Village Board Fights Disease, Drugs

Proclaiming Red Ribbon Week to promote a drug free lifestyle and World Polio Day took center stage Monday at the regularly scheduled meeting of theDeerfield Village Board of Trustees.

The week of Tuesday through Oct. 31 will be Red Ribbon Week in Deerfield promoting drug awareness with students at Holy Cross School leading the way. Students at Holy Cross will decorate the Village red Sunday and wear red shirts and socks to school with their uniforms.

Earlier: Holy Cross Youth Take Service Trip to Flint

During school, the students will be taking second step classes. “Second step classes deal with difficult decisions and situations in life,” Holy Cross Student President Case Brennan said. “We really care about drug free awareness. It affects a lot of families every year.”

Mayor Harriet Rosenthal praised Brennan and Student Treasurer Graham Garcia for their effort and its significance. “It is essential that students, parents, caregivers and the community at large be educated about the dangers of drugs in order to prevent their use,” she said in the proclamation.

World Polio Day, sponsored by Rotary International, is Wednesday. Rotary has raised more than $1 billion to fight the disease which has dropped 99 percent since it launched its Polio Plus initiative to get rid of the disease in 1985.

“Polio Plus spearheaded the global polio eradication initiative with the World Health Organization, the United States Center for Disease Control and UNICEF to immunize the children of the world against polio,” Rosenthal said in the proclamation. Rotarians have also contributed “countless hours” to the effort, according to the mayor.

Rotary is currently trying to raise an additional $200 million to reach a $355 million challenge grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to use against Polio.

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