ROTARY HELPS BATTLE METH

Assistance: Club Contributes $10,000 Towards Calendar Providing Meth
Information.

When stories of crystal meth and its terrible effects began to
surface, the members of Shuswap Rotary's evening club decided they
wanted to do something to help.

To find out how best they could do that, they invited representatives
of the Crystal Clear on Meth task force to tell them what they needed.

Tracy Prince and Pam Beech told Rotary members they wanted to produce
a book, a prevention tool, directed at children in kindergarten
through Grade 7.

But, getting a book delivered to children in Salmon Arm, Sorrento,
Sicamous and Enderby would be very costly, says Shuswap Rotary
president Jim Kimmerly.

"Instead, one of our members said, 'What about a calendar?' he says.
"It could be used as a family planning tool, with lots of room for
dentists, etc. And, alongside it, a list of topics for discussion."

The topics will run the length of a single column on the right-hand
side of each page of the calendar and it is hoped it will provide a
month's worth of discussion on a variety of drugs and drug-related issues.

The idea was appealing and Rotary decided to donate $10,000 toward
the $24,000 cost of producing the calendar, which will also provide
parents with information on the symptoms of drug use.

"Counsellors here say alcohol and cocaine are at the top of the list
here," Kimmerly says. "Meth has become number one on the Coast and
the attempt here is to prevent that from happening here."

Kimmerly says one of the reasons the group supported the project was
information they had received on the high cost of health care from
Andrew Neuner, Interior Health Authority's chief operating officer
Cariboo-Thompson-Shuswap.

"Forty-two or 44 cents of every dollar is going to health care, and
anything that brings that cost down is important," he says.

Kimmerly says Beech and Prince are approaching other service clubs
for the remaining $14,000 and are hoping to have the calendar ready
for the new year.

The Crystal Clear on Meth task force will follow up on the calendar
and its usefulness, so other features can be added or changes made.

"We'll be happy to be a part of it, if it is effective," Kimmerly
says. "This is a project we felt would have a larger impact for school kids."

Meanwhile, Beech says the task force is waiting for a first draft of
the calendar in order to go out and market them.

"We are also in the process of hiring someone to help us with
execution of the projects and co-ordination of the task force," she
says. "The family calendar is only one of our projects for the year's
worth of meth funding we are hoping to partner with the community and
youth to produce an information newspaper as well, set up website and
links in each of the three communities and start resource libraries
in each community....there is plenty for people to support."