The C.A.R.E. Coalition is excited to host another Community Connections event themed a Groovy Good Time on Monday, May 22 at 6:00 pm at Sally Mauro Elementary. Castle Country Radio was able to sit down with Prevention Coalition Coordinator, Alysa Potter to get all the details.

The C.A.R.E. Coalition is a local organization that empowers youth by preventing risk. “The C.A.R.E. Coalition is the Carbon Addiction Reduction Elimination Coalition and we are a prevention coalition focusing on substance use prevention and we focus upstream with youth. So if we can target the youth and reduce their risk factors and increase their protective factors, then we can reduce substance use problems as a community whole,” said Potter. C.A.R.E aims to support new and existing evidence-based prevention efforts in Carbon County to reduce these problem behaviors; Substance Abuse, Delinquency, Teen Pregnancy, School Dropout, Violence, Depression and Anxiety.

Officials hope by hosting monthly Community Connections events that it will open the lines of communication for parents to speak with their children about problem behaviors. “We met at the end of last year, we kind of decided that we needed to do something a little bit more frequently, specifically to C.A.R.E. to get more of these increase protective factors out into the community as a whole. So the idea was for them to have a night that they could come out to a free, short, little, event. Wouldn’t take a lot of time out of people’s day but it would provide something for them. So that’s where C.A.R.E. Community Connections was born,” explained Potter. The monthly events will be hosted in different cities throughout the county on the third Monday of the month and this month’s event will be held at Sally Mauro Elementary in Helper.

All families in the community are invited out for this free evening of family friendly activities. “We have a variety of different little activities for the night. It’s only an hour-long event but we’re going to have music, dancing, and we’re going to have some tables set up with board games and t able set up with crafts. This is because we realize that, you know, different kids and different families enjoy different activities so we wanted to kind of reach everyone that would enjoy something,” said Potter. There will be light refreshments served and an opportunity for selfies with your mom or the entire family.

To learn more about the C.A.R.E. Coalition visit their website at https://www.careforcarbon.org/