MIDDLEBORO — Middleboro Elks #1274 has awarded a $4,000 Beacon Grant to Middleboro Matters toward raising awareness and providing a variety of resources regarding substance abuse and overdose prevention for families. 

Middleboro Matters and Middleboro Elks members will be working collaboratively with many other community organizations to provide a family-focused Community Resource Fair at the Middleboro Elks Lodge. More details regarding the community resource fair to be announced in the near future.

The Middleboro Elks Beacon Grant is also being used to purchase a “Train the Trainer” model for providing substance abuse prevention and intervention tools to students. According to Federal Drug Administration research from 2022, 2.5 million high school and middle schoolers across the United States have used a vape product in the past 30 days and 1 in 4 or those students report using at least 20 out of 30 days. 

Alcohol, marijuana and other substances are experimented with during critical ages of development, research indicates. No district is escaping the vaping epidemic nor has any district been spared in the battle with addiction, Middleboro Matters reports.

There is a program available to provide students with tools for making healthy decisions within the walls of a school system. This “train the trainer’’ model allows a school system, either an entire district or individual schools, to receive 1:1 support to implement these groups into the school day. 

This model aims to help Middleboro school personnel who are trainers to more proactively, effectively, and individually support students to understand the risks of substance abuse.

Middleboro Elks members said they are proud to partner with Middleboro Matters in what was described as “an important and needed initiative.’’