Freestyle Foundation

You may already be familiar with our initiative, Drug Free McKinney! Our parent organization, The Freestyle Foundation, is launching a new initiative, Drug Free Collin County, to expand our prevention programs and resources to our neighboring communities. With the renewal of both the Texas HHSC YPU and the federal Drug Free Communities grants, our staff is excited to connect with individuals and organizations throughout Collin County to promote substance free choices and healthy lifestyles!

Dr. Paul Chabot, MPA, Ed. D, the founder of the Freestyle Foundation, provides substance prevention presentations to adults and youth and facilitates our new Strengthening Families curriculum throughout Collin County. Our Executive Director, Brenda Chabot, M.Ed., manages the oversight and long-term objectives of the foundation and guides program activities to meet grant requirements. Karin Sanchez, MPH, ACPS, our Program Director, facilitates daily activities and promotes foundation programs and campaigns on social media platforms. Our Director of Community Relations & Research, Lana Van Deusen, M.Ed., facilitates our annual Red Ribbon Week campaign and initiates community-wide outreach and develops substance-free support with business partners, school staff, and other non-profit entities. Anthony Garcia, APS, our Prevention Specialist, engages youth and adults with our new Strengthening Families curriculum, provides substance prevention and life skills presentations to students, and connects with other organizations engaging young people in substance-free activities.

Please consider supporting our upcoming Red Ribbon Week “Take the Pledge” campaign. This campaign reaches 24,000 students and their parents at all 26 schools in the McKinney ISD.

What are we requesting? We just need 26 items to place in the raffle baskets, one for each school in the district.

Why? Each student is asked to “Take the Pledge” to grow up safe, healthy and drug free. Once the student signs the pledge, they are entered into the raffle drawing. At the end of Red Ribbon Week, 10/23/24 – 10/31/24, each school will draw a pledge card and award a student with a raffle basket.

We want this year to be the best ever and have the most kids sign the pledge to be drug free and healthy. The items may be as simple as a $5 gift card for each school or can be a “kid friendly” item with your business logo on it. Your business logo will be highlighted on each of the 24,000 pledge cards, our website and our extensive social media platforms.

How can you support?

1. Make a tax-deductible donation to our foundation. In the message section, please write "RRW raffle donation".

2. Contact our RRW coordinator Lana Van Deusen at Lana@freestylefoundation.org

or 678-360-6811. She is more than willing to pick up gift cards or items from your

location.

Thank you for your consideration of this especially important request. We look forward to

partnering with you to make Red Ribbon Week a memorable and impactful event for our students.

We are launching the Strengthening Families curriculum this fall as part of our grant funding from Texas Health and Human Services. Research shows most youth substance use can be prevented by parents who are well-trained in three types of skills. They are bonding (creating warm, loving relationships), setting clear boundaries against substance use, and monitoring youth’s activities to see that they always stay in an alcohol and drug-free social environment. This curriculum is an evidence-based family skills training program for high-risk and general population families that focuses on equipping parents and youth.

If you think this curriculum would be appropriate for parents and youth in your organization, please contact Karin at karin@freestylefoundation.org to schedule this 10-class curriculum with your community!

We are hosting fentanyl education for the community! Please contact us for more details if you are interested in hosting or connecting for training or presentations!