APRIL 2025
Upcoming Events
4/26 10:00-2:00 PM - WHEN, the Town of Webster, and the Webster Police Department are hosting a DEA National Drug Take Back event at the Webster Town Court. Clear out your medicine cabinet and help to keep Webster safe. Our collection location is in front of the Webster Justice Court Building at 1002 Ridge Rd, Webster, NY 14580 (look for the blue roof!). This is a drive-through event. You will not even need to get out of your car. See event details and sign up for a reminder email.
4/30 6:30-8:00 PM - Empowering Your Family, the third and last in our series of Navigating the Tween Years parent forums, in partnership with Webster Central School District. Join us for an evening of interactive discussion and exploration and leave with concrete ideas about how to support your children and teens so they can thrive. This presentation will recap some of the topics we have covered in previous sessions and build on proactive measures parents can implement immediately to help keep kids safe and healthy. Please register for this free event.
5/10 10:00-4:00 PM - Community Arts Day! Stop by our table - WHEN has planned a fun “Patchwork of Positivity” craft for kids to do with us. We need a few adult & teen volunteers to help out at the event on 5/10 between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM sign up here to help for an hour or two. You’ll see a ton of neighbors and friends and have a blast with the kids! Follow the Community Arts Day facebook page to stay up to date! Learn more about Community Arts Day.
Webster Headlines
This month, we'd like to wish happy birthdays to WHEN members: Michelle B., Babette B., Amanda T., Bronwen G., Timothy B., Pamela G., and Kaitlyn V.
Many thanks to Webster Central PTSA for making WHEN the beneficiary of this year’s Charity basketball game (Schroeder/GOAL staff vs. Thomas/OWL staff)! The event was so much fun, and very well attended. Over $2,000 was raised to support WHEN and our work to empower Webster kids to grow up strong and substance free! Many thanks to all who planned, played, volunteered and attended/donated!
Photo credits: Jen Calus & Steve Gaudioso
We welcome WHEN member, volunteer, and Parent and Adolescent Consultant, Dana Buccieri to our monthly newsletter as our feature writer. She will be taking over from Judi Swanson, who is focusing on her passion project, Kindness Champions. Many thanks to both women for the extraordinary gift of their time and expertise to WHEN and the larger Webster community.
Our Instagram giveaway earned us 47% growth in followers, primarily among Webster high school students. This was exactly as we had hoped, in order to establish more direct contact with Webster teens. We plan to continue sharing relatable, supportive content, voiced directly to teens on this channel.
Lunchtime Legends (formerly Listening Post) was again a hit on our second visit to Webster middle schools! Students have embraced this opportunity to play games or do crafts during lunch with WHEN volunteers and retired teachers. Our last group of students made 120 cards for active duty service members and even more students stopped by to play games. Everyone had a blast, students and volunteers alike! We have plans for one more visit before the end of the school year. Many thanks to Webster Central Schools for their partnership in this effort.
Our Programming committee, headed by Linda Dioguardi, has wrapped up Family Game Nights for the 2024-25 school year. It’s a heavy lift bringing this event on the road to our elementary and middle schools, but it’s a lot of fun and a very rewarding effort. Not only do families enjoy the time together, but we tell them all about WHEN, and we survey parents to better understand the community’s needs and perspective. Here are just a few of the stats we picked up from the 251 survey respondents (many thanks to Steve Gaudioso for aggregating the data):
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64% were not aware of WHEN prior to the Family Game Night they attended.
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50% are aware of “protective factors” and how they help counter the risk of developing substance use disorders later in life.
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31% indicate they want help with how to talk to kids about substance use/making healthy choices.
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Parents' perception of the risk of harm to health and well-being from substance use varied:
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90% reported that taking prescription drugs not prescribed for you poses a moderate or great risk
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81% reported that smoking one or more packs of cigarettes per day poses a moderate or great risk
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81% reported that drinking five or more alcoholic beverages once or twice a week poses a moderate or great risk
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73% reported that using vape products once or twice per day poses a moderate or great risk
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62% reported that using cannabis once or twice a week (smoke, vape, eat, drink, dab) poses a moderate or great risk
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Having this information reported directly from elementary school parents helps us understand what information will be most useful to share and what topics are of interest. Thank you to all who participated!
Photo credit: Jen Calus
Spring Has Sprung
“Protective factors are conditions or attributes in individuals, families, and communities that promote the health and well-being of children and families.” - ChildWelfare.gov
By WHEN member, Dana Buccieri ~ MEd
The word spring means to rise, leap, or move suddenly and swiftly; and this is the exact feeling we get when we finally see more of the sun and the much-needed signs of spring! It literally makes you feel you want to take action!
With longer daylight hours to get things done, yet realistically still having a good month before we transition to more time outside, it is a good time to focus on some maintenance within your home.
Just the thought of maintenance may feel overwhelming to some or bring up some resistance in that ability to act. However, spring is a time of renewal and a time to refresh. Whether you choose to clean a closet, shed clutter from some cabinets or drawers, or simply get rid of useless broken objects, the time taken to make even the smallest of changes benefits the entire family.
Organization within the home brings a feeling of comfort, calm, and security. When sitting in a room, in which everything has a place, all feels right in our world; it is the Zen we seek.
“The objective of cleaning is not just to clean, but to feel happiness living within that environment.” – Marie Kondo
As parents, we are models for caring for our belongings, creating peaceful places, and appreciating what we have in our home. By tackling a project as a family and taking some inventory before we head outdoors, we teach our children to prioritize and how to maintain our stuff!
Remember to keep your expectations of the kids’ help and their involvement realistic. They may get caught up in the little details and distracted by what they never noticed in a drawer. Or they may want to play during the task at hand. Allow for both!
Give them small tasks, in between their distractions, like putting things in the garbage, wiping out the drawers, or asking their advice on how something should be rearranged. Even if they do not contribute much, which will most likely be the case, it is time spent together, seeing the result of something restored and the SHARED PRIDE of something accomplished that has the most meaning in the end. And you may get a clean drawer in the process!
“Now that's out of the way, who's ready for some bouncing?"
- Tigger
Spotlight
Thank you Annette McCabe (Webster Central School District) for coordinating Lunchtime Legends volunteers! We could not pull off these events without your enthusiastic support. We appreciate you!
Upcoming Meetings
Next Coalition meeting:
Wednesday, April 9 at noon
ONLINE ONLY!!
Click here for online details and to register.
Typically, we meet in person AND online via Google Meet the second Wednesday of each month at noon. Many of us join during our lunch break. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate. In fact, our goal is to have representation from all walks of life, to better meet the needs of the whole community.
Read the March Coalition Meeting Minutes.
Reminders
Prom and Ball season is right around the corner. If someone you love will be participating in these events, please consider sharing our safety tips with them now, long before the event, and use the opportunity to begin a discussion about your expectations, consequences, and support.