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off tobacco, alcohol, drugs and other harmful substances through
educating and partnering with families and communities.

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Red Ribbon Works!
A Program of Greenville Family Partnership

 

Name of Recipe (Activity): The Red Ribbon Project: How to Make a Difference in the Community

# of Servings (Students): Entire Classroom

Grade Level: Middle and High School

Ingredients (Materials):   

  • 7 copies of “The Red Ribbon, A Story of Hope” Storybook for students to share (See below.)
  • Internet Resources

Note: “The Red Ribbon, A Story of Hope” Storybook is available for purchase through Red Ribbon Works. Shop online or visit Greenville Family Partnership / Red Ribbon Works at 200 Mills Avenue. For pricing, call Sean Reeves at 467-4099.

Preparation Time: Set aside several weeks to make sure that every student gets a chance to read the book, conduct interviews, do research, and write their essay.

Length of Time to Cook: 2 class periods or more

Directions/Discussion: Ask the school librarian if your school has copies of “The Red Ribbon, A Story of Hope” Storybook. If your school has copies, then you're in luck! If not, you may purchase several copies of the storybook from Red Ribbon Works. See details above. Once you have the books, read the inside cover and the story itself to learn how the book came about. For more details, visit our web site to access “Red Ribbon Central / Red Ribbon”. Talk to students about Red Ribbon Week, what it means and the story behind the book. Then have students to read the storybook. Students will have to take turns since there are not enough copies to go around. After every student has read the storybook, have a class discussion about the societal ills depicted in the book and possible solutions. When that discussion is over, have students choose between the following topics for their essay: (1) Take a look at the two needy characters in the story and imagine them in our day and time. Write an explanation about how these characters came to be in the situation they are in (i.e. poverty, hunger, homelessness, and unemployment). Include some solutions as to how a neighborhood or a community might help them. (2) Have students compare what happened in the story to what is happening in America today due to the economic crisis and pose some solutions to these problems by interviewing or talking with family members, friends, neighbors, and other individuals in the community. If your students require more information on poverty, hunger, homelessness, unemployment, and the economy, get some input from a Home Economics Teacher. Or, refer your students to the links above or have them to do a search on the internet. When the essays are complete, have students read them to the class and, at a later date, you may want to consider presenting or mailing copies of the essays to the Mayor.

Clean Up & Storage: Grade and file the original essays. Store the storybooks in case you decide to do this activity again in the future or donate the storybooks to the school library.   

Submitted By: V. Henderson, Resource Coordinator