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This week SMS will participate in Red Ribbon Week. The National Family Partnership is the sponsor of the National Red Ribbon Week Celebration. The NFP is helping citizens across the state come together to keep children, families and communities safe, healthy and drug-free, through parent training, networking and sponsoring the National Red Ribbon Campaign.
The National Family Partnership was founded thirty years ago, and has devoted its efforts to the well-being of youth. Today, NFP is a national leader in drug prevention education & advocacy. Their mission is to lead and support our nation’s families and communities in nurturing the full potential of healthy, drug free youth.
RED RIBBON HISTORY
Enrique (Kiki) Camarena was a Drug Enforcement Administration Agent who was tortured and killed in Mexico in 1985. Camarena worked his way through college, served in the Marines and became a police officer. When he decided to join the US Drug Enforcement Administration, his mother tried to talk him out of it. "I'm only one person", he told her, "but I want to make a difference."
The DEA sent Camarena to work undercover in Mexico, investigating a major drug cartel believed to include officers in the Mexican army, police and government. On Feb. 7, 1985, the 37-year-old Camarena left his office to meet his wife for lunch. Five men appeared at the agent's side and shoved him in a car. One month later, Camarena's body was found. He had been tortured to death.
In honor of Camarena's memory and his battle against illegal drugs, friends and neighbors began to wear red badges of satin. Parents, sick of the destruction of alcohol and other drugs, had begun forming coalitions. Some of these new coalitions took Camarena as their model and embraced his belief that one person can make a difference. These coalitions also adopted the symbol of Camarena's memory, the red ribbon.
Red Ribbon Week is an ideal way for people and communities to unite and take a visible stand against substance abuse. It's also a great opportunity to show your personal commitment to a drug-free lifestyle through the symbol of the Red Ribbon.
