08:00

Members from the PRB Teens Leading The Way group had a great time at The Lodge in Brainerd with other youth groups from across Minnesota on December 3rd and 4th. The theme for the academy this year was "Live Out Loud". This group will be doing just that as they put the skills they learned to practice!

PRB Community Meeting

2010-11-15T10:34:00.000-08:00

Another meeting was held at The Warehouse in Pine River on November 10. A majority of the meeting was devoted to sharing the 2010 MN student survey results.

PRB Hidden in Plain Sight

2010-11-15T10:15:00.000-08:00

The Hidden In Plain Sight Exhibit that was held at the Pine River Backus High school during Parent Teacher Conferences was a success! Parents, school staff and community members took a walk through the "teen bedroom" that was set up on the stage in the Commons. Drugs and Drug Paraphenlia were hidden throughout the room and the challenge was to have people try and find them. While some were quite easy to find, others were not suspected. It was a great awareness and educational event. Each parent was given a parent packet with helpful parenting tips. A Great Big Thank You to those who attended and those who helped out with the event.

PRB Red Ribbon Week Planners

2010-10-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

7th Grade Peer Leader Training

2010-10-29T11:40:00.000-07:00

This week three Teens Leading The Way members from Pine River Backus trained five 7th graders to be peer leaders with the Amazing Alternative curriculum!

Red Ribbon Week

2010-10-21T14:47:00.001-07:00

WHA Teens Leading the Way members met today (even on their MEA break!) to plan Red Ribbon Week. This is a national campaign for drug and alcohol prevention. We will be handing out stickers to Pre-School and Kindergarden Students, Bookmarks to 1-6th Grade, 7-8th graders will get pencils and 9-12th graders will recieve bracelets.

Announcements will be made during the afternoon announcements every day about alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and leadership facts.

They did a great job planning!

Pine River-Backus Community Meeting

2010-10-20T07:21:00.000-07:00

The Pine River-Backus community meeting was held at a new date and time this month! We met at 11:00 a.m. at the Warehouse in Pine River, MN. We spent alot of our time learning from Coalition members that attended Program Sharing. It was a great time visiting about what we can do to work in our community to keep our youth safe and healthy! We will be hosting Hidden in Plain Sight on November 11th from 1 p.m.-8 p.m. during Parent Teacker conferences at the PR-B High School.

Our next meeting will be November 10th at 11:00 a.m. at the Warehouse in Pine River.

Northland Community Meeting

2010-10-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

On October 18, 2010 the Northland Community Meeting was held at the High School. We had 7 members in attendance. We visited about how we need to make the efforts in Northland beyond a school and teen initiative and move it to a community initiative. We continue to look for more community members to get involved!

We will be planning a dinner for parent of the Teens Leading the Way students for November 1st and Hidden in Plain Sight will be held December 16 and 17th at the High School during home girls and boys basketball games!

Program Sharing Conference

2010-10-13T07:14:00.000-07:00

We had 10 Members of the WTC attend the Program Sharing Conference in St. Cloud, MN. Program Sharing is Minnesota's premier conference showcasing effective prevention programs, practices and strategies around the issues of alcohol, tobacco, other drugs and related violence (ATOD). This conference highlights evidence-based prevention principles in the domains of planning and evaluation, education and skill development, community organization, public and organizational policy and professional growth and responsibility.

Program Sharing is a two-day, statewide conference that provides opportunities for prevention practitioners and those interested in learning about ATOD prevention methods to increase their effectiveness and that of their programs.

A HUGE thank you to the following community members for coming and learning more about how to keep our youth safe and healthy!

Denise K., Terri S., Scott K., Sue S., Kathy S., Shannon F., Leslie B. and Sherri G.

Northland TLTW Meeting

2010-10-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

We had a great meeting at the Northland High School today! We are in the works of planning a meal for their parents to inform them what we do as a Coalition and TLTW group. This will be held November 1, 2010 at the High School. We will also be doing Hidden in Plain Sight during the home boys and girls basketball games on December 16th and 17th.

Red Ribbon Week (alcohol and drug free week) will be the last week in October, they will be doing announcements over the intercom with facts throughout the week!

2nd Round of Hidden in Plain Sight in WHA

2010-10-11T07:02:00.000-07:00

We held our second demonstration of Hidden in Plain Sight during parent/teacher conferences in WHA on October 11! We had approximately 30 parents, teachers and staff come through our demonstration to learn how youth may hide alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

Thank you to all of the community members that helped and participated in this event! We are lucky to live in a community where many community members care about the health and safety of our youth!

Walker-Hackensack-Akeley Community Meeting

2010-10-07T14:36:00.004-07:00

We just had a GREAT meeting today in WHA! We are excited about the turnout that we had at Hidden in Plain Sight during Parent/Teacher conferences. The Principle said that they had a low turnout and thought it was great that we had 25-30 people come through! We will be doing it again on Monday the 11th.

We also worked on Public Service Announcements for the Social Host ordinance that went into effect on August 27th. There will be two getting recorded one from a law enforcement and then the other will focus on parents.

Township Meeting

2010-10-07T14:36:00.001-07:00

Kelly and LeeAnn presented to the Townships in Cass County at the Bearpause Theater in Hackensack. Thank you for allowing us to have time on your busy agenda to hear about WTC!

Pine River-Backus TLTW Meeting

2010-10-05T14:32:00.000-07:00

We had a TLTW meeting today in PR-B. The Students are really busy working on a few different projects! This Friday is Homecoming and they will be in the parking lot having a Tailgate Party. Come play some games and listen to music before the game! They are also working on planning a dinner for their parents to learn more about WTC and TLTW plus getting things set up for Red Ribbon Week which will be the end of October.

Intro to Criminal Justice

2010-10-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

LeeAnn and Kelly presented to the Intro to Criminal Justice class in Pine River on October 5th. We spoke to the students on how the Working Together Coalition collaborates with our local Criminal Justice system.

Thank you to Pine River Cheif of Police, Josh Ebert for inviting us!

Hidden in Plain Sight was a Sucess!!

2010-10-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

We had our first Hidden in Plain Sight demonstration on October 4th during the WHA Parent/Teacher conferences. We set up Mrs. Berry's classroom to look like a typical teenagers bedroom and had parents come through the room to determine if they can tell how students may hide alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. This also included different paraphernalia.

We had approximatly 25-30 parents come throught and we had a GREAT response! Other parents were encouraged to come and see our demonstration. Don't worry if you didn't make it on Monday, we will be doing it again on October 11th during the second day of Parent/Teacher Conferences in WHA. It will also be done soon in PR-B and Northland!

Presentations

2010-09-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

We presented to the Walker-Hackensack-Akeley staff meeting on September 29th to inform them of our upcoming Hidden in Plain Sight demonstration during Hidden in Plain Sight. It was great to have such positive feedback from them! We also talked about the Teens Leading the Way students and what we will be doing during this school year.

Another presentation was done to the Pine River-Backus ALC Staff on September 30th. We are going to be doing some research on new curriculum for students that are not in a every day seated program and provide them information on other resources that are available to them.

Social Host Ordinance proposed to the City of Pine River

2010-09-28T17:09:00.001-07:00

Tonight we proposed a Social Host ordinance to the City of Pine River. They will be putting it on the agenda for the October 12th City Council Meeting at 6:00 p.m. Please come to support this ordinance!

There was a good response from those that were in attendance.

Hidden in Plain Sight Meeting

2010-09-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

WHA Community Members that were interested in getting involved with the details of Hidden in Plain Sight met last night in Hackensack to get things ready for next weeks Parent/Teacher confernces.

Thank you to the following Coalition members:

Mark M, Kelcie B, Josh G, Jessica J, Denise K!

TLTW Meetings!

2010-09-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

WHA and Northland TLTW Members have already had two meetings this year! They are both excited to get things going this school year and have recruited new members to help!

We will be working on Hidden in Plain Sight (HIPS) and planning a Dinner for our parents. If you would like to hear more about the HIPS demonstration, please see our website at www.workingtogethercoalition.org

THANK YOU

2010-09-22T07:20:00.001-07:00

PRB Teens

2010-09-22T07:19:00.000-07:00

The PRB Teens Leading The Way recorded a recruitment video today! Can't wait to see the edited version. Welcomed two more new students! Yay!

PRB Teens Leading The Way

2010-09-14T13:13:00.000-07:00

Welcomed new and returning students to the first meeting of the 2010-2011 school year today at lunch! Lots of activities for the 9-12th graders to be involved in this year. We will meet as a "big" group every other Tuesday. The opposite Tuesdays will be reserved for "subcommittees".

Presentations

2010-09-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

We presented to the Cass County Child Protection and Walker Rotary! We are so lucky to have such great community members to work with!

September Coalition Meetings

2010-09-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

This month we have had great "working" meetings! Working on our interventions is underway! We focused on the Local Condition: Youth have access to alcohol in the home.
Here are some of the interventions we will be working on:
Parent packets will be assembled and distributed throughout the community. These packets will include legal and health risk information on alcohol tobacco and other drugs. A presentation at a PR-B PTO meeting will be given. We also will be planning a dinner for our Teens Leading The Way families to give them a sense of what their teens will be working on in the upcoming year and to gain their support in our efforts. This will be done in each individual community. Also, we are looking ahead to Parent Teacher Conferences-Check back soon for more information on our "Hidden in Plain Sight" display.

Intervention Meeting in Hackensack!

2010-09-01T07:48:00.000-07:00

We met today at the Up North Cafe in Hackensack to work with any Coalition members that were interested in coming up with new innovative ways to reduce and prevent the use of alcohol with our youth. We went through each of our local conditions and came up with ways that we can work as a community to help our youth stay safe and healthy!

Thank you to the following Coalition members:

Mark M (WHA)
Sandy P (PR-B)
Terri S (Northland)
Scott T (WHA)

Responsible Beverage Server Training

2010-08-31T12:15:00.000-07:00

We held a Responsible Beverage Server Training at the Pine River-Backus Family Center and trained three individuals from an establishment in Southern Cass County.

August Coalition Meetings

2010-08-31T12:03:00.000-07:00

In August we had great meeting held in each of the three school districts! We are all worked on creative and innovative ways to deal with the issues we have in each community in regards to underage drinking. We will continue to brainstorm and come up with new ways to work on our local conditions!

National Coalition Academy- Week 3

2010-08-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

Kelly and Kelcie Bouchonville (WHA) attended our third week of the National Coalition Academy in Meridian, MS. During the week we learned alot of how to pass policies, evaluation and sustainability. We will continue to work on all of these things with our Coalition members.

National Night Out

2010-08-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from National Night Out that was held in Walker on August 3rd, 2010. This event was planned by our partners the Walker Boys and Girls Club of America and the Walker Police Department. What a great event!

Annual Coalition Celebration

2010-07-29T07:41:00.000-07:00

On July 29th we had our first Annual Coalition Celebration for all three communities! We had lunch at the River House in Hackensack followed by a video which included Coalition member and TLTW member interviews and pictures of events that we have done in the past year! What a great way to see how much we are doing in the community. We celebrate all the people that come to the table each month and look forward to all the things coming up within the next year!

Recent Alcohol Compliance Checks

2010-07-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

Two rounds of alcohol compliance checks have been completed recently. On June 24th checks were done on businesses in the Pine River-Backus school district and they had 100% compliance! On July 28th, 2010 11 out of 12 businesses passed! We would like to thank the businesses that are working hard to provide a safe and healthy place for our kids to live!

Leadership Team

2010-07-21T07:38:00.000-07:00

The Leadership Team met at the Up North Cafe in Hackensack. We reviewed the Community Assessment and rough draft of our logic model. We started brainstorming interventions for our local conditions and will continue to do this during the month of August at our community meetings.

Social Host Ordinance Passed!

2010-07-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

Below is the article that was in the Walker newspaper:

Cass’ social host ordinance takes effect Aug. 27
Published: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 6:22 PM CDT
Gail DeBoer, Staff writer

Effective Aug. 27, Cass County will have a social host ordinance to use as another tool to combat underage drinking.

The ordinance was approved on second reading at the July 20 county board meeting, held at Turtle Lake Town Hall.

County Attorney Chris Strandlie said the ordinance fills the gap in the law by making the host of a party responsible for any underage drinking, whether or not the host has supplied the alcohol and even if held at a private residence.

He said his office has received no written comments, for or against the ordinance, but that he has received many positive verbal comments.

In Minnesota five or six counties and about 43 cities have social host ordinances. Cass County’s ordinance does not cover cities, which would have to pass their own social host ordinances.

Strandlie noted that the majority of offenders are 21- to 25-year- olds who host gatherings with alcohol, where underage drinkers ages 18 to 21 are present. The U.S. spends $53 billion a year, due to underage drinking, he added.

The final version of the social host ordinance will be posted under “ordinances” on the Cass County website, www.co.cass .mn.us.

WHA Amazing Race

2010-07-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

Scott K. with Leech Lake Police, Kelly, LeeAnn and our husbands made up the Working Together Coalition team for the Amazing Race that raised money for the HOWA-Kinship Partners programs located in Walker, MN. We ended up being in 3rd place!! The Northland TLTW students also had a team!

Thanks to Gary D. with the WHA Coalition for sponsoring our team, we had a great time!

WHA Community Meeting

2010-07-08T07:27:00.000-07:00

On July 8th, the WHA Coalition met at the WACC. Due to it being summer, the attenance was low. We continue to gather information from the Cass County Attorney's Office.

Kelly will be looking for parents that are interested in getting a Parent Network started, a meeting will be set up in the near future.

Northland Community Coalition Meeting

2010-07-07T07:35:00.000-07:00

The Northland Community held their monthly meeting at 10:00 a.m. at Higher Grounds in Remer. There were two new people invited to the table. We discussed trying to find a person to be the chairperson for the meeting or having a CORE team to try and strengthen our group.

We will continue to work on getting a Parent Network established. We will try to find things to partner with at the begining of the school year to get our information out.

1st Public Hearing for Social Host Ordinance Held

2010-07-06T07:30:00.000-07:00

The first of two public hearings was held by the Cass County Board of Commissioners for the proposed Social Host Ordinance. There was no community members in favor or opposed for this ordinance. The second and final public hearing will be held on July 22nd at 6:30 p.m. at Turtle Lake Township. Ths is located in Walker, MN.

Teens Leading the Way Summer Retreat

2010-07-01T07:08:00.000-07:00

On June 30th-July 1st we held our first Teens Leading the Way Summer Retreat in Hackensack, MN. We started our retreat out at the Hackensack Community Center where Craig Hillier did a presentation on High Impact Presentations with Students. The TLTW group will use the informtion next year when we go into the younger classrooms. This presentation was an interactive/fun way to learn!

When Craig was done we headed to Bayview Resort on Birch Lake for the evening. We worked some on the TLTW pledge and membership recruitment. We did take some time to have fun with games like "trigger" and "Minute to Win It". Followed by a bonfire!

The next morning we worked on Team Building and did some brainstorming on what we should be working on next school year! All in all, everyone had a great time!

To see more pictures, check out our facebook page!

National Coalition Academy

2010-06-20T07:15:00.000-07:00

Kelcie Bouchonville, WHA Coalition Member and Kelly Felton left for Meridian, MS to attend the second week of the National Coalition Academy.

This academy will help us be more sucessful by making us really take a look at our community through a public health model called the Strategic Prevention Framework. We have been working on assessment and developing a logic model with our Leadership Team. This week we will work on and strengthen what we have been doing with our coalition and come back to work on a strategic and action plan.

Coordinate, Plan and Organize...Oh MY!

2010-06-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

The youth are on summer break but we are working harder than ever. Wanna join us in our efforts to make our community safe and healthy? It's a fun and rewarding adventure!

Responsible Beverage Server Training

2010-06-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

Held a RBST class in Hackensack today. Trained an additional 11 servers!

Social Host Ordinance

2010-06-15T07:11:00.000-07:00

Chris Strandlie, Cass County Attorney presented went before the Cass County Board of Commissioners to have them approve the Social Host Ordinance draft and establish public hearing dates. This was moved forward and the Social Host Ordinance No. 2010-01. Below is the information on the public hearings:

The Cass County Board of Commissioners will hold a Public Hearing on Tuesday, July 6, 2010, beginning at 10:00 a.m., in the Commissioners Boardroom, 1st Floor, Cass County Courthouse Annex, Walker, MN to consider adopting on 1st reading of the Social Host Ordinance 2010-01, an ordinance that will prohibit any person or persons from hosting an event where alcohol is present and being possessed or consumed by persons under twenty-one (21) years of age. This ordinance will also establish penalties for any person or persons hosting such an event.
The Cass County Board of Commissioners will hold a Public Hearing on Tuesday, July 22, 2010, beginning at 6:30 p.m., at the Turtle Lake Township Hall, 4196 72nd St. NW, Walker, MN to consider 2nd reading and final adoption of the Social Host Ordinance 2010-01.
Copies of the referenced Ordinances may be viewed during regular business hours at the Cass County Attorney’s Office or on the Cass County website: www.co.cass.mn.us.
To submit written comments or obtain additional information please contact the Cass County Attorney’s Office at (218) 547-7255.
/s/ Robert H. Yochum, Cass County Administrator

Northland Community Coalition Meeting

2010-06-14T07:05:00.000-07:00

The meeting was held at Higher Grounds in Remer, MN to visit about where we are at with our Coalition efforts within the Northland Community School District. We talked at length about what we need to do to get our community members involved in this work. If you are interested, please contact Kelly Felton at 218-330-8129.

Family Day 2010

2010-06-13T19:07:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all those who participated in Family Day today! What a great event at the Backus Fire Hall. We greatly appreciate all the supprt from the Backus Fire Department. The "smoke trailer" was an interesting addition this year! Free food, fun games, and prize giveaways all were provided. We even had "Chase the Juggler" join our event from New Mexico! Amazing talent! The program portion of the event included a presentation on The Working Together Coalition and a panel discussion on underage drinking. Panelists Cass County Deputy Gary Sampson, Cass County Attorney Chris Strandlie, Jade-PRB High School Student, and Jim Rasmussen-Treatment Professional all provided the participants with helpful insights about how to address underage drinking in our community. Glad to hear that they also agree that "The Solution is in the Community."

Walker-Hackensack-Akeley Community Meeting

2010-06-10T07:02:00.000-07:00

We met at the WACC for our monthly meeting. We will continue to meet throughout the summer to prepare our subcommittee meetings for the upcoming school year. If you are interested in getting involved or want to learn more about our plans for next school year, please contact Kelly.

ZAP Team Meeting

2010-06-08T06:55:00.000-07:00

The ZAP (Zero Adult Provider) team met today to visit about how we can all work together to keep alcohol away from our youth by figuring out who is providing the liquor. If you know of any underage drinking parties, please help us stop possible trageties by contacting the Cass County Sheriff's Department!

Leadership Team Meeting

2010-06-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

The Leadership Team met again at the Backus City Hall to continue working on our Logiv Model. We will continue to work on this after Kelly and Kelcie Bouchonville return from Week 2 of our National Coalition Academy in Mississippi.

WHA Teens Leading the Way recruitment

2010-06-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

Some of the WHA TLTW members went into 8th grade classrooms trying to find interested people to join our group next school year. There were 23 of our 8th graders that are interested in getting involved!!

The fun process of developing a Logic Model

2010-05-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

The Leadership team met on this date to work on combining all of the local conditions that cause underage drinking in our communities. We will combine all of these issues into one logic model so that we can find appropriate stratagies to combat the issue of underage drinking.

We will meet again next week to continue this process.

Last TLTW Meetings of the school year.

2010-05-26T12:32:00.000-07:00

Teens Leading the Way meetings were held the week of May 24th in each of the three school years to finish off the year. We celebrated our Seniors in all three schools and talked about what we would like to do over the summer. We will try to meet at least once per month and try to do it all together.

Responsible Beverage Server Training- Outing

2010-05-20T12:30:00.000-07:00

Kelly taught a Responsible Beverage Server training in Outing, MN. There were 6 people in attendnace from four different establishments within our area!

Northland Teens Leading the Way Meeting

2010-05-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

The Northland TLTW students met today to discuss the Kick Off event last week. They had alot of kids in the gym playing games while the presentation was taking place. We also discussed that our last meeting of the school year will be next Wednesday where we would celebrate our Seniors: Shea Moran, Jordan Archer and Jacob Stone. These Seniors will be missed next school year!

We will be going into Mrs. Procopio's classroom next week to talk with the 8th graders and recruit them to join in our efforts. We will continue to meet during the summer on the days of our Coalition meetings.

Social Host Ordinance proposed to the Cass County Board

2010-05-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

On May 18, 2010 Chris Strandlie, Cass County Attorney proposed a Socail Host Ordinance to the Cass COunty Commissioners. It was moved by the Board to have Chris Strandlie write up a Social Host Ordinance for Cass County and present it again to the County Board. After it this has occured, a public hearing would be scheduled.

Pine River and Backus Responsible Beverage Server Trainings Held

2010-05-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

On May 18, 2010 the Coalition held a Responsible Beverage Server training in the city of Backus and one in Pine River. We trained an additional 9 servers within our area! We will be hosting another training in Outing on May 20th at 10:30 a.m.

WHA Teens Leading the Way Meeting

2010-05-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

The WHA TLTW members met on this date to determine our plan for the rest of the school year. Next week we will be celbrating our three Seniors: Alina Burks, Hannah Swedburg and Miki Lowe. These girls have been a great asset towards our group and will be greatly missed.

A few other things that we will be doing this school year is going into the 6th-8th grade classrooms to follow up from our workshop. We will also be setting up a meeting for 8th graders to see if they are interested in getting involved over the summer and next school year with the Teens Leading the Way group!

WHA Community Meeting

2010-05-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

The Walker-Hackensack-Akeley community met on May 13 at 1:30 at the Walker Area Community Center. The group is currently working on assessing our community to make sure that we understand what our problems are in the community around underage drinking. This process will allow for us to make the right decisions when we pick our stratagies on how to work towards safe and healthy communities.

Please join us at our next meeting on June 10, 2010 at 1:30. We would love to have you around the table.

Northland Community Kick Off Event a HUGE sucess!

2010-05-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

On May 12, 2010 at 6:00 the Northland Community School Coalition held their kick off event. The event started out by providing participants with free pizza which was donated from the Family Center and Community Education. The Teens Leading the Way group showed a video of why they are in the Teens Leading the Way group and how it is ok to have fun without using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. Kelly Felton did a short presentation on the Working Together Coalition and the evening concluded with a panel discussion by:

Liz Dodd, Teens Leading the Way member
Bev Gaines, Community Member
Tom Burch, Cheif Deputy, Cass County Sheriff's Office
Chris Strandlie, Cass County Attorney
Terri Shepard, School Social Worker/Parent
Kathleen Wright, Community Edcuation/Parent

Thank you for all that attended this event! It was great to see more than 50 people to listen to our presentation, it is wonderful that there is so many people interested in getting involved with our efforts.

Responsible Beverage Server Trainings

2010-05-10T13:05:00.000-07:00

We have been hosting Responsible Beverage Server trainings in many of our communities. on May 4th Brian Kringen was here and taught the course in Longville and in Remer. Kelly Felton and LeeAnn Sampson taught a course in Hackensack and Walker on May 10. So far, we have trained approximatly 150 of our local servers! How wonderful to have our establishments wanting to work with us to keep alcohol away from our youth!

Pine River-Backus Events Subcommittee meets

2010-04-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

The PR-B Events Sub-Committee met to start planning the annual Family Day event. It will be held at the Backus Fire Department on Sunday June 13th starting at 12:00 noon. The events sub-committee will be meeting again on May 12, 2010 before the Coalition meeting at the Backus City Hall.

Teens Leading the Way- WHA Meeting

2010-04-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

The WHA TLTW group met on this date to celebrate our sucessful workshop! We will work next week to decide what we will do with the information that we gathered from the 6th-8th grade students.

Working Together Coalition (WHA) Kick Off Night

2010-04-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

The WHA Working Together Community Coalition decided to do a kick off night to introduce to our community what our Coalition is trying to do within our community. There were approximately 30-40 people in attendance for this event! We had a panel of community members that answered questions followed by small group discussion.

Here is a list of the Community Discussion Panelists:
Tom Burch, Cass County Cheif Deputy
Wayne Tennis, Walker Police Department
Hannah Swedburg, Teens Leading the Way Member
Mar Kuha, Community Member
Gary Deitrich, Community Member
Thomas Haas, Meritcare
Kelly Felton

There was alot of good questions and conversations about what is going on with our youth and what we can do to make a healthy and safe community.

WHA Teens Leading the Way held workshop for 6th-8th grade students

2010-04-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

The WHA Teens Leading the Way students held a workshop for the 6th-8th graders at the Walker Area Community Center. We are so fortunate to have a group of young men and women that are leading these other students to live a alcohol, tobacco and other drug free lifestyle.

We had the 7th-8th graders come in the morning and then the 6th graders in the afternoon. They started the begining of the sessions out by introducing themselves and the Teens Leading the Way group. They then split them into three separte groups and brought them through three different stations. Here is a brief description of each of the stations:

1. The rap off- They had each of the students break into smaller groups (4-6 Students) and make a healthy rap about staying clean of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.
2. There was a jeopardy game on alcohol, tobacco and other drugs
3. There was a board of "Things to do besides drinking" and had each student include what they would rather do than drinking. They also had a game that they played of ingredients that are in cigarretts and what they are also used for.

They did a great job and it appeared that the 6th-8th grade students had a great time!

Leadership Team Meeting

2010-04-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

The Working Together Coalition Leadership Team had their monthly meet at Kelly's house to attend a webinar on how to assess our commmunity, create a logic model and start thinking about some stratagies that we can start implementing in our communities. We will continue to do activities around these things at our monthly coalition team meeting.

We also welcomed our new Leadership Chair for the Northland Community- Joe Akre. The remainder of the Leadership Team consists of:
- WHA Chairperson is Shannon Pfieffer
- PR-B Chairperson is Carol Lovro
- Leslie Bouchonville, Fiscal Agent
- Kelly Felton and LeeAnn Sampson, Coordinators

People of Faith: Partners in Prevention

2010-04-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

The WTC hosted this workshop by bringing in Roger Svendson to talk to our local faith communities about how they can partner with our work in the community.

This workshop helped the congregational leaders and organizations to:
• Identify the role of the faith community in substance abuse prevention
• Identify opportunities and barriers to faith communityinvolvement
• Learn about a model for developing a Congregational Team Approach to Substance Abuse
• Obtain Substance Abuse Prevention resources

There were 6 different faith communities in attendance.