Hi Everyone!  Happy Holidays!

Some of you may remember that I sent out a fund raising request last year on behalf of the National Association of Children of Alcoholics.  They are an organization which identifies and creates materials for educators and counselors to viably help children who have received the unlucky draw of living with a parent or parents suffering from alcohol or drug addiction.  The chaos in these households, due to the lack of dependability or

outright emotional and physical abuse, is more pronounced during the holiday season, as you might expect.  Children living in households where substance abuse exists are 4 times more likely to suffer physical abuse than their peers, and 4 times more likely to develop mental illness as adults.  What is staggering is that we're talking about 1 in 4 American children. 

You may know that I've worked in the field of mental health and chemical addictions treatment for nearly eleven years, and that improving the delivery system of community resources to individuals in need has been part of my personal mission for some time, including the launch of cybercasemanager.com/cincinnati several years ago.  You may also know that in the past three years I have been active in the local Cincinnati running community, having completed 7 full marathons, 2 sprint triathlons, several 10k's, and more than a dozen 5k's.  What you may not know is that, crazy or not, I've been sober (continuously) all three of those years! And still am!

 

I am very fortunate to be able to represent NACoA as one of their runners in January '08.  I'll be running a 5k on Friday the 11th, a half-marathon on Saturday the 12th, and then a full marathon on Sunday the 13th, raising awareness for NACoA during the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend.  I'd like to raise a little money for them too, and I hope you'll help by giving whatever you can.  You can donate or make a pledge contingent on my athletic performance in any one or more of the races.  I would much rather you just flat out donate, but I am open to challenges. 

With the help of many of you, last year I raised 2,850 dollars.  I'd like to beat that this year.  Contributing to NACoA is tax deductible for you and the money does a lot of good beyond that.  Besides their direct support of kids too young for groups like Al-anon or Alateen, NACoA also administers the national research database for the U.S. Department of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (SAMHSA), providing access to prevention and treatment materials, as well as the text of over a hundred thousand government funded research studies, policy papers and speeches.  NACoA insures that access to this database is FREE and searchable by anyone with internet access.  This is a great resource for treatment professionals and researchers interested in helping vulnerable children become emotionally healthy citizens. 

There are a lot of people who struggle with alcohol and/or drug addiction, and one of the saddest aspects of this multi-dimensional disease is the effect it has on children.  I hope I haven't junked up your mailbox -- There are so many ways to spread love this holiday season, I hope I'm simply offering you one more option among many.   If you decide to help me raise money for NACoA, the most efficient way to do it is at http://www.firstgiving.com/stefandensmore .  Alternatively, you can write a check payable to NACoA, and contact me to make arrangements for pickup.  Any amount you can provide is a blessing. 

If you have any questions about my involvement with NACoA, marathon running, sobriety, goofiness, or anything else, you can reach me at stefan.densmore@gmail.com, or by calling my cell phone at (513) 379-8992.  I hope you are all well, thank you for your consideration of this worthy cause, and God Bless!

Stefan Christian Densmore

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