Service Learning 25-26 - Beyond Your Bottle

Gavin McElhinney: I am a sophomore student at Holliston High School. I play hockey, golf, and lacrosse for my school, and also coach golf at the middle school. I chose to work with Paul because we both knew each other through the GCP program and had similar goals to help the community.

Paul McGrath: I am a junior at Holliston High School. I play football and lacrosse, and I ski competitively. I also referee youth football. I chose to work with Gavin because we both knew each other through sports and the GCP program. We had similar goals to help the community.

Community Need:

Our community need, intends to spread awareness of alcohol misuse and abuse, because when we notice that whenever we talk about drug and alcohol abuse, they predominantly talk about drug abuse. When they do talk about alcohol abuse, they bring up drunk driving, which is a very important thing to talk about, but there is a lot more to talk about than that. We want to share what it does to a person physically and mentally, but also how it affects their friends and family. We see alcohol being normalized in today's society through TV shows, day-to-day life with friends and family, and social media. We believe that these are the biggest issues towards the abuse of alcohol.

Our Community Needs Pitch Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1X5UZEyeBo001SaY7x9gMih8F2kozvMJn2JfxrX6aiOw/edit

Project Goals:

First, our goal is to make younger people aware of alcohol abuse.

Second, our goal is to teach them about the mental health effects.

Third, our goal is to get them to join our movement and help solve this issue.

Progress:

To accomplish our goal we have made many posters, displaying them across the school, teaching other students the effects and problematic situations that follow the abuse of alcohol. On top of that, we brought in a guest speaker to talk about his story to recovery, all the ups and downs and how he made it though to find recovery, and to tell the dangers of alcohol in the community. We have also made a PSA (Public Service Announcement) showing the dangers of drunk driving.

Our posters, PSA, and guest speaker:

psa.mp4

Community Partnership:

Holliston Drug and Alcohol Coalition (HDACC) helped us create ideas such as the making of our posters, and is currently helping us bring in our guest speaker. HDACC is a coalition to help raise awareness for drug and alcohol abuse in the town of Holliston through fundraisers, events, and open houses.
Scott Frances (our guest speaker) has also provided us with help and assistance. Scott is part of an organization called the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction and Recovery (MOAR). He has battled with alcohol addiction and has gone through recovery; he is now coming close to 20 years of sobriety. His goal is to help people recover and change from similar situations he has gone through. To accomplish this mission, he organizes recovering individuals, families, and friends into a collective voice to educate the public about the importance of recovery from addiction.

How can the community help?

Involving the community to help stop alcohol abuse is a necessity within our project goals. There are several ways to address this issue, with the first being to raise awareness by talking to others and educating the youth. Another way the community can help is by raising money for addiction recovery resources, giving those in need of recovery adequate resources and trained personnel. Additionally, by getting involved with HDACC and supporting their work and community, you can volunteer your time and help spread awareness about addiction.