The program is an effective, interactive educational talk about DRUGS and is directed towards Grade 5 students and is presented in the classroom or school auditorium.
Is your club involved - either directly, or through financial support?
In 2011, Rotarian Doug Bielek of the Rotary Club of Mitchell, Ontario attended the Rotary International Convention in New Orleans. At the Convention Doug had the good fortune of meeting Rotarian Paul McQueary from the Rotary Club of San Juan, New Mexico. They discussed the Don’t Meth With Us anti-drug program that Rotarian Paul had developed in 2006.
The program is an effective, interactive educational talk about DRUGS and is directed towards Grade 5 students and is presented in the classroom or school auditorium. The volunteer DMWU team consists of three presenters each with an 8 to 10-minute story about Meth and drug abuse. At the beginning of the presentation each student is given a “Don't Meth With Us” t-shirt. At the end of the presentation each student is given an assortment of handouts that reinforces the message they have just heard.
At the time, the area that Rotarian Doug haled from was known as “The Meth Capital of Ontario”. It only made sense that this was a program that was absolutely necessary to be brought to Canada and in particular to the Rotary Club of Mitchell.
When the idea was presented to the club it was unanimously endorsed as a project that the club could implement. So it began – the Rotary Club of Mitchell volunteers making presentations to schools in the area.
In 2013, the Rotary Club of Chesley, Ontario followed Mitchell's lead and implemented the program in their area with the Rotary Club of Hanover taking over the presentation of the program in November of 2017. The Rotary Club of Festival City, Stratford came on board in the 2016-2017 school year to assist the Mitchell Club in making presentations to the Stratford schools. To date the DMWU program has been presented to over 5,000 students in the area.
As with all initiatives it is hard to gauge the impact of one’s work but the following e-mails indicate that there is a difference happening with the efforts of our volunteers.
The first e-mail was received from a teacher at a school that was not on our list for presentations; we were pleased to be able to rearrange our scheduling to include the school.
Good evening Charles,
A couple of years ago, I covered for a Grade 5 teacher at Huron Centennial PS and enjoyed a very informative and engaging Don't Meth With Us presentation. The next day, we reflected on your visit and wrote thank you notes to express our appreciation for teaching us some very valuable lessons.
I'm now in my first long term teaching assignment and would love to invite the Don't Meth With Us presenters to my Grade 5 class. Hopefully, you and the other presenters are still visiting schools and spreading your powerful message. Would you be willing to come to Stephen Central? I'll do my absolute best to make any date and time work.
Many thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.
Toni Gale
Grade 5 Teacher
Stephen Central Public School
A couple of years ago, I covered for a Grade 5 teacher at Huron Centennial PS and enjoyed a very informative and engaging Don't Meth With Us presentation. The next day, we reflected on your visit and wrote thank you notes to express our appreciation for teaching us some very valuable lessons.
I'm now in my first long term teaching assignment and would love to invite the Don't Meth With Us presenters to my Grade 5 class. Hopefully, you and the other presenters are still visiting schools and spreading your powerful message. Would you be willing to come to Stephen Central? I'll do my absolute best to make any date and time work.
Many thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.
Toni Gale
Grade 5 Teacher
Stephen Central Public School
The day after our team visited the school we received the following e-mail:
Good morning Charles, oh how I absolutely loved the Rotary's Don't Meth With Us presentation yesterday. Many thanks to you and your fellow presenters for visiting SCPS and sharing your very powerful messages. The Grade 5 students wore their t-shirts and wristbands with pride all day. The hug from my one student showed exactly how much your visit meant to us. The Grade 6 teacher also really appreciated being invited to join us. Not only did the presentation encourage me to assign homework (lol), it also highlighted the importance of making good decisions that are true, fair, beneficial and help build friendships.
Many sincere thanks from the SCPS Grade 5 Class :)
We have been questioned as to the importance of giving each student a DMWU t-shirt, so the same day as the Thank You e-mail we received a text message from a Stratford teacher:
Saw a grade 6 student with the meth shirt on today from grade 5.
We truly do believe that we are making a difference and encourage other Rotary Clubs to make contact with us and we will assist in setting up the program in your school district. To learn more about the program visit www.DontMethWithUs.Ca or www.dontmethwithus.com