Reality Tour to get award

The Reality Tour drug prevention program by Candle Inc. will receive a 2008 Community Crime Prevention Program Award.

The award will be presented to the Butler organization by the International Society for Crime Prevention Practitioners at its symposium Oct. 24 in Denver.

Candle Inc. has presented the Reality Tour multiple times in Lawrence County, with sessions at the courthouse and jail and in Ellwood City. Each time, the number of participants has increased.

Sgt. Ron Hasnauer, of the Westmoreland County sheriff’s department, a volunteer for Reality Tour and society member, nominated the program.

Candle Inc. is the non-profit group that oversees the Reality Tour. Its executive director and program developer is Norma Norris.

The Reality Tour is a consequence-driven program that is community-based. Narrated dramatic scenes and sessions that engage law enforcement and the recovery community provide a dynamic interactive approach to prevention education for parents and child 10 and older to experience together.

Candle’s research continues with a Service to Science grant to design a control study for implementation in 2009.

More than 3,200 parents and youths have attended the original program since 2003.

The Reality Tour is presented monthly in Butler using community-based volunteer staff.

A complete list of locations can be viewed at www.RealityTour.org.

The Reality Tour model is expanding across the state with Pike and Wyoming counties added most recently. More than 25 percent of the state’s 67 counties are involved in replication. Candle also is working with organizations in Michigan and Oregon to expand the program beyond Pennsylvania.

More information about the program and about new parent and youth tools online is available by visiting www.RealityTour.org or calling (724) 679-1788.