The Daily Millbury
By Steve Balestrieri
MILLBURY, Mass. – Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangeledis has an innovative program to keep kids off of drugs, and he brought his message and program to Millbury Jr./Sr. High School on Friday morning.
Evangeledis’ Face2Face program is the only one like it in the country, showing through pictures what drugs and alcohol will do to a person’s appearance over time. The pictures are startling, but his program also uses computer imagery to show Millbury students what they look like today and what they’d look like after abusing drugs over a period of time.
“Almost 90 percent of the inmates incarcerated at the Worcester County House of Correction are addicted to drugs or alcohol. As sheriff, I have focused on education and prevention as the best way to keep our youth out of prison,” Evangelidis said.
The program uses slide shows and videos of people, famous and not, who have abused drugs and alcohol, including a video interview with rap star Eminem who talks about nearly dying from a drug overdose before getting help.
“As a father, I know how concerned young people are with their appearance. The Face2Face program will show them firsthand the shocking affect substance abuse can have on the way they look. I am working to bring this program into every school district in Worcester County,” he said.
Evangelidis ran two programs on Friday, for junior and senior high school students.
