LWN070121

JULY 1, 2021
WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 13
PHOTOS | SPENSER HASAK
Members of Above the Influence Lynnfield, from left, Maddie Cook, Riley Slaney, Sarah Doherty, Drug Free Communities organizer Julie Greene, middle school
health teacher Matt Angelo, Drew von Jako, Ella Hayman and Emma Rose.
Above the Influence a success
By Allysha Dunnigan
LYNNFIELD — Local students,
businesses, and A Healthy
Lynnfield members rolled out
the Above the Influence anti-substance
abuse campaign
with the focus on helping town
residents make healthy choices.
One of the goals of this
campaign is to influence what
people think about substance
abuse in the community, which
Substance Abuse Prevention
Coordinator Peg Sallade said
carries a variety of messages on
social media.
The campaign was created
as a partnership between students
from the middle and high
schools and the nonprofit A
Healthy Lynnfield (AHL).
High School Youth Council
leaders Maddie Cook, Sarah
Doherty and Riley Slaney said
they have seen success with the
campaign and are happy to be
involved in it.
Some campaign activities provided
by Above The Influence
included “Be It,” where participants
worked on developing
their own personal brands, and
“Tag It,” where they went into
the community and learned to
recognize and identify negative
influences — as well as positive
ones which keep them “above
the influence.”
Leanne Bordonaro, AHL’s
outreach coordinator, said the
partnership with restaurants
began in March and kicked
off the Above the Influence
campaign.
“The businesses that signed
the pledge were promoted in
the news as a responsible business
who really care about
protecting kids from underage
alcohol sales,” Bordonaro said.
“The pledge was a great opportunity
to continue to build relationships
in a positive way.”
Some restaurants displayed
Above the Influence’s poster
in their establishment, and
Bordonaro said the 13 businesses
that signed the pledge
were very supportive.
Cook, Doherty and Slaney
helped create a video listing 21
reasons to be above the influence,
bringing in peers who are
not involved in the coalition.
Through Above the Influence,
Sallade said the goal is to focus
the campaign on one message
that can engage different partners
and people in the community
in different ways, with
making healthy choices being
the focus for 2021.
For 2021, the group based
Proud Supporter
their initiative off a national
media campaign by the same
name, which was run several
years ago, and designed different
aspects to reach a broad
swath of people.
This included getting local
businesses involved by encouraging
restaurants to sign a
pledge to not serve alcohol to
underage individuals.
Julie Greene, Drug Free
Communities program coordinator
at AHL, works with youth
in the community and said this
year was the first where AHL
operated as an after-school,
club-based program. Kids in
the program participated with
Above the Influence by engaging
in a number of activities
and projects.
“Anyone that works with
youth really wants to focus on
teaching and building resiliency,
which I think is what this
campaign really embodies,”
Greene said.
Michael Garabedian
Emma Rose, left, and Ella Hayman show off their posters for
Above the Influence.
MELKONIAN'S
NORTH READING
SUBARU
Pledge to prevent
underage alcohol sales
In partnership with
Lynnfield Police Dept.
& A Healthy Lynnfield
Substance
Use
Prevent ion
Coalit ion
A Healthy
Lynnfield
Mike Garabedian
welcomes his friends and former customers
to NORTH READING SUBARU
Mike says he will beat any deal from any Subaru dealer!
260 Main Street
North Reading MA 01864
Sales: 978 396 6090
Direct: 844 720 9034
mgarabedian@northreadingsubaru.com