Congratulations to both Abbigail Waters (left) and Joel Mesa (right), this year’s Enrique Camarena Red Ribbon Award recipients. This annual award recognizes and honors those who make significant contributions to the field of drug prevention.

Abbigail Waters is the youngest member of the Young Marines Alumni Association. Young Marines and volunteers make a commitment to make a difference personally as well as within their communities. Abbigail committed to Young Marines as a youth member in 2014. For 7 years, she not only learned the importance of teamwork, leadership, discipline, and the importance of living a healthy, drug-free lifestyle personally, but she also set the example for others to emulate. During her time in the program, Abbigail has completed over 200 hours of Drug Demand Reduction. Many of those hours were committed to making a difference in her community by spreading awareness during Red Ribbon Week, working with the Preventing Alcohol and Risk Related Trauma in Youth (P.A.R.T.Y) Program of the University of Colorado Hospital and Colorado State Patrol, leading presentations within her community, and creating new prevention projects. Beyond her prevention work, Abbigail Waters has committed nearly 1,500 community service hours to many other veteran’s service projects, Toys for Tots, Wreaths Across America, and color guards. This does not include the countless hours that she has spent developing her peers and later mentoring our youth as an alumnus.

Joel Mesa was a Youth Crime Watch Administrator/School Coordinator of Citizens’ Crime Watch of Miami-Dade County. He is certified as a Florida Crime Prevention Practitioner by the Office of the Attorney General. Joel administers the youth crime watch program of Citizens’ Crime Watch of Miami-Dade County. He has conducted over 2,000 youth crime prevention presentations on numerous safety topics to over 200,000 students during the last 23 years. He has trained principals, teachers, counselors, students, security monitors, and school resource officers on implementing youth crime watch programs in Miami-Dade County schools.

The results are in! The National Family Partnership is proud to announce the 20 winners of the 11th Annual National Red Ribbon Week^® Photo Contest. The winning photos were among hundreds of entries received and uploaded to RedRibbon.org. Ten winners received the most votes in their designated regions, and ten winners were chosen from a list of categories that included: Most Creative, Most Ambitious, Best Use of Theme, Best Use of Family and Community, Most Educational, and Best Use of School and Community. Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who participated. We hope you had as much fun taking the photos as much as we did viewing them. Click here to view the winners.

As a reminder, Red Ribbon themes are owned by The National Family Partnership and are protected under US copyright and trademark law. While we encourage teachers, educators and community partners to share the theme, we’d like to remind you that sharing and reprinting the theme logo should be for informational and educational purposes only and not used for profit. Theme materials cannot be altered, distributed or sold without our permission. If you are interested in producing Red Ribbon merchandise, please contact the National Family Partnership at info@nfp.org for information.

“I’d like to recognize Geniel Moon, a teacher at Murrieta Valley High School in Murrieta, California. Geniel has given selfishly over the past year during this pandemic. She has delivered over 500 items to various students in our school community. These items included T-shirts and  special treat bags to celebrate kids’ accomplishments. Not only did she continue to let her students know she cared, she also continued to do things for rest of the staff, including giving welcome back gifts and lunches. Geniel never stopped fighting for our students to have some normalcy. We are lucky to have a teacher such as Geniel Moon who truly cares about our school culture and our staff. “

~Cindy Muzic

Congratulations to J. Keagan Miller, this year’s Enrique Camarena Red Ribbon Award recipient. This annual award recognizes and honors those who make significant contributions to the field of drug prevention.

A current Unit Commander for the Miami Valley Young Marines of Ohio, Keagan has worked with the program for more than fifteen years. “I was surprised and very honored to even be considered for such a prestigious award,” he said. Kaylyn Lonergan who is the Drug Demand Reduction Coordinator for the organization nominated Keagan.

Keagan has enhanced the drug prevention platform by completing nearly 500 Drug Demand Reduction education hours, which he has used to amplify the Young Marines’ vigorous DDR efforts. His unit is a member of the Montgomery County Drug Free Coalition, which regularly collaborates with the Young Marines to enhance drug prevention efforts. Additionally, he and the Young Marines work with the Families of Addicts, a local group focused on recovery.

Keagan has spearheaded the development of drug prevention education videos that are used throughout the Young Marines’ organization. He has motivated his youth members to lead virtual classes, and has developed and hosted a nationwide virtual Healthy Drug-Free Lifestyle Challenge.

The Miami Valley Young Marines was founded in 1998 as the Dayton Young Marines. The organization promotes the mental, moral, and physical development of its members and focuses on teaching the values of leadership, teamwork, and self-discipline, so its members can live and promote a healthy, Drug-Free lifestyle. Under his leadership, the Miami Valley Young Marines has been recognized twice by the Department of Defense having received the Fulcrum Shield Award for excellence in youth anti-drug programs.

When not working with Young Marines, Keagan enjoys spending time with his wife Tina and their three kids, Ian, Kira, and Owen.

“There are many ways to make yourself happy in life. Drugs shouldn't be one of them,” he said. “Surround yourself with good people and good things happen.”

The results are in! The National Family Partnership is proud to announce the 20 winners of the 10th Annual National Red Ribbon Week^® Photo Contest. The winning photos were among hundreds of entries received and uploaded to RedRibbon.org. Ten winners received the most votes in their designated regions, and ten winners were chosen from a list of categories that included: Most Creative, Best Use of Theme, Best Virtual Photo, Most Educational, Most Ambitious, Best Use of Family, Best Use of School or Virtual School, and Most Creative School or Virtual School.  Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who participated. We hope you had as much fun taking the photos as much as we did viewing them. Click here to view the winners.

Last week, Peggy Sapp, President of the National Family Partnership spoke at the unveiling of the new Drug Free USA Forever Stamp.  Last year, Mrs. Sapp and the DEA submitted a joint letter to the U.S Postal Service's Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee to propose a stamp to raise national awareness about the dangers of drug misuse. On October 27, Mrs. Sapp was invited as an honorary guest for the Drug Free USA dedication ceremony in Washington, D.C., where she led the pledge and revealed the new stamp alongside DEA Acting Administrator, Timothy J. Shea, Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, and Miss America 2020, Camille Schrier.. Click here to view the ceremony. Click here to purchase the Drug Free USA Stamp.

Unimpaired driving is one of the golden rules of safe driving.  Help us keep teens safe by sharing these materials that offer tips on how they can stay safe in uncomfortable situations.  Click here:  https://flteensafedriver.org/impaired-driving-prevention-materials/

Get in the Halloween spirit and create your own Pumpkin Painting Party! Use this year's theme, Be Happy. Be Brave. Be Drug Free.™ as inspiration. Think outside the box and let your imagination run wild while using the suggested supplies below. This fun and simple project can be done at home or at school. All supplies are relatively inexpensive and can be found at any local dollar or arts and crafts store.

Have you heard of Kaiserslautern Middle School (KMS)? KMS is a federally operated school managed by the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), which is responsible for planning, directing, coordinating, and managing pre-kindergarten through 12^th grade educational programs on behalf of the United States Department of Defense (DoD). Over the last few years, KMS, which is located in Kaiserslautern, Germany, has planned and participated in various Red Ribbon Week activities.

This year, KMS counselors and PTSA members have joined forces to create a host of fun and educational activities for their students, including a poster art project featuring this year’s Red Ribbon Theme, Be Happy. Be Brave. Be Drug Free.™ Samples of their creative artwork are currently on display in the commissary, post office, café, and community bank, all of which are located on the Vogelweh Military Base in Germany.

“Having a serious conversation with this age group can make a difference,” said Susan Sondermann, current KMS PTSA President. “We want our students, teachers and parents talking to each other about the risks and the realities related to drugs and alcohol which is especially important in the military community,” she adds. “Military kids go through so much from family separations due to deployments, to multiple moves. It’s not easy.”

As part of their extended Red Ribbon Week celebrations, local school administrators will be featured on the Armed Forces Network (AFN) Radio to discuss the importance of drug and alcohol prevention this month. The KMS PTSA is also sponsoring a writing competition and hosting a Red Ribbon Spirit Week which will highlight the following: "Don't Get Tied Up in Drugs,” "Team Up Against Drugs and Violence" and "Dreaming of a Drug-Free World."  KMS will also be participating in the National Red Ribbon Week Photo Contest, which is open to legal residents of the United States.

“Past research has shown that the hardships military kids face can lead to an increased risk when it comes to drug and alcohol use, said Sondermann.” We are passionate about Red Ribbon Week because of the message it sends.   We want the best for our kids.  We want to see them be happy. We already know they are brave, and above all we want to see them be drug free!”