CHOICES sets strategy meeting

Catalina CHOICES (Citizens Helping Our Island Children End Substance Abuse) has a big challenge to face in its mission to help the youth of Avalon.

Growing up these days in the party-town atmosphere, the island city is not as simple or innocent as it used to be. There are new temptations for substance abuse, more peer pressure to join in and use and abuse drugs and/or alcohol and more media outlets that can make the allure of such behavior seem glamorous to young people with impressionable minds.

Catalina CHOICES (Citizens Helping Our Island Children End Substance Abuse) has a big challenge to face in its mission to help the youth of Avalon.

Growing up these days in the party-town atmosphere, the island city is not as simple or innocent as it used to be. There are new temptations for substance abuse, more peer pressure to join in and use and abuse drugs and/or alcohol and more media outlets that can make the allure of such behavior seem glamorous to young people with impressionable minds.

Eleven years ago last August, a handful of concerned Avalon parents and community leaders decided to do everything they could to break the cycle of more Avalon youth falling through the cracks. Thus was born CHOICES, an Avalon organization committed to encouraging community involvement in helping Island youth make responsible decisions about alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

The organization has remained active and according to Rhonda Kalish, a member of the CHOICES board of directors and an active volunteer, its work is continuing as best it can.

However, back in October, Kalish and other members of the CHOICES leadership began to warn of its dwindling funding that was affecting its ability to fight the threat of substance abuse and other problems faced by the young people of Avalon.

As things are reaching a critical point, Catalina CHOICES’s leaders have scheduled a Strategic Planning Meeting, which will determine the future of the CHOICES program.

It is scheduled to be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 9, at the Catalina Canyon Resort (Catalina Conference Room). All are welcome, but it is requested that participants RSVP to Rhonda Kalish at (310) 848-4381 or catalinachoices@gmail.com so a donated lunch can be provided.

While community volunteers do much of Catalina CHOICES hands-on work, funding the program and its various activities and events still requires about $50,000 a year in financing.

For about the past nine years, CHOICES had a reliable revenue stream it could count on. However, that has changed this year as some major funding sources are no longer available due to other demands on their funds.

Despite the financial problem ,Rhonda Kalish, a member of the CHOICES board of directors and an active volunteer, said in October that the organization’s work is continuing as best it can.

“CHOICES is very effective and has been helping with our community and keeping kids that get in trouble out of the (criminal justice) system,” Kalish said. “We’ve been involved by working with them, keeping them able to do the things in school such as sports that can help them and at times sending them to re-hab.”

CHOICES efforts are applied to local students from kindergarten through high school.

“We do family-friendly activities such as movies on the beach, provide training for parents, and workshops with the police department,” Kalish said.

CHOICES also offers annual responsible alcoholic beverage service training for local merchants to help reduce youth access to alcohol.

CHOICES’ programs are made possible by donations. However, they are also looking for more volunteer help. Activities can include translating into Spanish some material such as flyers, website content, brochures, etc.

They also need assistance to man booths at local events, sell tickets, flip burgers and chaperones for youth activities.

To make a tax-deductible donation to CHOICES, mail checks payable to Catalina CHOICES to P.O. Box 1492, Avalon, CA 90704.

For more information, call (310) 510-9294 or visit the website www.CatalinaCHOICES.org.