Approximately three years ago, Paulding County Sheriff Jason K. Landers and Paulding County Commissioners decided to re-instate the county D.A.R.E. program.
Deputy Nick Mendez began teaching the program to fifth graders, then expanded D.A.R.E. into 7th and 8th grades. “Teaching kids how to make good life choices should not stop in the fifth grade. They need to be re-introduced at the middle school level as well. Middle school can be a challenging time, so it’s important to continue teaching these students the importance of making good life choices,” says Deputy Mendez.
Deputy Mendez attended surrounding counties to help D.A.R.E. officers with their 3-day summer camps. After seeing the positive effects, he knew it was something Paulding County D.A.R.E. program needed. So he has gone outside the classroom and started summer events.
“Summer camps give the D.A.R.E. officers the ability to remind kids why it’s important to make good life choices and they can have fun when making good choices,” says Deputy Mendez. Last year the Paulding County D.A.R.E. program held a one-day summer camp. This summer it will grow to a 3-day summer camp. “I am excited to offer this summer camp and appreciative of donations financing the event,” says Deputy Mendez.
On February 15, 2018, Jim Stykemain, of Stykemain Chevrolet of Paulding donated $1,000 to the D.A.R.E. summer camp. “I can’t thank Jim enough for his donation to kick off this campaign”, says Deputy Mendez.
Registrations forms for the summer camp will be available on-line through the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office website. If you would like to donate to the summer camp, donations may be sent payable to the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office D.A.R.E. program at 500 East Perry Street, Paulding, OH 45879 c/o Deputy Nick Mendez.
