taken from LEADER POST
Derek Putz, Leader-Post
Published: Friday, November 21, 2008
REGINA — Garry Ewenin celebrated his fifth day of being addiction-free with a brisk walk Friday.
“I’m walking today because it’s a nice day and I feel alive,” the Regina resident said, his breath visible in the crisp winter air. “It feels really good to have a clear head.”
Friday marked the 11th annual Sober Walk, and Ewenin’s first. He hopes to make the walk an annual thing.
Roughly 60 citizens from the community, agencies, and clients from both the Regina and Saskatoon treatment centres took the hour-longwalk from the Regina Detox Centre to the Metis Addictions Council Saskatchewan Inc. (MACSI) Treatment Centre. Each person held a small flag which they waved at vehicles and passersby to promote National Addictions Awareness Week.
According to Lana Blondeau, a regional director from the Metis Addictions Council, the goal of the Sober Walk was to let people know that there’s help out there for everyone.
“That’s why we start at the (Regina Detox Centre), this is the start of their journey. Then they come to our treatment centre and hopefully we can give them a good life after that,” Blondeau said.
In addition to the walk, during the week of awareness, people were also encouraged to avoid smoking or drinking caffeine for an entire day.
Noelle Seidlikoski of Regina was excited to take part in the walk for the first time. As an addictions counsellor, she knows how important this week is.
“I just think it’s important to spread awareness about sober living,” she said.
The Sober Walk wasn’t the only walk for awareness taking place in the city on Friday. Seven Regina high schools took part in the Sober Walk Race.
Ken Akan, assessor co-ordinator with the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region, explained the race was organized to inform youth.
“We’ve organized a race with some of the high schools because we’re trying to promote our Youth Outreach team, and let the community know that they’re out there and they can deal with addictions,” Akan said.
Eleven Regina high schools incorporate the Youth Outreach program.
“It’s very important that youth become aware,” he said. “We talk about the cycle of addiction and we’re looking at how we can break that cycle.”
Scott, Winston Knoll, Cochrane, F.W. Johnson, O’Neill, Riffel and Thom each sent a team of three students and one chaperone. They visited different organizations in the city such as the YMCA, City Hall, the Saskatchewan Science Centre and Addictions Services to accomplish fitness tasks and answer questions on addiction.
The winning team was to receive MP3 players and other prizes, but Akan said it wasn’t about the prizes, but creating awareness.
Grade 12 Riffel student Azlynn Yablonski took part in the race and thought it was important for students because it was testing their endurance as well as challenging their minds.
Most of all, the event brought awareness to addiction problems. Yablonski knows how important this is, because she knows classmates who have minor addictions but don’t realize it.
“It’s about raising awareness so they can realize, ‘Maybe I do have problem,’ ” Yablonski said.
