Topic: Drug Prevention
The Kids Escaping Drugs Telethon celebrated its 20th year with WGRZ-TV in Buffalo, N.Y., by raising $680,000 for the Kids Escaping Drugs Renaissance Campus, the only youth treatment facility of its kind in the area. The money gives 12- to 21-year-olds that have struggled with addiction a second chance and funds education and prevention programs for adolescents and their families. During the telethon, viewers get a firsthand account of the struggles and victories of teens who have been helped by the facility. While the spring event is a seven-hour broadcast marathon, the effort is year-round for the station, an original partner and continuing sponsor of the campaign. News stories about the telethon start weeks before the event, and segments about drug abuse prevention and treatment air throughout the year. "If it weren’t for WGRZ and the telethon, we wouldn’t have as many children in western New York cured of chemical dependency," said Joanne Hudecki, executive director of the Kids Escaping Drugs Campaign. "When our first telethon aired, we had no campus. Without WGRZ’s drive and enthusiasm for us, we wouldn’t have this treatment facility."
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