ROTARIANS STEP UP TO GIVE DARE A BOOST

The Rotary Club of Sherwood Park has dared to get on board with DARE and
become the sought-after supporter of the program.

Keith Paterson, chair of the Rotary's Mile of Money event, says the Rotary
will be providing $25,000 in financial support to DARE over the next five
years.

"The program is good. It's unfortunate it hasn't had the proper funding it
needs to fulfil its mandate," he said.

In 2001 it looked like the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program was on
the bubble. Administered by the RCMP, Insp. Brian McLeod said at the time
there just wasn't enough funding to pay for an instructor for the
school-based anti-drug abuse program. Police officers were essentially
coming in on their days off to teach DARE to Grade 5 or 6 kids.

Schools also said they didn't have the cash to support the program. Without
any money, it looked like DARE might have been slashed.

Strathcona County, the police, and both school boards ended up initiating
the DARE to Care Community Partnership, a foundation to search for
community support for DARE.

It's only proper that the community should be the ones to support DARE,
says Paterson.

"It's a local program and it should be resolved at a local level."

The Rotary Club getting on board will provide some much-needed stability to
the program, says DARE instructor Const. Ken Fuhrmann.

"It's going to help us to determine whether it continues on, no doubt. The
funding is the big thing and if the funding is there there's no doubt the
DARE program will continue to go," said the constable.

"It's good that Rotary is going to be assisting us. Any help that we can
get from the community is a great asset for our DARE program."

The money raised by the Rotary Club from its Mile of Money event, which
happens every fall, will be put towards purchasing materials for the
program, such as workbooks for the kids, and T-shirts that are given to all
DARE graduates.

Down the road, Fuhrmann says the money would allow DARE to expand into the
junior highs to reinforce what was taught at the elementary level. The
funding, depending on how much is raised, could also help support a second
DARE instructor.

While stable funding has been found through the Rotary Club, the program is
still searching for more help from businesses and the community.

"Trying to get money out of companies and corporations can be difficult at
times and it's a slow process, but the stuff is slowly starting to come in
and I'm confident that we'll get what we need so we can continue on with
the program," says Fuhrmann.

Part of the Rotary Club's goal is to get involved with youths around the world.

Part of that is keeping a primary focus on local youths so Rotary is a good
fit with DARE, says Paterson.

Funds raised from the annual Mile of Money event, held in the fall by the
Rotary Club, will be put towards the DARE program.