Our mission is to unite the Anderson Valley community in efforts that promote community health through grassroots organizing to reduce the presence of drugs in the community and prevent youth substance abuse.
The Community Action Update Newsletter:
Feature Article, Summer 2011
Every 15 Minutes 2011
by Terry Ryder
AVCAC: What is the current situation with the Sheriff’s budget?
When I woke up and it was pouring rain I could not believe it. We planned our Every Fifteen Minutes Program for over a year complete with helicopter rescue lift. Over one hundred people were coming together on this one day to volunteer to help impress the students at AVHS that drinking and driving can have lethal consequences. Despite the rain, volunteers rallied with hardly a blink and the plan went forward. The realistic look from real crashed cars to the bloodied and broken bodies was devastating. How could this be? Sergio Gutierrez, superb athlete and universally respected student, lay DEAD and many others injured, one paralyzed. All it took was one bad choice for each of the accident victims. Back at the “Command Center” mountains of food were rolling in to fortify the troops. The logistics of such an undertaking are monumental. Local businesses generously provided food and funds. These two days of full on intense organizing mixed with the most fraught emotions could have been an unbearable mix. Instead it seemed to bring out the best in just about everyone especially the 20 kids directly involved. They went on a retreat overnight and had a chance to write letters to their parents about what they wished they had told them. Meanwhile the parents met at the school to write their own letters of love and regret. When I arrived to deliver food to (the student retreat) Camp Rancheria where they were staying the mood was reflective and concentrated as they (the students) thought and wrote. I delivered their parents letters and I was told many wept openly when they read what their parents wrote. This was an opportunity of a lifetime and when they found themselves in the thick of it they knew they were experiencing something very special. Who knows what ran through the parents heads as they placed beautiful homegrown roses and other flowers at the mock tombstones during the candlelight vigil. How visceral was the experience of watching the film at the memorial service the day after the mock crash? Filmmaker Mitch Mendosa and his crew captured footage showing the vibrancy of youth at carefree moments—living life. Suddenly the accident with all that it changed flashed onto the screen like a belly punch. Compelling barely covers a description of the film’s impact. The most inspiring thing about the whole two day happening was the beautiful way so many agencies, organizations and individuals worked together to make it happen. We were all wordlessly united in our goal to save young lives. Everyone—every single body was good as gold. We were tired, bone tired but in a good way and very, very happy that it was over. This is one case where doing something really is it’s own reward but thank you to everyone who helped- we did it and it was great. Colleen Schenck was the real “Ball Holder” from inception to completion and I bow down to her incredible fortitude and a job truly well done. Randy England of the CHP, Colin Wilson of the AVVFD and Lupita Guerrero of the AVUSD also carried a great deal of the weight. The Anderson Valley High School staff led by Principal Jim Tomlin who attended a years worth of planning meetings supported and worked hard for and with the event from conception to completion. Funding for EV 15 was provided by grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the California Highway Patrol, and the Safe and Sober program through the Mendocino County Health and Human Services Agency Community Health Branch Prevention and Planning Unit.
Did you know? 86% of AV High School Students have NEVER used chewing tobacco.*
*from AVHS California Healthy Kids Survey 2010