COMMUNITY DONATES $10K TO OPEN A TEEN CENTER
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Last Wednesday, 130 plus caring and generous community members attended a fundraising breakfast specifically to open the doors of our YAB Teen Center. They were greeted by our YAB members, fed a hot breakfast and introduced to the concept Teen Center that we have been raising funds to open for the past year. Several guest speakers (Lenne Bonner, CEO St. Mary's Hospital and Clinic; Taresa Michna, FNP; Steve Higgins, Superintendent of Kamiah School District; Tyler Wiley, community recovery advocate; and Lt. Doug Ulmer, Idaho County Sherriff Office) spoke to the importance of a Teen Center in our community. The support in the room was overwhelming, and donations and pledges exceeded $10,000 (including a pool table, ping pong table, flat screen TV, foosball table, and furniture). With the proceeds from this breakfast combined with the year-long fundraising efforts of UYLC and YAB and a small grant received from the Idaho Office of Drug Policy we will be able to open the doors the first part of July!!
If you weren't able to attend, you can still help! The funds raised will pay for the infrastructure costs. We still need help filling the building, below you can donate through our PayPal account or for your convenience you can order directly from our wish list on Amazon and have it direct shipped to us. The third button gives you the option to take our Teen Center survey and tell us what you would like to see offered at the Teen Center. The breakfast will become an annual event specifically for the Teen Center.
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Strengthening Families Program
by Elizabeth Manley
In October of 2018, several community members participated in the Strengthening Families Training of The Trainers class, hosted by the Upriver Youth Leadership Council (UYLC). On January 31
st, 2019, after extensive planning and coordinating, three of those women, Jennifer Heitman, Terry Dobson, and Elizabeth Manley, began a local 14-Week Strengthening Families Program. The following months of February, March, and April, found committed facilitators and families, meeting weekly to achieve their goals of stronger, healthier, and more unified families. These weekly, iron sharpening iron fellowship meetings and group-oriented discussions spanned many different topics including, but not limited to, problem solving, family traditions, anger management, coping with stress, drugs, alcohol, sexuality, relationships, and family meetings. Each family, couple, teen, and facilitator learned something new, built a supportive network, and created new relationships.
On Thursday, May 2
nd, this supportive, encouraging, and inspirational program came to a close, and a large graduation party followed to commend each of the incredibly dedicated families and their hard work. Each family was publicly recognized, thanked, encouraged, and awarded a Certificate of Graduation, a mileage reimbursement check, and an incredibly generous gift (donated by Hill Photography) of a free family session and portrait. Kamiah and the surrounding communities will benefit greatly from such dedicated, family-oriented, and family concerned citizens. And UYLC as well as the Strengthening Families Program facilitators are remarkably proud of each family’s hard work and commitment.
If you are interested in joining our next Strengthening Families cohort, please reach out to us by calling 208-743-0392, emailing us at
uylcoffice@gmail.com, or feel free to stop by the office, 413 Main St, Kamiah.
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Pound of Prevention Column: Vaping
Danielle Cochran, UYLC Partner
Electronic Cigarette use, also known as vaping, is becoming quite the trend lately with our youth. The devices are becoming significantly more discreet and youth are able to vape in class in front of teachers without them knowing. What many youth, and adults, may not know is that these devices are not producing “harmless water vapor”. Many of these devices are filled with harmful chemicals that can cause long term effects on users and those around them.
What is an Electronic Cigarette? Electronic Cigarettes, or E-Cigs, are electronic devices that heat a liquid and produce an aerosol. E-Cigs come in many shapes and sizes but most will contain a battery, a heating element, and a place to hold a liquid.
The first ever E-Cig like device was developed in 1927 and then attempted again in 1965 both of the designs were awkward to hold and very difficult to use and were considered failed attempts. The modern day E-cig that we recognize today was developed in China in 2003 and made its way to Europe in 2006 and USA in 2007. Since then the market has become a multi-billion dollar industry.
The liquid used in E-cigs often contains nicotine and other flavorings. This liquid is commonly called “Juice”. Nicotine as many know is highly addictive on its own and has a plethora of harmful side effects, but Nicotine is not the only harmful substance that could be in a E-Cig. Diacetyl is a common chemical used in the flavorings contained in the liquids and is linked to the potentially life threatening disease “popcorn lung” which causes irreversible scarring and destruction of the lungs. Many other compounds are found in the liquid as well as the aerosol that is created when exhaled. Some of these include Formaldehyde, Ethaline Glycol, and Methylene Chloride. Trace heavy metals such as Nickel, Tin and Lead have also been found in the liquids. Many of these chemicals exist in the Nicotine free liquids as well, meaning that just because the liquid may be Nicotine free still doesn’t mean it’s harmless.
Drugs other than Nicotine may also be present in E-Liquids. As the E-Cigarettes keep evolving users are constantly working on ways to make them useable for discrete illicit substance use. Scheduled drugs such as Meth, Heroin, Marijuana and its concentrates, many designer drugs, and a plethora of other substances have been found inside of Vaping devices. Because of the advancements in these devices; detecting the substance is becoming more and more difficult and to the untrained eye, nearly impossible. Granted these substances are not likely going to be found in store-bought liquids that remain unaltered.
Even if the user sticks to only using store bought, unaltered products that does not mean that they are using the same product every time. Currently there is limited federal oversight over E-Cigs and E-Liquids. Across products there is considerable variation in the nature and concentration of the ingredients, including nicotine and other known toxins. Through rigorous testing many products have also been proven to be mislabeled, containing a different amount of a substance than was printed on the label.
The companies that manufacture these devices are well aware of what they are doing to the user. Many of these Big Tobacco companies have been quoted stating that “We don’t smoke that s**t, we just sell it”. “The base of our business is the high school student; the fragile self-image of the young person needs all the support it can get. Smoking may appear to enhance that self-image”. The goal of these big companies is to make money, and when you produce a product that can kill your consumer you have to keep recruiting new ones to stay profitable. The fun flavors and flashy advertising is deliberately used to make the concept of vaping appealing to youth so that they become the next long-term consumer of the products.
Keep in mind that you have no idea what is really in that cloud you walk though when strolling down the street. You have no idea what it is you are potentially inhaling and introducing into your body. One thing is for certain though, it is not “just harmless water vapor”.
It took us hundreds of years to realize smoking cigarettes was extremely harmful to our health and E-Cigarettes have only been around for a couple of decades and have already been found to contain a multitude of harmful substances. What’s next for the coming decades and centuries?
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We created a video for our Appreciation Dinner and Teen Center Fundraiser Breakfast showcasing all of the amazing things our organization and our YAB members accomplished in 2018. YAB members alone had 1,776 hours of volunteer service in 2018 on top of school, extra-curricular activities and jobs! A special thanks to Stefanie Brimacomb for producing it for us. Please take a look at the video.
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Our YAB members have planned a very busy summer for their peers. Please take a look at all of the upcoming activities, new activities added regularly. Trips, crafts, sports, and even a rock and roll concert!
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