Ways You Can Help - Sam Spady Foundation

A Newsletter
from the
Sam Spady Foundation
January, 2005
The mission of the
Sam Spady Foundation
is to dramatically
change the culture
at every university
community in
this country as
it relates to the
promotion and
T
hanks to your continued support, the work of the Sam Spady Foundation has begun in earnest.
The following are the highlights of our 2005 plan:
• Research new and existing data/studies that could
provide information and inspiration toward our goals
goals 1,400
Alcoholourkills
• Identify or create the most effective prevention program
college students a year
addressing high-risk student drinking, and develop an
action plan to launch the program
• Plan a communication strategy to get the word out to the body public, institutions of higher
learning, and the people and organizations who want to help
• Obtain the funding to implement this program at every university, tapping into the institutions
themselves, sorority and fraternity groups, businesses, government funds, private foundations
and individuals
• Partner with key schools that are serious about alcohol culture change
• Design a buddy-system program so students
will know how to recognize problems and
how to take care of their at-risk friends
Ways You Can Help:
• Spread the news –
the more people who
www.samspadyfo
undation.org
understand the urgency,
STOP
CALL 911 if a person
ALCOHOL has any of the following conditions:
the better
Unconscious or semiconscious
POISONING •• Brea
thing less than 10 times per
NE
minu
VER leave an
te or irregular breathing
• Help us find funding or make
intoxicated person
(chec
k every 2 minutes)
alone!
• Cold, clammy, pale or bluis
STAY SOBER to
a contribution yourself to:
h skin
• Cannot be awakened by
take care of your
pinching,
friends.
prodding or shouting
Sam Spady Foundation
Legal Drinking Age
is 21
• Vomiting without waking
up
“it’s a sam thing
P. O. Box 701
!”
Beatrice, NE 68301
SAM Wallet Cards
or www.samspadyfoundation.org
• Hand out SAM wallet cards –
Email: info@samspadyfoundation.org for information
• Buy a Sam print – visit our website and choose one of
Samantha’s incredible works of art – the Foundation receives
100% of the proceeds
TM
use of alcohol
among students,
faculty, and the
administration.
“Untitled, No. 4”
Available at www.samspadyfoundation.org
40% of all students have
engaged in binge drinking
Sam’s Story
A “lethal dose” of alcohol
is defined as approximately
4 times the legal limit…
or about 8 – 10 drinks
consumed in a short time.
Poster created for the
Sacred Heart University
Peer Educators Program
Samantha Spady – her incredible life and
tragic death – provide more than ample
inspiration for our foundation. Her bright
spirit, charming innocence and optimistic bent on everything made her pure joy to be around. As an
added bonus, she wore her attractive blond/blue-eyed beauty with an unassuming humility that
made her all the more beautiful.
An honor student and an accomplished artist with an impressive educational resume, she was an
unlikely candidate for an alcohol-related death. But as a coed at Colorado State University, she fell
victim to the relentless pull of partying and binge drinking that has become so common at colleges
and universities around the country. It has become increasingly clear, as we learn the facts surrounding
this phenomenon, that there is no way to define a “likely candidate” except with the words college
student. And Sam was that – a sophomore to be exact.
Far from her hometown of Beatrice, Nebraska, she found a new way of life. The excitement of a
grown-up independence that nearly all students feel, mixed with a culture of risky drinking, lured
her to change her pre-college behavior, as it does the great majority of her peers.
On the sad night of September 5th, 2004, Sam attended a number of parties and drank more than
her body could handle. She settled into an empty guest room at a frat house to sleep it off and the
unthinkable happened.
If there is any way to make sense of this sorrow, it could only be to shed a very bright light on a
campus culture that not only engenders, but encourages, this kind of tragedy. That peer pressure is
so insidious, and that the binge habit forms so quickly in this atmosphere is one of the most
frightening assaults on our younger generation.
We aim to change it.
20% of surveyed students reported bingeing more
than 3 times in the previous 2 weeks
Eyes Wide Open…
• On January 7th and 8th, 2005, professionals with expertise in strategic
planning, fund development, and marketing and communications are meeting
in Washington D.C. with the Spady family to develop an operational plan for
the Sam Spady Foundation
for you
is watching out
• Former Sigma Pi members of CSU distributed 20,000 “Ace of Spades” wallet
cards on campus, listing the signs and symptoms of alcohol overdose
• The Sigma Pi Colony of Jacksonville State University in Alabama is
sponsoring an activity-filled “Sam Spady Week” on March 7th –12th, 2005,
to wake up the student body to the dangers of high-risk drinking:
www.geocities.com/samspadyweek
• Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut has established the
“Peer Educators” program to educate students and others connected to the
university about alcohol abuse, awareness, responsibility for each other, etc.
rs
to
ersity Peer EduAlcca
iv
n
U
rt
ing.
son
ea
Poi
H
l
oho
ed
th:
Sacr
4. Cause of dea
• The national office of the Sigma Pi Fraternity has contributed $5,000
September 5, 200 .org
Spady, 19, died on
oundation
Artist Samantha
www.samspadyf
to the Sam Spady Foundation
• Thousands of SAM wallet cards have been handed out so far
• The Foundation has already received over $50,000 in donations
Rick and Patty Spady would
• Students at Cherry Creek High School in Greenwood Village, Colorado are selling
like to thank the following
“Think B4 You Drink” bracelets and donating 50% of the profits to the Sam Spady Foundation
individuals for their contributions
• Centenary Methodist Church in Beatrice, Nebraska held a SAM (Soup and More) supper and raised
to this newsletter:
over $5,500 for the Foundation
Judy Wood, Copywriting
who
?
Sam
Illustration ©2004
on
Spady Foundati
Ellen Shively Neureuther,
Graphic Design
It’s called intoxication because it’s toxic