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I A 4 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday December 1, 2004 PEOPLE IN OUR COMMUNITY W E N D Y M O R A G H A N Helping out around th e world Heading overseas on a DARE By Tim Whitnell SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER It took a dare for Wendy Moraghan to finally get to do some overseas travel. That's DARE as in the police enforcement program Drug Abuse F'^'^iiinn The DARE constable with Halton Regional Police has been selected to be part of a team of six officers from across Ontario to represent the Canadian Training Team which went to the Philippines last week. Halton police say it marks the first time that DARE International has sought outside assistance in training and certifying new DARE officers. Until now the Canadian Training Team, in existence since 1999, had only trained officers within Canada. Most police officers in Ontario, and some from other provinces, receive their DARE training at the Ontario Police College in Aylmer. The current overseas mission is to impart trained officers' knowledge about the internationally-recognized DARE program to 36 Philippine police officers and five Philippine educators. Moraghan and five other Ontariobased officers, plus a retired civilian school educator, are stationed in the island nation's southern city of Davao City for 2 1/2 weeks. They are each teaching a core group of six Philippine police officers. The goal is to certify the contingent as DARE officers in their own country so they can carry on the program's teachings. DARE is a worldwide program that seeks to forewarn and educate pri mary, elementary, middle school and high school students, and their par ents, about the potential perils of drugs, alcohol and tobacco. However, when it comes to DARE in Canada most people think of its work with Grade 6s. Moraghan is a 20-year veteran o f 1 Halton police. The 41 -year-old Nelson High School graduate spent the first 10 years as a civilian member as a dis patcher, summons server and an escort officer. She has been involved in Halton's DARE program for the last five years. "There are about 3,500 kids at least that I've taught, mostly in the Milton area" she observed. All of the children in her blended family have gone through the program as well. She swears by the messages that DARE officers bring to young, impressionable minds. "In Halton. the impact the program has on kids is it gives them the knowl edge to make good decisions for a life time, and that they can approach police and talk to them. "If you can reach a few kids in every class, then you've achieved something," she said. That's the goal of DARE world wide. The DARE International Web site says its specially trained police offi cers don't just tell adolescents to say 'no' to getting involved in drugs, alco hol, tobacco or violence, they also teach them how to say `no'. DARE says it aims to accomplish that by providing students in 58 coun tries with accurate information about drugs, alcohol and tobacco, teaching students about decision-making skills and the consequences of their behav iour. In addition, the program builds students' self-esteem while teaching them how to resist peer pressure. The journey to the Philippines is not due to any pressing issues in that country, said Moraghan. When a country calls for whatever reason. DARE responds, she said. "I wouldn't say there is a worse drug problem there than here. We want them to go through the process before they face those decisions," she said of pre-teens and teens every where. "They already have a DARE program; they just want to train more officers." O n the D A R E International W eb " If you can reach a few kids in every class, then you' ve achieved something. " I mm Peter C. McCusker · Oakville Beaver for kids to keep away from drugs and violence," said Lconida Domantay. Moraghan noted there have been two new developments within DARE. An additional thematic phrase for th e a c ro n y m has been added -- Wendy Moraghan, a 20-year veteran with Halton Regional Police Service, is currently in the Philippines sharing her knowl edge on the DARE program with officers in that country. DARE is a worldwide program that seeks to forewarn and educate pri mary, elem entary, m id d le s c h o o l a n d high s c h o o l s tu d e n ts , a n d site there is a quote attributed to a master teacher in General Santos City in the Philippines praising the pro gram. "DARE provides the most com prehensive and preventive education Define Assess Respond Evaluate. Also, the patented program has been re-written, resulting in the need for the teaching officers to be re-trained. their parents, about the potential perils of drugs, alcohol and tobacco. -- -------------- RINO RINALDI . / ------------------- Building a global village of hope By Howard Mozel OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The two weeks Rino Rinaldi spent building a home in Alaska with Habitat For Humanity were rewarding almost beyond words - but he tries. "It was exciting and fulfilling, something I didn't expect," he said. "I hope every human being has a chance to experience what I have." While others may have yet to encounter such satisfaction in their lives, Rinaldi is set to embark on Saturday for Costa Rica to help build his second home with HaUhtt-For Humanity. < "I'm so glad I hooked up with them and I will support them as long as I can," he said. Rinaldi, 62, is pan of a 12-member team which will build the home in the town of Cartago and return on Dec. 11. They didn't get the green light to go until Tuesday night, however, in the wake of the recent Costa Rican earthquake. Given the trip's proximity to Christmas, though, it is both a gift to the needy family which will inhabit the house as well as to himself. Unlike the wood frame structure his team built in Alaska, the Cartago home will be made from mud-and-straw bricks the visitors will create from scratch then crown with a steel roof. "It will be a different experience altogether," he said. All the better, since Rinaldi is a firm believer in learning something new every day and in the educational power of travel. In 1980, for example, he and his wife, Janet, were among 70 people who went on a life-altering medical mission to the Dominican Republic, where team members conducted cataract operations, distributed eyeglasses they collected back home and worked in a leprosy camp. In total, 4,000 patients were seen in 10 days. In July, Rinaldi travelled to Kenai, Alaska to help build a home for a single mother with multiple sclerosis and her daughter. After flying to Alaska on a commercial flight, Rinaldi winged into Kenai by float-plane where he and his 20-per son team constructed the house as part of the Global Village Program. He was the oldest member (most were in their late teens and early 20s) but his experience as a jack-of-alltrades proved invaluable. Even so, he said it is an integral part of the program to have "every person do something in every part o f the house." Although the trip afforded the team some spectacular scenery (in a voicemail to Janet, Rinaldi said "I wish I could send you my eyes") team members paid their own way and slept on the floor of a church. Rinaldi said he went to Alaska looking for some way to help the less fortunate but after three days there, an 80-year old woman, who had been helped previously by Habitat For Humanity, put it all in perspective in a quote he saved. "If you came to help me, you are wasting your time," she told the stunned team. "But if you have come because you see that your own struggle is connected to mine, then come, let us walk together." Said Rinaldi: `T hat changed my attitude to the whole project. I took home something more than I gave." Although the mother and daughter won't move in until Dec. 1, the team met them during construction as well as at a barbecue hosted by a local politician. It was there that a teammate, a New York university student, blew everyone's mind by equating Habitat For Humanity work with a "worship expe rience." "The invocation is planning and dedica tion," she said. "The music is hammers and saws; the offering is ourselves; the sermon is the house we built; the communion is our meals together and the benediction is our com m itm ent to each Oakville's Rino Rinaldi is other and to go forth part of a 12-member team and do it again." heading to Costa Rica to "It was a glorious build a home for Habitat for moment," said Rinaldi. Humanity. He wishes "every "You touch people and human being has a chance people touch you." to experience what I have." To top it all off, Above is a photo of his pre Rinaldi donated $5,000 vious trip to Alaska. to Habitat For Humanity, money he collected from people he knows in the Oakville communi ty, people he thanked from the bottom of his heart -- including Janet, he said, for her selfless understanding. Habitat for Humanity International's Global Village trips give participants a unique opportunity to become active partners with people of another culture. Team members work alongside citizens of the host community, raising awareness of the burden o f poverty housing and building decent, affordable housing worldwide. As partners, says the agency's Web site, team members "help build a true global village of love, homes, communities and hope."