Pubdate: Thu, 27 Jun 2013
Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal (FL)
Copyright: 2013 News-Journal Corporation
Contact:  http://www.news-journalonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/700
Note: gives priority to local writers
Author: Mark I. Johnson

PEOPLE FOR DRUG FREE YOUTH IN NEW SMYRNA BEACH PUSHES LIFE CHOICES MESSAGE

NEW SMYRNA BEACH - It may be a job, but working at the People for 
Drug Free Youth's thrift store is also how Edgewater resident Judy 
Maman pays the community back for helping keep her son off drugs.

"He's been clean for several months now," said the 38-year-old 
assistant manager.

While she has only worked in the shop for three weeks, Maman said she 
has seen the benefit it provides to the community. Those benefits 
have included partnering with another community group to help a needy 
family with clothes to helping a customer who may come up a little 
short when his or her shopping list is totaled up.

"It is really wonderful," Maman said.

Donating to - and particularly buying items from - the store at 1431 
S. Dixie Freeway is how the public supports the organization's 
mission, according to Flo Limper, a customer in the shop on Thursday morning.

"That support has to be two way," Limper said, as she browsed through 
the racks of women's clothing. "These stores only work well if they 
have people buy from them."

The mission of People for Drug Free Youth is to "support and 
encourage the betterment of choices for our young people," said the 
group's president, Bill Mead.

"While our focus is on anti-drug issues first," the 64-year-old 
former school principal said it is also on making better choices and 
decisions in life.

People for a Drug Free Youth accomplishes its mission by working in 
partnership with other organizations to provide whatever is needed to 
ensure youngsters get the opportunity to make those choices.

Tuesday night, that need was a donation of $10,000 to the New Smyrna 
Beach Police Department toward the purchase of a new police K-9 dog.

"I have been the recipient of two such dogs," police Sgt. Eugene 
Griffith said, which is why he serves on the board of an organization 
so dedicated to helping the community.

Such dedication has been a centerpiece of People for Drug Free Youth 
for the almost three decades since it originally formed as The 
Chemical People, said co-founder Denise Mumpower.

"I knew firsthand what drugs could do to our youth," she said of the 
problems she saw during her 36 years spent in the Volusia County school system.

In the beginning, The Chemical People concentrated its anti-drug 
message on the children of Southeast Volusia, but eventually they saw 
an opportunity to assist on a wider scale and took it, Mumpower said. 
They've provided grant assistance to organizations outside of New 
Smyrna Beach, Edgewater and Oak Hill.

While it has evolved over the years, today, Mead calls People for 
Drug Free Youth "the best-kept secret in town."

While the organization operates solely on proceeds from the store and 
the donations of supporters, he said the board is trying to make an 
impact for all children through its scholarships, community 
partnerships and education efforts such as the DARE youth anti-drug 
education programs.

Mead said that in the most basic terms the group is here to help 
young people, nothing more and nothing less.

"The community is wonderful at helping us, but we need to get more 
people involved," he said. "We have about a dozen people on our 
board, but I want to get the whole community on the board."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom