Saugus Anti-Drug Coalition wins grant

SAUGUS – After a month of constant Facebook posts and reminders, the Saugus Anti-Drug Coalition was named one of 40 non-profit groups from across the country to win a $25,000 grant from the State Farm Neighborhood Assist program.?We lost some friends,” said Dawn Gaffney, co-founder of the Saugus Anti-Drug Coalition. “We were harassing a lot of people.”The group was originally one of 3,000 non-profits to apply for the grant in March and made the cut of the top 200. From there, it was up to Saugus residents to vote on Facebook to get the Anti-Drug Coalition into the top 40 to win the $25,000.Gaffney said the group netted about 47,000 votes and finished in 19th place thanks to the tireless reminders she and co-founders Jeannie Meredith and Patty Goodwin sent out to friends on Facebook.According to their website, the State Farm Neighborhood Assist grant is a youth-led program that “empowers people to identify issues in their community.” The program connects them with a local nonprofit that can help solve the problem by providing an opportunity to receive one of 40 $25,000 grants.Meredith said the main goal is to spend the money on drug and alcohol prevention targeting middle-schoolers and high-schoolers, and hopefully fourth and fifth graders.?That?s where you need to head it off,” said Meredith. “If you wait to the high school level, it?s not to say you couldn?t prevent someone, but pretty much when they get to 11th grade, they?re either going to use or not use. They?re going to drink or not drink. People think, ?Oh, they?re just babies.? But you need to educate them so we can help prevent it.”However, with Superintendent Richard Langlois on his way out, Meredith acknowledged the group will have to take a wait-and-see approach as to how best to spend the money.?We?re going to have to sit on it to find out who we get for superintendent and what their goals are ?” said Meredith. “Some people are accepting of it and say, ?It?s here, let?s deal with it,? then some people are like, ?Oh, that?s a blemish on my record. There are no drugs here,? and they sweep it under the rug.”Gaffney said the Saugus Anti-Drug Coalition has been meeting with the Saugus High School Youth Mentor group and will keep them in the decision process too.?We want them to have a stake in it,” she said. “They may start drinking or smoking marijuana when they?re middle school age, but the major time that they progress more is in high school. That?s when they?re being offered, ?Here, try one of these? at a party.”Gaffney and Meredith also stressed how thankful they were for their Facebook friends putting up with their daily reminders to vote and said the Saugus Anti-Drug Coalition wouldn?t have won the grant without their help.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].