By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Through tears a mother talks about having prayed to God to send her back, even for just five seconds.

“I just want the hug,” she says, referring to the goodbye hug her daughter had offered the last time they were together. The mother had taken a rain check for next time.

But there was no next time.

The 23-year-old, who was so adamant about not drinking and driving, had instead gotten into the vehicle with a driver who had been drinking. It was a life-ending decision.

Hers was just one of many stories included in a video presentation, Friday Night, shown to junior and senior high students last Thursday as part of a MADD – Mothers Against Drunk Driving – education and awareness initiative. The video’s aim was to drive home several messages to the young people viewing it – one key message being if you are going to drink, you have to accept the responsibility that goes with it.

Part of this responsibility includes:

•determining how much is too much;

•not drinking and driving or letting friends do the same;

•knowing how to handle the situation when others are determined to drink and drive;

•planning ahead to arrive home safely;

•never assuming a friend is okay if they’ve passed out;

•being responsible, as a host, for your guests;

•giving consideration to others sharing the road with you;

•and remembering alcohol and drugs can be harmful and deadly, even when you’re not in a vehicle.

That last point was driven home by the family of Ontario teenager Michael O’Brien whose body was found in a creek two days after he had left a party drunk. The official cause of his death was drowning, but his family says that isn’t why he died.

“Alcohol killed my son and he wasn’t driving a car, he was walking home,” said his mother in the video.

In all, about 3,400 students were bused in for the April 10 presentations at Yarmouth Wesleyan Church, a feat in itself that involved a massive amount of coordination between the school board, RCMP and local MADD chapter volunteers.

Kevin Spahich, the eastern school outreach field representative for MADD’s national office, was asked what MADD hoped the outcome of the day would be.

“What we’re hoping is as they leave here that don’t walk out the door and completely forget the message. Some of them, though, that is going to happen,” he said. “But even if this message affects only one person…we’re still making a difference.

“With the older students we really try to get it into their head to plan ahead,” he added.

In addition to the messages presented to the older students, elementary students also got an introduction to alcohol and drug awareness, as well as overall safety – albeit on a scale more in tune with their ages and comprehension – through a video entitled MADD Scientists and Quest for Power.

“It’s really to get them thinking about how to keep themselves safe when they’re in a dangerous situation,” Spahich said, adding some people are surprised to hear that MADD is reaching out to elementary-aged people.

“It shouldn’t be such a shock,” he said. “We are trying to reach out to the younger kids because if you start there hopefully you get it into their head at a young age that it is wrong, and the first time they see a message is not when they’re in Grade 9 or 10, or 11 or 12.”

Meanwhile, if young people think these things can’t happen to them, or that it doesn’t happen around here, they were reminded differently when the photo of 17-year-old Jared LeBlanc Roberts flashed across the screen. The Yarmouth County teen died in an alcohol-related crash in June 2004. He was one of two passengers in the vehicle to die.

MADD Canada encourages young people to visit its website www.maddyouth.ca to learn more about this issue. There are also activities and contests young people can participate in.