Hello All!

Yesterday, the ACE team went to the Hopkins Branch Boys and Girls Club in D.C. to share tips about poison prevention.

The presentation provided facts about poison prevention and encouraged club members to always ask an adult before smelling, touching, or tasting an unknown substance. The club members were eager to show off their acquired knowledge about poison prevention by answering questions, and they enjoyed trying to distinguish “look-alikes” (poisons that look like safe items).

Sunday, November 8th, 2009 was a beautiful day filled with sunshine.

The two young men did not intend to hurt anyone. The driver passed out causing him to lose control of the vehicle, roll across the median and hit Jim and Jude head on.

Give to the Max Day: Greater Washington is a 24 hour online giving event benefiting DC area nonprofits. ACE works hard to maintain its prevention education programs in the areas of inhalant abuse prevention, disease prevention, and poison prevention. It is through generous donations that ACE is able to maintain our programs, partnerships, and websites. Supporters of local nonprofits will have the chance to donate anytime during the 24 hours.

On Friday, October 28th, Ace Clean made another appearance at the USDA Farmer’s Market for its Harvest Festival! Celebrating the culmination of a very productive growing season for the People's Garden at USDA Headquarters, the Harvest Festival attracted children and parents around the area for all things harvested and healthy eating. Ace Clean was there for all the action. He danced to the music of Laissez Foure, a swingin’ jazz quartet, bowled a couple strikes at Squash Bowling, and explored the USDA Food Safety Discovery Zone Mobile.

Effective immediately, ACE is pleased to announce U.S. Senator Herb Kohl has been named Honorary Chair of the Foundation!

Please click here to read the full press release.

Every great change starts with a thought and a promise. This week, the pledge to be drug free is the promise that can save your own life as well as those of your children, friends, family, neighbors, students – and the list goes on. Red Ribbon Week gives families and communities the chance to take action against drug use. The Red Ribbon Campaign for a drug-free lifestyle is the oldest and largest drug prevention program in the nation reaching millions of young people each year. 

This year, the campaign has included an exciting contest: 

Wait, what is Global Handwashing Day? Well, it’s a chance to:

• Build the culture of handwashing with soap around the world

• Take a look at the state of handwashing in every country

• Tell a friend about the benefits of handwashing with soap

Each year, over 200 million people are involved in celebrations in over 100 countries around the world.

So what's the big deal?

The Alliance for Consumer Education (ACE) recently had an opportunity to speak with Norma Norris, the Executive Director of CANDLE Inc.:

ACE: Why did you form CANDLE Inc.?

Norma: CANDLE ('Community Action Network for Drug-free Lifestyle Empowerment') was formed in 2004. It’s a 501(c)3 non-profit whose mission is to oversee the replications of the Reality Tour® Drug Prevention Program in other communities and support ongoing research and development of innovative prevention designs.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the single most important thing we can do to keep from getting sick and spreading illness to others is to clean our hands. More than 164 million school days are lost each year due to illness, but that number can be greatly reduced just by practicing proper hand washing.