Herren Project Club Spotlight
Herren Project is proud to put the spotlight on Haddon Township School’s Herren Project Club! Led by Ms. Rose Austin, Haddon Township’s Herren Project Club has done amazing things since before the start of the school year in 2022. They kicked off the year with a Community Outreach event where they set up a table with Herren Project resources to share with others. Featured in the photo is one of our Youth Ambassadors, Brady! Brady also recently became certified in Teen Mental Health First Aid and is committed to spreading awareness about substance misuse and mental health. Check out the link below for more information about our Youth Ambassador Program.
They then participated in their local Race for Recovery where they were able to raise funds for Herren Project as well as a local rehabilitation center called Maryville Addiction and Treatment Center!
Next up, the members of the Herren Project Club got together to create Stress Away Dough, one of our Herren Project Club activities as the school year was well underway. Stress Away Dough is a hands-on activity that your club members can work together to create. It can then be used when they are feeling stressed out as a “stress ball”. It is scented with lavender to add to the calming effects.
They also participated in Red Ribbon Week, helping to spread awareness around the prevention of substance use. Red Ribbon Week is the Nation’s largest and longest-running drug-use prevention campaign and is held every October.
In December 2022, they organized a district-wide collection for Joseph’s House in Camden, NJ. “Joseph’s House is a homeless shelter servicing those affected by addiction and/or mental health issues. We collected hats, gloves, underwear, socks, water bottles, snack bags, sugar, coffee, blankets, backpacks, crackers, etc.” -Ms. Austin
Lastly, they had a very successful Wellness Week With Herren!
They created a “Wellness Retreat” in one of their hallways that highlighted the Herren Project Club Pillars and wrote ideas on the windows so that the other students and faculty could learn more about how to take better care of themselves.
They held a “Teacher Gift Bag Raffle” which helped them to raise funds for a local Addiction Treatment Center.
They highlighted another Herren Project Club activity, the I Am, poster, and encouraged their school community to pick a word or positive affirmation to remind themselves of how valuable they are.
“During Wellness Week 2023, we ran a Frisbee Tournament with several student and teacher teams, along with officers from our local Haddon Township police department. The money we raised was donated to The Starting Point of NJ, Inc. – a local nonprofit education, referral, and resource center for individuals and families seeking support for mental wellness, personal growth, and recovery.”- Ms. Austin
“This year, we were particularly proud to have community involvement with our Wellness Week!! In addition to our HT Police Department participating in our Frisbee Tournament, some of our local businesses joined our efforts. We’d like to recognize the following businesses:
- Hammer & Stain (DIY workshop) – offered a $5.00 class to all HT residents to create and paint various wooden objects.
- Anjali Power Yoga – offered a free yoga class to HT residents of all ages.
- 3DPT – 3-Dimensional Physical Therapy – demonstrated several stretching and warm-up exercises before our Wellness Walk
- Primo Water Ice – gave out free water ice to students who gave up their cell phones for an entire day!
“Next year, we hope to involve more business during Wellness Week. But for this year, we were proud to include these “partners” in our mission to promote mental wellness.”- Ms. Austin
We here at Herren Project are so grateful for all of the hard work Ms. Austin and her HPC members have put in over the past school year to help spread the mission of Herren Project, to help raise awareness around Substance misuse and remind their fellow students and community members to just, Be You!
