Youth Leadership Program Selected as "Community Champion"

There were a lot of new faces on Wheaties boxes at the VSAAC Community Champions breakfast!

The Valley Substance Abuse Action Council presented its 2009 Valley Community Champions Awards at a breakfast at John J. Sullivan's on January 7, 2009, and there was a distinct Valley United Way's flavor to the awards. Valley United Way's Youth Leadership Program was one of the recipients as were United Way President Jack Walsh and Bill Bubbico, Vice President of Strategic Business Transformation for Pitney Bowes who serves as co-chair of United Way's Corporate Volunteer Council and also as an advisor to the Youth Leadership Program.

The Awards are for Valley citizens and groups who have “taken action and effected change to help prevent substance abuse in the Valley community.”

The others honored this year were Seymour Police Officer Joe DeFelice; the Comcast production team of: Elizabeth Kennard, Ken Fay, Ron Karkut, Mike Fay, Jerry Kosturko; and Wendy Baldino, a member of the VSAAC's Community Coalition. A special award was presented to the widow of Representative Richard O. Belden in recognition of the years of service and leadership that he provided to VSAAC.

Each of the honorees was presented with their own "Wheaties box" complete with their pictures on the cover. General Mills was one of the sponsors of the breakfast - along with Wal-Mart - and the awards fit in with Wheaties' "Breakfast of Champions" theme.

Valley United was instrumental in the creation of VSAAC back in the early '90's following a United Way community breakfast on the subject of substance abuse. Attendees at the breakfast created a steering committee which held a community retreat that led to the establishment of of VSAAC with funding from the State of Connecticut.

Now in its 19th year, the primary objective of the Program is to develop teens into future community leaders. They learn about community needs in the Valley and the importance of nonprofit agencies and the role volunteerism plays in addressing those needs. They then put their skills to use through a variety of volunteer opportunities and activities that they plan and execute themselves. The Youth Leadership students have been involved in a number of projects with VSAAC including the creation of a series of public service videos designed to educate teenagers about a variety of risky behaviors.