MANALAPAN – The Manalapan-Englishtown Community Alliance to Prevent Alcoholism and Drug Abuse wants to mobilize a community-based effort to fight the abuse of alcohol and drugs, empower residents to be pre-emptive on the issue and to employ strategies and efforts to prevent substance abuse from occurring.
With those goals in mind, the alliance will host an open house program on Feb. 15 at Manalapan High School, 20 Church Lane, according to a press release.
The evening will start with refreshments being served at 6:30 p.m., with the program at 7:15 p.m. All members of the residential and business communities of Manalapan and Englishtown are invited to attend, according to the press release.
Parents who want to bring their teenage children are encouraged to attend to help broach or broaden their in-home conversations about drugs and alcohol. The program will introduce participants to the alliance and its members.
Alliance leaders will present information about current trends and actual levels of drug activity in local communities.
The presentation will include the sharing of strategies to engage children and youths in productive conversations early in life and outline early intervention actions people can take at their home or business to identify early signs of abuse and how to get help, according to the press release.
There is no cost to attend the open house and no obligation to do anything beyond the program. Individuals who want to be part of the effort to reduce drug and alcohol abuse in the community will be welcome to join the alliance, according to the press release.
Organizers said attendees will leave with a better understanding of the presence of drugs in local neighborhoods, the consequences and the community’s fight to prevent more lives from being damaged or lost due to those drugs.
For more information, call Manalapan health officer David Richardson at 732-446-8345 or reach out via email at health@mtnj.org
