Small Town News

Students take part in planting for promise

---

Members of the Builders Club of Sidney Middle School and area groups learned about delaying instant gratification as part of Red Ribbon Week.

They teamed up with Partnership for Promise and Retired Senior Volunteer Program to plant red tulips at Sidney Health Center Extended Care for a project called "Plant the Promise."

Previously, the Partnership for Promise has planted red tulips around Sidney along the walking trail and Veterans Memorial Park but never with the two other groups.

"These come up in April during the drug and alcohol awareness month and this teaches the kids about not instant gratification but to plant something now and you have to wait to see it bloom," Deb Anderson, Partnership for Promise, said. The idea is teach students about nurturing and hope.

The project faUs into Red Ribbon Week, a national celebration to raise awareness for the prevention, intervention and treatment of service of alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse. The week dates back to 1985 after an undercover agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Enrique Camarena, was murdered for eradicating several drug production operations in Mexico. His hometown displayed red ribbons in his honor. In 1988 the first national Red Ribbon Week was proclaimed by Congress.

"It's a great service-learning project because we have Wally [Daeley] teaching them proper preparation of bulbs," RSVP director Idelle Badt said. Daeley, who has been caring for the Extended Care garden for the past two years, showed volunteers how to tend the ground and plant the bulbs. "This is a lot of fun," Daeley said, after having finished the project.

The groups plan to hold a party in April to watch the tulips bloom. Builders Club advisor Katrina Werner said she had accepted the request to participate in the project because the lesson in delaying gratification is important for students to experience as they go throughout their school years.

"The students will not only get gratification from seeing the work that they did," she said, "but also from seeing how much the residents at Extended Care



Copyright 2009 Sidney Herald, Sidney, Montana. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2010 Sidney Herald Sidney, Montana. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

More from Sidney Herald