La Center United Newsletter

La Center United's Youth Leadership team worked hard to find a creative way to encourage their peers to stay hopeful through these changing times. Youth created a list of activities their peers can complete in their homes or around their community. By completing these activities youth are eligible to win prizes, the more activities completed the better the prizes. For every 10 Items, completed youth must share at least 1 picture of them completing 1 item, and then will be eligible to collect cool prizes.

Prizes range from candy to footballs, drawstring bags, beanie hats, pop sockets, and more..... Please submit photos along with your name and the best way to contact and we will be in touch Regarding Prizes. If you are in need of supplies or support in completing this list please contact Lacenterunited@gmail.com.

https://www.lacenterunited.org/

La Center United coalition meetings are on hold for summer. Coalition meetings are set to resume Thursday, September 14th. Follow La Center United on social media, or lacenterunited.org or follow this newsletter for calendar updates

La Center United has partnered with community organizations and local businesses to compile baskets with local information and swag items to welcome new neighbors to the community.

Each basket consists of: a La Center United welcome letter, brochures, and/or business cards from local businesses, churches, and volunteer groups, a treat from Sadie & Josie's bakery, a face mask, a La Center United: bandana, pop-socket, pen, and lanyard, a small notebook, to-go “youth first” bag, key chain, La Center Museum Centennial newspaper, and calendar with historical pictures of La Center.

If you are a new community member or know a new member of the community who may be interested in a community welcome basket please contact lacenterunited@gmail.com.

You can still participate in this community basket project through any of these ways :

1) Collect flyers, business cards, and swag from all the local businesses, churches, groups, etc to help them feel the love of La Center. If you know of any of these people or groups that would be interested. Please message me or any La Center United member to connect (~50 1-page flyers should be plenty), or email us at lacenterunited@gmail.com with "welcome basket" in the subject line.

2) Volunteers are currently meeting virtually on Wednesdays at 7 PM to organize basket collection and planning to compile more baskets/ delivery.

3) We are seeking ways to "know" when new families move in so the baskets can be delivered.

Is your medicine cabinet full of expired prescriptions and over-the-counter medications you no longer use?

Your medicine is prescribed for you. What’s safe for you might be harmful to someone else. Any medicine can come with adverse reactions when used with other medications, not taken as prescribed or when taken by someone other than who it was prescribed for. Moreover, when medications are stored in an insecure location or disposed of improperly they can be accidentally ingested or misused by others and end up in the environment and our waterways. By taking precautionary steps to safeguard your medications that include proper disposal and secure storage you are choosing to protect yourself, your loved ones, and the environment. These are all important reasons to make medication safety a priority and a normal part of your life.

Safeguard your medication by taking these precautionary steps:

1. Properly dispose of expired and unused medicine for free at medication drop box kiosks located in participating retail and clinic pharmacies and law enforcement offices or use a mail-back service to safely dispose of medication. To protect the safety of others and the environment, do not place medicines in the trash or recycling, and never flush them down the toilet or sink. To find a nearby medication dropbox or request a mail-back envelope, go to https://med-project.org/locations/washington/.
2. Store medication in a secured location at home and on the go. For more info on safe storage, please click here.
3. Speak with your pharmacist or physician about all the prescriptions and over-the-counter medications you’re taking for possible adverse reactions.
4. Follow medication instructions completely, even if you feel better. Speak with your physician if you feel your medication isn’t working or if you no longer wish to take a medication.
5. Never share or take a prescription that wasn’t prescribed for you. It’s dangerous and illegal.
6. Have honest conversations with friends and family about the dangers and risks of misusing prescription drugs.

* If you or someone you know is suffering from addiction to opioids, now is the time to get help. Programs are available across Washington state to help you live an opioid-free life. Find out more at www.GetTheFactsRx.com. *

The 2021 Ken and Dean Kirn Scholarship is available to any person that has lived at Open House Ministries in Vancouver, Washington during their life, as an adult or youth OR any person that has graduated from Daybreak Youth Services. Applicants must be a resident of Clark or Cowlitz County, Washington and plan to continue their education at Clark College, Lower Columbia College, or WSU Vancouver during the upcoming school year.

The award amount is $3,000 per year. Students must maintain 3.0 GPA to be renewable.

The scholarship can be found on our website at www.cfsww.org or applicants can go directly to the following link to apply: https://smr.to/p69600

La Center Church is opening up its parking lot to local businesses that would like to be part of a farmer's market this summer. The market would take place on Thursday evenings from 4-7 pm. If you are interested in participating, please fill out the form and tell us about your business. https://lacenterchurch.org/farmers-market

What does your community look like? Submit photos today!

What do rural communities look like?

What does it mean to be rural?

What are the greatest strengths in your community?

We would like to capture all of the above, and more, in photos of rural communities across the state. We're building an online "stock photo library" of pictures that rural community members, like you, submit to us.

There is a significant lack of representation in marketing and promotional materials that accurately reflect rural lifestyle and culture. We would like to address this together so that our partners, supporters, and members can use appropriate images in prevention campaigns, fliers, posters, social media, and more.

Click here to submit your photos!

All images will be reviewed by our Toolkit Workgroup committee before being included in our online toolkit. The online toolkit should be published in June of 2021. Any images of youth or minors will require a permission form that can be signed online by parents and guardians at the time of submission, or at a later date.

Share Your Story

The Rural Network is gathering stories of success and innovation to create an online gallery of ways people have overcome obstacles, adapted prevention materials, or created new implementation strategies for prevention.

Take the five question survey to help us get a sense of what's working in your area.

Eventually, all submissions will be available online in a gallery that will help members and prevention practitioners become more innovative in their approaches to this work.

Our Mission:

Inspiring our community to be safe, healthy and resilient

Preventing destructive behavior through open access to education and environmental strategies

Supporting those in need, sharing ideas, and offering help

Our Vision:

A healthy and resilient community for youth and families

Email: lacenterunited@gmail.com
Website: http://lacenterunited.org/
Phone: 3609523488
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lacenterunited