Pray for the Children Committee is a part of Educating Voices, Inc., a national, volunteer drug-prevention organization and is continuing to be administered by the individuals who founded it.
Take a minute to pray for the children…drug-free and safe
The idea for Pray for the Children originated with a Chicago Police Commander in February 1997. The Commander had a vision that people would converge on the streets in prayer, fellowship and unity to save the children. In May, just 90 days later, more than 10,000 people stood on street corners on the west side of Chicago and prayed.
Building upon the Police Commander’s idea, a group from across the country came together in February 1998 to create a Pray for the Children Committee and a Pray for the Children Weekend.
In 1998, a simple effort seeking spiritual guidance and intervention to save our children from the scourge of drugs and violence was born: Pray for the Children Weekend. The goal was to generate as many prayers as possible for children around the world.
Originally, the Pray for the Children Committee was a part of a volunteer, statewide drug prevention group, the Illinois Drug Education Alliance, IDEA. Today, Pray for the Children Committee is a part of Educating Voices, Inc., a national, volunteer drug-prevention organization and is continuing to be administered by the individuals who founded it.
The risks of underage drinking include a whole range of possible short- and long-term consequences that can change lives. Short-term problems include injuries and even deaths from accidents as well as from homicides and suicides. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 190,000 people under age 21 visited an emergency room for alcohol-related injuries in 2008 alone. Underage drinking can also interfere with school attendance, disrupt concentration, and impact academic performance. In addition, underage drinking can result in aggressive or violent behaviorOn average, youth who begin drinking by age 13 are about five times more likely to develop alcohol dependence at some point, compared with people who start at age 21 or older (Masten et al., 2009, Grant & Dawson, 1997). In addition, drinkers who begin younger are more likely to develop dependence by age 25 and to have chronic, relapsing forms of dependence (Hingson, 2006). More on this data and its sources can be found by visiting this link: www.spectrum.niaaa.nih.gov/by-the-numbers/Default.aspx.