JOYCE — Students in the Crescent United Prevention Club are celebrating Red Ribbon Week with readerboard messages and decorating the town in red ribbons.
Saturday marks the end of the National Red Ribbon Week, which encourages young people to be drug free.
This year, because of COVID-19, the middle school and high school students in the Crescent United Prevention Club are not on campus and couldn’t celebrate the week with events in the traditional way, so they decided to bring Red Ribbon Week to the entire community, said Tuesday Mattix, Crescent United community coordinator.
“Our prevention club will have positive messages on all the reader boards on state Highway 112 and will end at the Crescent School campus,” Mattix said in a press release as the week-long celebration began last Friday.
“We will also be covering the community in red ribbons.
“We think that this is an ideal way for students and the community to unite and take a visual stand against drugs.”
Red Ribbon Week began when Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, was tortured and killed in Mexico in 1985. In honor of his memory and his battle against illegal drugs, friends and neighbors began to wear red badges of satin.
Parents then began to form coalitions using Camarena as their model while embracing his belief that one person can make a difference, Mattiz said. These coalitions adopted the symbol of Camarena’s memory, the Red Ribbon.
“Today, the Red Ribbon serves as a catalyst to mobilize communities to educate youth and encourage participation in drug prevention activities,” Mattix said.
