Kids On The Block Visits Boys& Girls Club

Mon, 03/02/2015 - 7:18pm — Diane Dyer

Thursday afternoon, the Butler County Boys and Girls Club hosted a puppet show by Kids on the Block on alcohol and substance abuse. The South-Central Kentucky Kids on the Block, celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, is the only Kids on the Block performance troop to service all of KY, with 273 programs performed at schools, camps, and day cares throughout the state.

Around 30 students in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades were introduced to a puppet named Eric, who deals with peer pressure from his friends, Paul and Joanne, and their family members. “You have to educate these kids, and you have to start early.” Bruce White, Director of the Morgantown Boys and Girls Club, stated.
During the show’s intermission, Regina Pedigo, Puppeteer for Kids on the Block, talked to the kids about peer pressure and the importance of saying no. “The older you get, those decisions are going to be even tougher to make… one of these days you will faced with the decision as to whether or not to use drugs or any kind of substance…. You need to tell yourself right now… ‘No I’m not going to do that.’ “
After the presentation, Bruce White gave a statement encouraging the kids to value their futures. “[Any of you] could become a doctor, or lawyer, a nurse, a teacher, a journalist, a professional… or go to a vocational school after high school and have a good trade…. You can obtain great things, but you have to prepare for it.”

Amanda Guerra, Program Director and Puppeteer for Kids on the Block, said her uncle dealt with drug abuse as a young adult. “I feel like with [the stories] coming from the puppets, and [kids] getting to ask the puppets questions, they feel like they’re talking to someone their own age, so I think that kind of helps them see… how it could change their lives.”
Substance abuse problems exist in virtually every community, including Butler County, but Club Director Bruce White recalled a time when these programs weren’t necessary: “I told people this was Mayberry, USA, growing up, but there aren’t any Mayberrys anymore. We’ve got drugs here… like they do in Los Angeles… Kids… have a lot of challenges.” The club director also stated that almost everyone knows someone that has or has had an issue with substance abuse.

According to Charles Swiney, Morgantown Chief of Police: [They would go to the park] after school, and we’d go down too… They don’t want to be where we are.” And due to the diligent work of the Butler County Police Department and the “saturated patrolling” of public areas, the problem has gone elsewhere.
Although the influence of drug abuse is widespread, the combined efforts of the Boys and Girls Club and Kids on the Block show young people in the communities serviced by these programs that there are places they can go and positive measures they can take to avoid drug abuse and build successful lives.

Bruce white is enthusiastic about the work being done by these organizations: “When I get up… I think ‘I might accidentally help a kid today.’ That makes you want to get up and go to work.”