Warwick Valley Prevention Coalition to host youth appreciation night on Aug. 1

WARWICK — The Warwick Valley Prevention Coalition will hold its first Youth Appreciation Night on Tuesday, Aug. 1, as part of the “34th Annual National Night Out” crime and prevention event.
The Prevention Coalition will honor the commitment that the Warwick Valley Community Center’s Youth Advisory Board members have to their community.
The effortThe board members have volunteered at Community Center fund raisers and offered their services to various local organizations.
Those activities have ranged from working at the Halloween Haunted Schoolhouse to walking in the Warwick Summer Arts Festival Parade to helping out the Historical Society with its toy festival.
The advisory board activities also have included raising funds, making banners for events, trees for Treecycle and pom-poms for the June Pride Parade.
Recently, the Youth Advisory Board met with the National Guard Counterdrug Task Force to design stickers for an upcoming “sticker shock” campaign to alert people to the consequences of drug use.
YAB members will receive a certificate of merit for their service from the Coalition.
From 6 to 9 at the Teen CenterThe Youth Appreciation Night and National Night Out event is supported by the Town of Warwick Police Department and other coalition members.
From 6 to 9 p.m. on Aug. 1, all youth aged 12 through 17 are invited to attend the Teen Center.
There will be youth activities, a visit with the police and refreshments.
Adults are welcomed to stay and find out about parenting resources in our community.
Coalition members will be on hand to answer questions about preventing alcohol and other drug abuse by youth.
National Night Out, which is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch will involve more than 16,500 communities from all 50 states, U.S territories, Canadian cities and military bases around the world. In all, more than 38.5 million people are expected to participate in "America’s Night Out Against Crime."
National Night Out is designed to:
• Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness;
• Generate support for and participation in, local anticrime efforts; (
• Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police community partnerships; and
• Send a message to criminals letting them know neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.
Who we areThe mission of the Warwick Valley Prevention Coalition is to reduce alcohol and marijuana abuse among youth and to prevent initiation into all drug use by encouraging wise and healthy decisions by all community members.
The coalition meets on the fourth Thursday of every month at 6:30 p.m. at the Warwick Valley Community Center, 11 Hamilton Ave., Warwick.
Call Annie Colonna at 845-986-6422 ext. 4 for more information.