Milton-Jones to Participate in Two MADD Georgia Events During Red Ribbon Week
Milton-Jones will take part in events at Lassiter High School on Oct. 29 and Alpharetta High School on Oct. 30 to help launch a new social media pledge campaign that asks teens to #ProtectUrSelfie by staying alcohol-free until 21, and never getting in a car with a drinking driver. The program will be led by four MADD Georgia Teen Influencers and supported by speakers from the Dream, MADD, the Atlanta Falcons and Never to Yield Foundation.
�I love everything that MADD stands for,� said Milton-Jones. �The responsible choices we make for ourselves can and will directly affect others. My first experience with a drunk driver could have been my last. Riding in the back seat while my boyfriend�s dad drove more than 90 miles per hour on a two-lane road, weaving in and out of traffic, almost ended tragically for all of us. By the grace of God, we made it to our destination unscathed, and I now use my own experience to directly influence the decisions of my peers and family members.�
Milton-Jones will be on hand to introduce the #ProtectUrSelfie Campaign to the students, which takes the place of the traditional pen and paper pledge and asks teens to grab a couple of friends and invite other peers to take a �selfie� with their mobile phones.
By using the special hashtag and posting their selfie on their social media channels, they can show their friends that when it comes to underage drinking, not everyone is doing it, and encourage others to do the same by taking the pledge as well.
�MADD Georgia Teen Influencers work alongside the community to educate our peers about the dangers of underage drinking,� said Teen Influencer Allie Hood-Sands, an eighth-grade student at Webb Bridge Middle School. �Teens who do not drink alcohol until they are 21 are 85 percent less likely to be in a motor vehicle crash because of their drinking later in life than those who drink before age 14. Therefore, it�s our hope that our outreach, especially during Red Ribbon Week, will help our peers realize the power in saying no to alcohol.�
Josh Harris, long snapper for the Falcons, will team up with Mike Lutzenkirchen, father of Phil Lutzenkirchen to speak to the teens at Lassiter about the dangers of underage drinking. Phil was a teammate of Harris� at Auburn who died in a drunk driving crash on June 29, 2014. �Accidents don�t discriminate and it only takes one error in judgment to change not only your life, but the lives of all the people who care about you,� said Harris.
MADD works with schools to encourage prevention of underage drinking around the country every October during Red Ribbon Week and throughout the year. MADD�s Power of You(th)� program, sponsored by State Farm� , empowers teens to resist peer pressure and influence other teens to make smart decisions about not drinking alcohol before they turn 21, or getting in the car with someone who has been drinking. Georgia Teen Influencers is funded through a grant from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.
The three-time Eastern Conference Champion Atlanta Dream completed its seventh season in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) in 2014. The Dream has qualified for the playoffs in each of the past six seasons, and won conference titles in 2013, 2011 and 2010. Season tickets for the 2015 season can be purchased by calling (877) 977-7729 or visiting www.AtlantaDream.net.