The Drug Strategy Action Committee, formally known as the Swift Current and District Drug Task Force, held their seventh-annual luncheon last week.

The event was held at the Great Plains College and featured an EMS officer sharing past stories about how he has seen drugs affect people in his work and saw the committee hand out awards to one organization and six individuals.

Patti Dekowny, the chair of the Drug Strategy Action Committee, said the luncheon is a way for them to focus on the positives and good things happening to prevent substance abuse in Swift Current.

"It's very important because I think so often when we think about substance abuse we've spoken so much on the negative, but there is a lot of positives going on in our community," she said. "There are successes we want to highlight. We want to provide education to people. We really want to highlight that there are good things happening in Swift Current.

Deknowny said that they select the recipients who have made a positive impact.

"Our committee just pays attention throughout the year, and we just as a group come together with different names and organizations to promote things that we see happening," she said. "We also approach the high school and Maverick school that have any students. If there is a youth that is making a positive difference or has made a positive change we really want to highlight and recognize them."

The guest speaker was Nelson Pompu. Deknowny said they like having him speak because he is able to give a good idea of what is happening in Swift Current.

"Just having him come and provide a perspective about what is actually going in Swift Current would be helpful to people just to provide that education and information to people," she said. "So often we don't hear some stories of what is really going on and we really just want to highlight what is actually going on in Swift Current."

The event was the first luncheon under the new name and logo for the Drug Strategy Action Committee.

(Brenda Epp accepting the award for Bridgeway Community Church, Aisha Silzer, Nathan Wiebe, Jenna Sloman, and Deanna Baje. (Missing Patrick Thiessen and Lisa Byers)