Members of the SADD group from Churchill Community High School. (submitted photo/Joslynn Thedorf)

By Derek Cornet

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Oct 16, 2019 | 2:41 PM

The Students Against Drinking and Driving (SADD) club at La Ronge’s Churchill Community High School want to remind residents to report impaired drivers.

That’s according to club advisor Joslynn Thedorf, who stated since the group was formed in 2012, it has grown in popularity at the school. She’s been involved for five years now and said SADD is a student-led initiative that’s composed of like-minded individuals committed to the prevention and elimination of impaired driving. This weekend, Thedorf is preparing to bring one of the largest groups of students yet to an annual event in Saskatoon.

“On Oct. 18 and 19, we’re going to be in Saskatoon and I’m taking 13 students down to attend the SADD conference, which is pretty awesome because last year we just had five go,” she said. “Our group is getting big compared to when it first started, so that’s awesome.”

The local SADD chapter also recently met with Air Ronge councillors at their most recent regular meeting. They plan to erect a billboard at the sign corridor leading into the communities with messages and photos of victims of impaired drivers. A second sign will be installed near the new Co-op Gas Bar.

The signs will feature messages including ‘Please don’t drive impaired,’ and ‘Our lives were important.’ Thedorf mentioned SADD plans to partner with Mothers Against Drunk Driving in order to secure the photos of individuals for the campaign.

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“It’s a big student-led group, so we’re going to be planning to do more roadblocks and all kinds of stuff,” she said. “We’ve done some floats and we’ve had a lot of guest speakers. Hopefully, this year we can start some lunchtime activities for our student body.”

Thedorf also noted SADD, which meets at least once per week, works closely with members of the Community Alcohol Management Plan to share with them their needs and what they want to see. Overall, she described the club as a positive experience for students, adding there has been good feedback from residents of the tri-communities.

“We talk to people why they should report impaired drivers and open the conversation about it,” Thedorf said. “Hopefully, people will start to report impaired drivers and we can start to reduce death rates in our community.”

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno