Valley Central’s Students Against Destructive Decisions, an organization that raises awareness for substance abuse and poor decision-making, unveiled their latest project during Super Bowl Sunday: Sticker Shocks. Over 130 families in Montgomery who ordered pizza from select restaurants on February 11 received stickers detailing drug facts, both positive and negative, and encouragement to talk about them.

Starting in late December of 2023, SADD’s students researched various drug-use statistics in Orange County and picked out facts that they felt would leave the best impressions. After designing the stickers, the group printed around 150 copies at Fusion Graphix, a printer company located in the town.

“We had kids look at drug surveys in the county,” said Susan English, a math teacher and SADD advisor. “We had them put the statistics on stickers to put on pizza boxes.”

The group then chose four local pizzerias to distribute the stickers: Antonio’s Family Restaurant at 118 Clinton Street and Francesa’s Pizzeria at 201 Ward Street in the Village of Montgomery, Cascarino’s at 121 Hawkins Drive at the Shop Rite Plaza, and Franco’s Pizzeria at 74 Oak Street in Walden. Each pizzeria received 35 to 38 stickers that its staff fastened to pizza boxes prior to serving their customers. English noted that these restaurants are “representative of kids” in the area and were both cooperative and excited to work with SADD.

As for the date, the group believed that these pizzerias would be the busiest on February 11 during the Super Bowl, the perfect time to circulate its stickers to residents all across the town.

“It’s a window of opportunity to get that message out,” said Catherine Heil, another SADD advisor.

Both SADD and the pizzerias involved were thrilled with the outcome and hope that the stickers help residents carefully consider drug usage and make positive choices.

“We are loving the final results,” English said last Thursday, February 8.
“It’s a cool idea,” said Zack, an 8th grader who joined SADD in November 2023.

Did you know that SADD is a national, nonprofit organization comprising over 32 million students initiating similar projects across the county? For more information, visit SADD’s website atsadd.org.