Dave Fields Talks to Kids Escaping Drugs About the Importance of Community Support

As a dad with a high school-aged son, I know this hasn't been an easy time for children and teens who have been schooling from home without the structure of in-person learning or just having a teacher, counselor, or friend there to talk to.

It made me wonder how young people affected by substance abuse or mental health issues are coping through this time and what resources are available to them, especially around the holidays when they probably need help the most.

That's why I decided to reach out to Suzanne D'Amico, director of development at Kids Escaping Drugs, a local non-profit organization which is dedicated to helping our youth live a life free from the disease of addiction.

She talked to me about how important community support is to an organization like Kids Escaping Drugs.

We rely heavily on the support of the community to be able to do what we do every day. Buffalo is really the city of good neighbors. There has been nothing during the COVID time or before that we've ever needed that the community hasn't come through for us.

Suzanne also told me about what people can do to help Kids Escaping Drugs with Christmas just around the corner.

We just kicked off our holiday appeal, which is a financial vehicle for us to raise funds over the holidays. We're really trying to jumpstart fundraising going into 2021 so that we can continue to offer the vital programming that we do.

She also mentioned the annual drive that recently kicked off for items for the kids on their campus.

We're looking for things like hats, coats, gloves, scarves, and warm clothes. A lot of our kids come to the campus with virtually nothing and so we find that they are in need now more than ever for some of these items.

Check out my full conversation with Suzanne below and consider making a donation to Kids Escaping Drugs so that they can continue helping and providing for the at-risk youth in our local community this holiday season.