Taylor Irby is bringing a strong message of drug and alcohol abuse prevention and intervention to her classmates at Morton High School in Hammond.

The 18-year-old senior, who is the daughter of Desi and David Irby of Hammond, founded "Operation Snowball" last school year and conducted an eight-hour session of education, facts and fun, with support of classmates, the principal, faculty and local businesses. She brought in keynote speakers from Snowball programs in Illinois who trained other students to serve as staff for the event.

Irby plans to offer another program this fall.

"I got into it because I've been to a couple of programs in the Green Bay area of Wisconsin and in Naperville, Ill. My aunt had gotten me involved in the Illinois Teen Institute - the training ground for Snowball - for students interested in drug and alcohol abuse prevention," she says, adding, "I wanted to bring the program to Morton because it's not, 'Don't do this, don't do that,' it gives you an alternative lifestyle and shows you how to stay positive and on track."

Participants engage in various activities that help teach such lessons.

"My goal is to get kids fired up and come back next year, or in five years, and see Snowball still is part of students' lives and still part of the school. The message is so powerful. We're working to get evidence-based facts to show it works and to get even more support from the community," Irby says.

Irby also was National Honor Society vice president last school year and president of the school's Thespian Society. She has been onstage in eight shows, including having key roles in Steel Magnolias, Bus Stop and The Crucible. She also was a student of the Academy of the Performing Arts at Morton.

This article has been reprinted with permission of the Times Media Company.

Order prevention campaign supplies and benefit Operation Snowball. Prevention Partners is a Dallas based, prevention campaign supplies company that specializes in providing schools, civic groups, national organizations and government agencies with the highest quality supplies and resources to conduct successful prevention programs. With a strong reputation for quality and customer service, Prevention Partners is continuing to expand its products and services to empower students, teachers, parents and community leaders to build safe and drug free schools and communities one child at a time. Operation Snowball earns up to 15% of orders.

National Drug Facts Week is Monday, October 31st through Sunday, November 6th, 2011.

This year's National Drug Facts Week promises to be bigger and better than last year! We've updated the Shatter the Myths booklet, created a new Drug IQ Challenge, and are announcing the MusiCares® and GRAMMY Foundation's® Teen Substance Abuse Awareness through Music Contest Grammy in May.

• Find out more about how to host your own
  National Drug Facts Week Event
• Order or download the new Shatter the Myths booklet
• Learn more about the Grammy Contest
• Questions? drugfacts@nida.nih.gov

KEYS Alliance

Operation Snowball, Inc. is a member of Community Shares of Illinois (http://www.cs-il.org/ or link from www.os-iti.org).

Community Shareslinks people and their passions, connecting caring donors with local organizations that are changing people's lives - and Illinois communities - for the better every day.

Specifically, Community Shares helps raise money for its member organizations through payroll deduction programs with participating employers. By pledging through Community Shares, employees can direct critically needed dollars to Operation Snowball, Inc. In turn, we will use these dollars to provide training and technical assistance to over 120 chapters.

Currently, Community Shares participates in workplace giving programs at dozens of school districts throughout Illinois. For a list of school districts and employers that offer Community Shares of Illinois visit this link.   

Upcoming Trainings

Best Practices for Implementing OS

October 10, 2011

Athens High School Library, Athens, IL 

This seminar compliments the Prevention Resource Guide and Resource CD and is required for new chapters and valuable for all chapter directors.

Click here for more information and registration form.  

Future Trainings

OS is searching for training and webinar topics, presenters, and locations. We need to hear from you! If you have ideas or would like to present or host a training please contact Mary Jo Davies at mdavies@iadda.org or call 800.252.6301 extension 18.