After careful consideration and daily communication with the Yorktown Central School District, the Alliance for Safe Kids (ASK) has decided to postpone the 10th Annual Save A Life that was scheduled for March 22, 2020 at Yorktown High School. Although there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19/Coronavirus in Yorktown, the health and safety of our students, adults, exhibitors and presenters are of the utmost importance. The Yorktown Central School District is graciously working with ASK to reschedule Save A Life, and an announcement will be made as soon as the new date is set.
In the meanwhile, we hope to see you on April 18, 2020, at FDR Park for #WalkTheTalk! The walk is an event for all ages to come together and support the mission of ASK with an interactive community walk providing unique opportunities to gather resources along the route to promote Youth Mental Health, Substance Abuse Prevention and Opportunities for Thoughtful Service. There will be Exhibitors and the walk will conclude with a Community That Cares Celebration. Also, our most recent edition of the Community Resource Guide will make it’s debut at #WalkTheTalk.
Wishing all good health and hope to see you in April!
The Alliance for Safe Kids, Inc. (ASK) will be hosting their Tenth Annual Save A Life Forum on Sunday, March 22nd from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Yorktown High School located at 2727 Crompond Road, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598. Save A Life is a program designed to inform and empower high school students and adults to be community allies and first responders to support teens and families in crisis. As one of ASK’s leading programs, Save A Life has directly touched the lives of over 3,000 community members since 2010. Last year over 400 members of the community attended.
This year’s Save A Life will feature Stephen Hill as the Keynote Speaker. Before achieving sobriety, Hill suffered in active addiction for over a decade with multiple failed attempts at detoxes and recovery, losing his identity in the process. After hitting rock bottom in 2012, he stayed in a treatment program for over a year and started to put his life back together. In 2018, Hill published his memoir “A Journey to Recovery”, named the #1 new release in Drug Dependency on Amazon, and shares his personal struggles of addiction and recovery in a very relatable and thought provoking way.
“What an amazing and humbling opportunity to be selected as the Keynote Speaker at The Alliance for Safe Kids’ 10th Annual Save A Life Event,” said Stephen Hill, “I am very excited to share my story of addiction to recovery with students and parents in an effort to ‘save a life!'”
In addition to this year’s Keynote Speaker, ASK will also host interactive workshops for high school students and adults separately. Some of the topics that will be covered for students will include: Managing Stress & Anxiety with Mindfulness, The Dating Game: Building Healthy Relationships, Escape the Vape, Alcohol Poisoning & Drug Overdose, It’s Just a House Party: Q&A with the YPD, and Youth Mental Health. Adults will have their own track of workshops that will include: Hidden In Plain Sight, an exhibit that will depict the various ways teens conceal substance use or subtly show that they may be experimenting, with several substance abuse prevention specialists on hand to provide information and answer question; and another workshop will focus on Understanding & Supporting Youth Mental Health, led by Randi Silverman, founder of the Youth Mental Health Project.
“Save A Life is a fantastic opportunity for the adults and youth of the greater Yorktown community to learn together about the very important issues surrounding youth mental health, drugs and alcohol being dealt with all around us,” said Liz Talbert, Executive Director of Alliance for Safe Kids. “Being exposed to these topics through workshops provided by professionals and gaining information decreases the stigma and increases one’s ability to recognize and reach out to get help for someone they know, or even themselves.”
“Save A Life is a wonderful program for our entire community, and the Yorktown Central School District is honored to be hosting this event,” said Dr. Ron Hattar, Superintendent of Schools, Yorktown Central School District. “The presentations and the resources provided during Save A Life are enormously powerful and potentially life-changing. I deeply appreciate Alliance for Safe Kids coordinating this event for our community.”
In addition to this year’s Save A Life event, ASK will be holding it’s First Annual #WalkTheTalk on Saturday, April 18th at FDR State Park in Yorktown Heights, New York 10598. #WalkTheTalk is an event for ALL ages to come together and support the mission of ASK and Save A Life with an interactive community walk providing unique opportunities to gather resources along the route. “The First Annual #WalkTheTalk is designed to extend resource awareness and help provide financial sustainability for ASK due to the expiration of our 10 Year Federal Grant Funding,” said Tricy Cushner, President of Alliance for Safe Kids. For more information, click here.
ASK’s major source of funding expired in October 2018 and the support of businesses and individuals is crucial to the sustainability of ASK and the Save A Life program. Save A Life is FREE for all to attend thanks to sponsorships. Any businesses and individuals interested in sponsoring this community event should contact Liz Talbert at Alliance for Safe Kids at 914-736-1450 or via e-mail at Liz@allianceforsafekids.org.
By devoting just one Sunday afternoon – a single afternoon of your life – YOU can take the first steps towards making healthier decisions and possibly saving someone in need. To register, or for more information, please visit: www.allianceforsafekids.org/savealife.
ABOUT Alliance for Safe Kids, Inc.
The Alliance for Safe Kids, Inc. (ASK) is a Yorktown non-profit organization that collaborates with the community to provide youth with the information and skills needed to support a healthy lifestyle by sharing resources to promote Youth Mental Health, Prevention of Substance Abuse and opportunities for Thoughtful Service. By partnering with all areas of the community, we collectively strengthen the safety net that protects our youth. To learn more about ASK, please visit their website at www.allianceforsafekids.org or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AllianceForSafeKids. Follow ASK on twitter at www.twitter.com/ask_yorktown and on Instagram at ask_yorktown.