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VETERANS AGAINST DRUGS Committee Report
BY DAVE SIMMONS, CHAIR
I’m excited to report on several new VAD sites that will
be starting their own unique and interesting programs beginning
this school year.
On June 2 a presentation was made to the Louisiana
State Council on the Veterans Against Drugs Program. Following
that presentation, seven Start-Up Kits for the VAD Program were
requested by local chapters. I am looking forward to featuring
an article about a Veterans Against Drugs Program in Louisiana
in the near future.
On June 17, a Veterans Against Drugs presentation
was made to the Georgia State Council. VVA members from Georgia
are hoping to start three programs. The first involves a plan to
present VAD to law-enforcement authorities with the intent of forming
a program that will include Vietnam veterans and Sheriffs Department
personnel in a coastal Georgia town.
The second program is planned
for the northwestern part of Georgia. It will focus on elementary
school children in a suburb of Atlanta. The third program will
be centered on a substance-abuse program in a homeless shelter
in a large city. The Core Values of the VAD program will be used
in ways that benefit different locations and different circumstances.
To date, 19 Start-Up Kits have been sent to Georgia.
I would like
to thank AVVA National President Mary Miller and the members of
AVVA for affording VAD the opportunity to present a program during
their Biennial Meeting in Tucson. Members of AVVA who are veterans
of other wars have participated in the VAD Program, and others
with no military background are working with VVA chapters to make
local VAD programs successful.
The next Veterans Against Drugs seminar
will be held at the Pennsylvania State Council Meeting on September
29. Pennsylvania, the birthplace of the VAD Program, will be given
an update and an overview of where the program is headed, as well
as ideas to expand its current program.
Veterans Against Drugs is
growing and expanding. This growth is a result of the financial
support of the Vietnam Veterans Assistance Fund and the promises
kept by Vietnam Veterans of America to be “In
Service to America.”
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