DARE TO HELP

KELOWNA - The DARE program wants to train another 20 instructors so the
RCMP message on drugs, alcohol and violence can make it to all 33
elementary schools in the Central Okanagan.

Pacific Safety Products provided a helping hand Monday with a $3,000 cheque.

"We want to support crime prevention in the community. The DARE program is
a good example," says Laura Gibbs, the company's manager of marketing and
communications.

"It also benefits the people using our products (bulletproof vests) and
benefits the community in general."

"This is awesome," said RCMP Const. Frank McConnell, DARE and drug
awareness co-ordinator for the Kelowna detachment.

"This will allow us to buy more supplies and train more instructors."

Ten instructors now teach 45- to 60-minute classes for Grade 6 and some
Grade 7 students once a week for 17 weeks in six schools.

"It's a big time commitment. We try to get our instructors to teach one
class in the fall and one in the spring," says McConnell, who has
personally taught nine 17-week programs during the past 18 months.

"Kids just love to see you coming into the classroom. It's someone to
relate to, someone no different than their parents. They get to know police
who sometimes have a negative stereotype."

The program produces "unbelievable" results and the attitude change is
"incredible," he added.

"In my 27 years with the RCMP, this is the best program we've ever had. It
involves the whole community - students, parents, teachers and the police -
and funding comes from the community."

Service clubs and Legion branches all donated toward this year's $16,000
budget. The Daily Courier is an active supporter.

The program costs $20 per student, which includes a T-shirt, graduation
certificate, work booklet, pencil, eraser and water bottles to the top
three students who come up with positive alternative activities.

It costs upwards of $1,500 to train each instructor.

The workbooks explains why most kids don't use drugs, tell how to resolve
disagreements without violence and list eight ways to say no to drugs,
alcohol and violence.

Role models, often recent graduates of that school, come in to explain why
and how they said no.

At the end of the program, students write an essay on taking a stand and
what they learned. The top three essays are read during graduation.

Pacific Safety Products is also a sponsor of the International Crime
Prevention Conference in Penticton in November.