Editor,

In 2017, the Impaired Driving Impact Panel of Island County presented our impact panels to 343 driver’s education students, 338 parents, 180 NAS Whidbey Island personnel and 159 offenders.

We have been doing drug and alcohol prevention work, at no charge, since 2000. Court-ordered offenders pay a fee for panels.

Our middle school substance abuse drug prevention program was given to 515 students in 26 classrooms in Oak Harbor, Coupeville and Langley during 2017.

IDIPIC has been able to do much of its prevention work with adults and youth thanks in large part to its dedicated Partners in Prevention. Partners in Prevention can make dollar donations, a donation of services or goods, or serve as volunteer helpers and speakers at our panels.

Our greatest strength has come from our volunteers. We provide scheduled impact panels twice a month in Oak Harbor and once a month in Freeland.

At these panels we have helpers who assist our facilitator/educator, Alice Biddulph, by checking people in and managing support pieces for the panel.

We also have guest speakers. Our speakers are people who live in Island County and have been affected by impaired driving.

They may be experiencing the loss of a family member, relative or friend.

The emotional cost is steep, yet they continue to volunteer at our panels to speak of their pain, loss and grief. Their courage to speak out against driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs is no easy endeavor, and they do all of us a huge favor by supporting our mission: To deter driving under the influence and underage drinking in our communities through education and awareness.

If you’d like to help, contact Alice Biddulph at 360-672-8219 or at idipic@idipic.org

Mike Diamanti

IDIPIC Director