We can never know how many young people will choose to live a better life after hearing the message from a group of their peers - the Safety Kids.
Although the members change from year to year, the Safety Kids have been performing in our schools and community for about 30 years.
Sponsored by the Council for Drug Free Youth (CDFY), the group of fifth-grade students perform entertaining skits with a message to live a smoke-free, drug-free lifestyle.
This year, 46 Safety Kids devoted a portion of their summer to rehearsing the performance they will bring to area elementary schools.
The performances in the schools typically occur during the observance of Red Ribbon Week in October.
The public will be able to enjoy a preview from 5-7 p.m. Monday when the Safety Kids share the stage with performances by the Show Me Players, a seventh-grade group, and Uplift, a group of ninth graders. The showcase will be at the Capital Mall's Community Room as part of an ice cream social to benefit CDFY.
Joy Sweeney, CDFY executive director, said the Safety Kids and their fellow groups are valuable because research shows peer-to-peer mentoring is most effective.
Kids listen to other kids, and middle school typically is where young people ages 11-14 are exposed to alcohol and drugs.
"In middle school, I bet every one of them will be in a place were they have to make a choice, and that's sad," Sweeney said.
It's extremely sad.
Research demonstrates the health hazards of tobacco. Similarly, the medical, criminal and social consequences of alcohol and drug abuse and addiction have been well documented.
Using an entertaining and engaging performance, the Safety Kids deliver this caution to their younger peers.
It's a message young people need to hear, and we applaud the students who rehearse and deliver it, but also set an example by living it.