News from Operation: SPIRIT

1. Our "Healthy Dating" Expert Speaker Event is coming up this Wednesday, February 24th. This is highly recommended! See sidebar for details and to register.

2. The Grand Opening/Open House for our new Headquarters was postponed due to snow. The new date is Monday, March 1st, 10am to 2pm. We hope you'll come check out our wonderful new home!

3. BILL OLIVER IS COMING TO SEE US! Please join us on March 20th when the developer of Parent-to-Parent, Bill Oliver, will be joining us for our first big fundraiser. Bill will be our guest speaker and is excited to come to Louisville and meet all of our Parenting 101 graduates!

We're thrilled about these upcoming events and developments and hope you'll join us!

	GRAND OPENING - PLEASE COME!
We proudly invite you to our Grand Opening Monday, March 1st, 2010! Take a tour, enjoy refreshments and connect with the community as we officially open our doors to Louisville and beyond. Bring friends and neighbors; speakers arrive and media coverage begins at 10:00am. DUE TO ALL THE RECENT SNOW - THIS IS A NEW DATE.

	New Headquarters
REMINDER...Our new address is: 13029 Middletown Industrial Boulevard Suite 100 Louisville KY 40223 Our new phone number is: (502) 245-7154

Smell The Coffee Speaker Events

Next Speaker Event:
Healthy Dating
by Dale Van Fleet Herink
February 24th
10:00-12:00noon, or
6:30-8:30pm
Open to both parents and their teens!

Click here to register

Come learn the dating basics all teens need to understand: open and honest communication, personal boundaries and respect in relationships. Help your teen know the dynamics of healthy relationships for young people and how they can help themselves or a friend who is being abused. Parents will explore how to create a safe environment for disclosure from their teen and then how, as parents, they can respond.

Our "Wake Up and Smell The Coffee" speaker series is off to a great start! Our last speaker, Dr. Brady Burns, was absolutely phenomenal. He spoke about teenage addiction to drugs and alcohol and here are some notes from his presentation:

Notes from Dr. Burns Brady presentation

Parents need to understand the disease of addiction in order to treat it properly (Just like we need to know if their sore throat is viral or bacterial). It's a family illness...everyone gets sick.

It is chronic, progressive and fatal, but treatable.

90% of the population can socially handle alcohol. 10% of the population is born with a difference in brain chemisty.

If your child/teen is messing with drugs/alcohol, Dr. Brady recommends you (1) change playmates (2) change playpens (3) change play things. He also recommends The Morton Center in Louisville. Ask to speak with Jennifer Stern.

Nature vs. Nurture...genetics will play out.

If addiction or alcoholism runs in your family, education is key. Tell your teen the risk factors (impaired judgment, impaired brain development, etc.) Deal with your kids straight up...the truth is best. What's the treatment? ABSTINENCE.

Resources:

The Morton Center: http://www.themortoncenter.org

Louisville: 502-451-1221 Lexington: 859-373-0077

The Hazleton Foundation: Center City, Minnesota

	New Name
Remember, Operation: SPIRIT will be changing our name to Operation: PARENT to more accurately reflect who we are and what we do. We'll make that announcement at our Grand Opening but we wanted you to be the first to know. Our new road sign has been installed and our new letterhead, business cards, etc. have already been printed and delivered. We're ready to hit the ground running!

Help Us Make it Home

Now that we've had a chance to settle into the new space, we are excited to make it an inviting space for all parents of teens! Our careful planning has been done with the vision of creating a warm, welcoming, hi-tech atmosphere. We also want to pay special attention to the dads in our community, so we're interested in your feedback about how to design our headquarters with them in mind.

I think it is very important that we, as parents of teens, embrace technology. We have plans to equip our facility with state-of-the-art flatscreen TVs for training purposes, and have submitted a grant request to SAM's Club for the donation. We also hope to have a "computer lab" so parents can take on-going classes about MySpace, Facebook, internet filters and whatever else comes down the pike.

We are in need of round tables (that seat 6 to 8) with matching chairs for our 2nd floor. This is where we will hold future speaker events and our 1st fundraiser event on March 20th! Please keep us in mind if you have any connections to office furniture outlets.

Special thanks again to Paul Lichtefeld, Sr., Laura and Paul Lichtefeld, and to all of the generous volunteers and donors who have helped make this space a reality, and develop into a working headquarters! Having 5,000 SF of space to work from has energized us beyond imagination.

THIS WEEK'S PARENTING TIP:
Embrace Moments of Personal Pain.......Most of the time, heartbreak in our child's life seems trite to us (i.e., best friend is spending the night at someone else's house; "girlfriend" breaks up with your son; their sports team loses a game, etc.) But when these "painful times" hit, it's an open door for us to build trust and respect with them. Consider these as opportunities!

Keep on parenting, you're not alone!

Jean Schumm & Staff
Operation: SPIRIT
Supportive Parents Involved
in Raising Incredible Teenagers

Recent Publicity

We've been getting lots of publicity lately!

WHAS-TV 2-minute interview on January 5th
WBKI-TV 2-minute interview on January 6th
Insight Channel 2 6-minute interview, running Fanuary 21-Feb 3
Courier-Journal Neighborhoods, Wednesday January 13th

We have added some of these spots to our website, so click here if you'd like to check them out. (Here's something I learned from this experience...never dye your hair the night before you're going on TV! Oh my gosh...I'll share the details with you later!)

Here's the really good news...everyone suddenly seems very interested in our teens and the teen culture. We celebrate that because once we get people talking, we can raise awareness! Please keep encouraging your friends to take one of our classes or attend a speaker event. We want to reach as many parents as possible, so no parent has to worry about losing their teen to drugs, alcohol, suicide, depression, violence or anything else!

W W W . O P E R A T I O N S P I R I T . O R G