Congratulations and Welcome

Congratulations and Welcome back President Paula Exstrom and also Congratulations to our New Vice President John Persic Jr..
The Coalition is back at 241B Winchester Ct and is in the process of hiring new staff. If you would like to receive more information Please email: Paula at:  WCHC@wilmington-coalition.org to be added to our email list.

Thank you for placing your trust and confidence in my abilities to hold the office of President. It has been an honor and privilege.

  ~Gina

Ralph Vandiver ~Great man will truly be missed!

WCHC Calls Special Meeting

Dear Coalition Supporters,
The Wilmington Coalition for a Healthy Community is facing change head on and is encouraging all active members to bring a friend to our Monday Oct 6th meeting. Change brings opportunity and now is the perfect opportunity to get our small town feel back to The Wilmington Coalition for a Healthy Community.

The Wilmington Coalition for a Healthy Community is secure, intact and calling home in the entrance of South Island Park. Can you think of a better location to promote the Coalition cause then in the park promoting healthy lifestyles.

Please join us Monday Oct. 6th 2014 6:30 pm at the Island Park District 315 N Water St. Wilmington for an informal meeting to guide the coalition and discuss the future of the grant the reading of the new bylaws, membership and voting. Be sure and get out, and get the hometown feel back!

Wilmington Coalition President
- Gina Stachowiak

"WHAT'S NEXT"

Ryan's 5K Run

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE

FREE Disc Golf Tourney

2014 Wilmington Resource Directory Summer Update

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It Can Wait!

Hello from the It Can Wait® Team! Last year you took the pledge to never text and drive and signed up to hear about new ways you can support the cause. Working together, we've inspired more than 5 million pledges to never text and drive, more than half a million It Can Wait tweets, and over a million downloads of AT&T DriveMode® and other apps since the campaign began. We are excited to share with you, what's new with the It Can Wait movement! Summer is here, and in case you didn't know, it's the most dangerous time of year to be driving. We're calling on you now to help make our roads safer for everyone. We know how hard it can be to fight the temptation to pick up the phone when you're behind the wheel, so we are introducing new tools to help drivers prevent texting "in the moment of temptation." By posting #X in text messages, social media or email you are telling your friends you're about to drive and can't respond until you safely reach your destination. How You Can Help Use #X to pause the conversation in text messages, social media or email. This will let everyone know you're about to drive and will respond once you safely reach your destination. Spread the word about #X with your friends, family, and social media – Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Come up with your own creative way to share #X before you drive. We’ll be on the look-out for the most creative ideas and by verifying your Instagram or Twitter account at ItCanWait.com; your posts could be featured in It Can Wait campaign communications. Stay in touch! Follow us on Twitter - @ItCanWait. Visit our website for updated features, tools, and creative solutions like our Drive Mode app. We have big plans for 2014 and it starts with you. Look out for additional communications from the It Can Wait team this summer about what you can do to participate in our annual day of action on September 19. Together we'll spread the movement and share the message: #X before you drive. No text is worth a life. Thank you for raising your hand to help us make our roads safer! The It Can Wait Team Follow us on Twitter @ItCanWait Visit us at ItCanWait.com

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YCAT Award for Excellence

The Wilmington Coalition for a Healthy Community, in partnership with the Rotary Club of Wilmington and the Will County Health Department, sent 14 Wilmington teens to the Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute (CGTI) leadership camp this summer at Eastern Illinois University. This 5-day youth leadership conference sponsored by the Illinois Alcoholism & Drug Dependence Association is an award-winning program that offers opportunities for teens around the state to learn about leadership, healthy choices, and working with others to create better communities.

This year, our Wilmington YCAT (Youth Community Action Team), organized and led by Coalition Coordinator Christina Dyer and Will County Health Department's Dominique Harris, won the award for the most outstanding CAT in the State of Illinois, in only their first year as a team. CATs are made up of youth who attend the same school or live in the same geographical area. Action teams receive training and guidance to become local agents of change for their own school and/or community. Teams work cooperatively to determine the needs in their schools and/or communities and then create "action plans" specific to those needs. The goal is that youth return to their schools/communities ready to implement a plan of action for positive change.

Wilmington YCATs accomplished the following in their first year as a team:
        Presented policy suggestions to the WHS Principal and Vice-Principal to tighten up the tobacco policy at the high school and create     a new e-cig policy;
        Presented the facts about medical marijuana to the Wilmington community at a youth-led Coalition meeting;
        Created a smoking bench at the baseball fields to keep the second hand smoke away from the dugouts and bleachers;
        Completed a media campaign via radio and billboards aimed at parents to talk to their kids about the dangers of underage drinking;
        Completed a Your Actions Matter underage drinking campaign in partnership with Wilmington's packaged liquor establishments;
        Cleaned up our city's parks in a Cigarette Butt Clean-up Day.

The YCATs have more plans ahead for this year's team. These are youth who believe in doing something about our community's issues and taking proactive steps in making the community a healthier place for everyone.

From left:
Kassidy Hansen, Max Narine, Brendan Czys, Keaten Hansen, Aidan Ekberg, Hunter Imhof, Ava Narine, Martina Flowers, Holly Robbins, Delaney Pigott, Tristen Ekberg, Cortney Eaker, and Becky Fischer
Front row squatting:
Dominique Harris, Liz Palkoska, and Grant Imhof
YCAT members not pictured:
Skylar Flynn, Kylie Gerovac, Sunny Winker, Susan Soda, Alec Roth, & Meghan Bloom

Back to School Fair

Wilmington 2014 Resource Directory

 

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Thank you.. Anita Young (Chestnut Health Systems)
Carolyn Healy (Coalition Secretary) Wilmington Public Library. 

2014 YOUR ACTIONS MATTER!

The goal of the YOUR ACTIONS MATTER! campaign is to change the behavior of adults who think it is “okay” to give alcohol to minors. In a unique twist, teenagers created the campaign's logo and slogan. That’s right, YOUTH will be educating the ADULTS!

By posting YOUR ACTIONS MATTER! bottleneckers (or “necktags”), window decals, signs, and posters, you will send a final reminder to members of your community that “preventing underage drinking is EVERYONE’s responsibility.”

2014 EYPC E-Cig presentation to High School Principal Kevin Feeney.

Join Us At The Red Carpet Corridor

Smoking bench-EYPC presentation

April 26,  Baseball Opening Day Smoking bench-EYPC presentation! 

(youth presentation of the park bench and their anti-tobacco smoke messages.) 

Prescription Disposal:

Prescription Disposal:
If you don't use them, they are expired or belonged to a deceased relative, dispose of them safely! Many children start on that slippery slope of addiction by getting pills from their own parents medicine cabinets. Please get rid of the unneeded prescription pills in your cabinets.

This is a safe way to get rid of them with a drop off at either of these two locations:
Doc's Drugs 1101 S. Water St
Wilmington Police Dept Lobby 120 N. Main

Read more...

Spring Media Campaign 2014

Coalition's media campaign aimed at parents, youth and underage drinking.

Coalition Educational Forum (Ycats)

Join us for our next coalition meeting which is being led by our Wilmington Youth group, the YCATs! Youth Community Action Team! Monday night at 6:30pm at City Hall! Come and hear what they have to say about medical marijuana and Prescription drug use! Support our youth!

Randy Vaughn Founders Award

Every October a devoted and dedicated person of the Coalition will be presented with this award.

Randy Vaughn is a founding member of the coalition and one of the members who helped come up with the vision and mission statements.

The plaque is displayed in the Coalition Office.

Freedom From Smoking

Parent Academy

Community Leadership Breakfast

Basset Training

The Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute (CGTI)

The Coalition sent 8 students to The Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute (CGTI) is a state-wide youth conference for students in grades 7-12 to learn leadership skills, meet other youth from around the state, and become empowered to create change in their schools and communities!

CGTI is an energetic & fun way for young people to develop their leadership potential. Youth leaders gain a sense of confidence, purpose and motivation that will not only continue throughout the school year, but the rest of their lives. CGTI helps participants create alternatives to the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, enhances skills for effective decision-making and stress relief, provides opportunities to enhance positive self-image, and offers a built-in peer support system for living a healthy, balanced life.

Thank you Rich Rizzo and Pete Dell'Aquila for taking the students!

How to talk to your kids about drugs if you did drugs.