Brookshire Brothers is proud to partner with The Coalition and its Drug-Free All Stars in Angelina County in an effort to prevent underage drinking.
High school students around Angelina County apply to be a part of Drug-Free All Stars and learn about the struggles the county faces with drugs and alcohol and how we can all combat them together.
Project Sticker Shock, an annual Spring Break campaign, is one of the ways The Coalition and the Drug-Free All Stars work to combat these issues. After an inaugural press conference, students visit local alcohol distributors, including all Brookshire Brothers locations in Angelina County, and place stickers on packs of beer with warnings of the dangers of providing alcohol to minors.
Drug-Free All Stars, The Coalition board members, Brookshire Brothers representatives and many other community members met at the Brookshire Brothers on Chestnut St. in Lufkin to kick off Project Sticker Shock just before Spring Break.
"Brookshire Brothers believes in being a good community partner – and part of that is addressing programs and initiatives focused on the health, safety and wellbeing of our communities," said Melissa Crager, Brookshire Brothers public relations and corporate responsibility manager. "Projects like this give us one more avenue to encourage our customers, who are over the age of 21, to make smart decisions when purchasing and consuming alcohol.
"We are thankful to The Coalition and The Drug-Free All-Stars for making this project possible year after year."
During the press conference, Drug-Free All Star Rosina Camarillo spoke about the importance of Project Sticker Shock for youth. She shared that as Drug-Free All Stars, she and the other members are leaders on their campuses advocating for an end to substance abuse and the promotion of a healthier community.
"We strive to make a change through advocacy and education, and we are passionate about prevention," Camarillo said. "Today we are excited to announce the kick off of Project Sticker Shock. We want to educate adults on the potential effects of providing alcohol to minors."
Some of the legal consequences of providing alcohol to minors include a suspended driver's license, fines up to $4,000 and possible jail time, Camarillo said.
Seth Franks, former Drug-Free All Star and current Lufkin District Traffic Engineer with the Texas Department of Transportation, also spoke during the event.
He said that in the past three years there have been 42 fatal crashes in Angelina County, Franks said. One third of those were alcohol related.
"We also saw an increase in the Lufkin District of pedestrian fatalities related to drugs and alcohol," Franks said. "So it's not just a drinking and driving problem. It's affecting pedestrians, and it's affecting roadways in more ways than one."
He shared TxDOT's goal to reach 0 deaths on Texas roadways by 2050, and he encouraged everyone at the conference to help, thanking them for being a part of programs like Project Sticker Shock and Drug-Free All Stars.
Project Sticker Shock was conducted at 26 locations of partner stores including Brookshire Brothers, Tobacco Barn, Big's, Hernandez Grocery, La Michoacana and Coleman's.
The Drug-Free All Stars work with high schools around the community, and seniors can apply to be a member each year. The Coalition is a community organization dedicated to eliminating the use of harmful substances by influencing public policy, laws, attitudes and behaviors to foster healthy life-long choices in East Texas.
