“I’ll just do it for a little while.”
That was Mary Ellen McCloy 24 years ago speaking about her involvement with the Municipal Alliance in Burlington County.
Flash forward to 2014 and she has been recognized as the Burlington County Volunteer of the Year by the Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.
“I’m very proud of our group as an all-volunteer Municipal Alliance,” McCloy said. “We’ve established very successful programs in the community.”
Project Graduation and Prom House 110 at Seneca High School are sponsored by the municipal alliance as well as many Red Ribbon Week activities throughout area school districts. The Red Ribbon movement began in 1985, after Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena was tortured and killed while on duty. According to the National Family Partnership, the national sponsor of Red Ribbon Week, parents and young people in communities across the country began wearing Red Ribbons as a symbol of their commitment to raise awareness of the killing and destruction caused by drugs in America.
There are 528 municipal alliances throughout New Jersey. These committees bring together representatives from local governmental bodies, the educational system, the health care community, law enforcement, business, labor, religious leaders, civic associations and the community at large. Municipal alliance committees determine the kind and scope of prevention initiatives that are best suited to their communities. State and county government provides professional staff to guide the all-volunteer committees and to facilitate collaboration with county health and human services advisory bodies and the Governor’s Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse at the state level.
“We act as liaisons between the state, the county and the local community,” McCloy said.
The goal for McCloy and the Municipal Alliance has been raising awareness in the community — not just of the group’s existence but of the risks that exist in the community.
“We would love to make the community more aware. Unfortunately, the large feeling in the community is that there isn’t a risk,” McCloy said.
The focus of the alliance recently has been the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs.
“We’re very fortunate in this area that Red Lion Police Barracks will accept prescription medications 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We’ve seen that the use of prescription drugs has drastically risen and there is a lot members of the community can do to help in prevention,” McCloy said. “We’re encouraging the disposal of prescription medications as well as the use of medical lock boxes in the home.”
