![\"Drug-Free](\"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/images\/22-1109-s2p-cosheroes-800x600.jpg\")
PHOTO CAPTION: Church of Scientology Los Angeles hosted the Second Annual Drug-Free Heroes Awards Gala to honor those making a difference and helping save lives from drug overdose.<\/em><\/p>\n
Can anything be done to prevent such tragedies? Foundation for a Drug-Free World says \u201cYes.\u201d That is why the Church of Scientology and the L.A.-based Strike Out Against Drugs nonprofit joined forces to hold their 2nd annual Drug-Free Heroes Awards Gala at the Church of Scientology Los Angeles in celebration of National Red Ribbon Week.<\/p>\n
Event keynote speaker and awardee Mr. Henry Lozano is an example of what one man or woman can do to reverse this catastrophe. For decades, countless children\u2019s lives have been saved because of his work.<\/p>\n
Lozano is the founder of National Red Ribbon week, the nation\u2019s oldest and largest drug prevention awareness program. He also served as\u00a0director of USA Freedom Corps<\/a>\u00a0under President George W. Bush, has held the position of director of Los Angeles County Teen Challenge and Urban Ministries Initiative since 2011, and is active in Californians for Drug-Free Youth and Points of Light Foundation.<\/p>\n National Red Ribbon Week\u00a0honors the life and sacrifice of\u00a0Enrique (Kiki) S. Camarena<\/a>, a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent working undercover in the 1980s to close the pipeline of deadly drugs into the U.S. from Mexico. His operation was compromised and in February 1985, Camarena was kidnapped. A month later, his body was found.<\/p>\n Lozano, a high school friend of Camarena, launched Camarena Clubs in their hometown of Calexico, California, in coordination with Congressman Duncan Hunter. Hundreds of club members wore red ribbons and pledged to lead drug-free lives to honor the sacrifices made by Camarena and others. In 1988, the campaign gained national prominence when President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan agreed to serve as honorary chairpersons.<\/p>\n Each year, during the last week in October, more than 80 million young people and adults show their commitment to healthy, drug-free living while wearing or displaying the Red Ribbon.<\/p>\n Betsy Davis, who coordinates the Drug-Free World Foundation\u2019s Los Angeles chapter, showed those attending how simple it is for\u00a0anyone\u00a0to take effective action to combat this deadly crisis.<\/p>\n The Foundation\u2019s Truth About Drug materials communicate the cold, hard truth about what drugs are and what they do in youth-friendly booklets and videos. The Truth About Drugs\u00a0educator\u2019s manual enables anyone to provide fact-based drug education.<\/p>\n Cohosting the event was David Sanchez, founder of the L.A. nonprofit Strike Out Against Drugs.\u00a0Since 2014, his organization has visited more than a hundred communities throughout Los Angeles and Southern California spreading the truth about drugs, reaching\u00a0some 1.5 million people with an anti-drug message and changing the lives of countless kids. A documentary on his work and accomplishments is featured as an episode of\u00a0Voices for Humanity<\/a>\u00a0on the Scientology Network.<\/p>\n Twelve new Drug-Free Heroes were awarded for their dedication and work to creating a Drug-Free Los Angeles and beyond. These included Beacon of Hope Sober Living cofounder Nick Salvato; Grace Sierra, Los Angeles-based Vice Consul of Honduras; and Alejandro Jose Letona Alvarado, Consul General of El Salvador and his staff.<\/p>\n Mr. Lozano presented Anna Grace Zaucha with the prestigious Gold Medal Presidential Volunteer Award including a medallion, certificate of achievement and a letter signed by President Biden in honor of her outstanding volunteer work to help youth remain drug-free.<\/p>\n The Church of Scientology and Scientologists support\u00a0Foundation for a Drug-Free World<\/a>, making it possible to provide the materials free of charge to teachers, community groups, churches, and anyone wishing to educate others on the facts behind drugs and addiction.<\/p>\n After extensive research on the effects of drugs, Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, \u201cResearch has demonstrated that the single most destructive element present in our current culture is drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n The\u00a0Church of Scientology Los Angeles<\/a>\u00a0is designed to provide ideal facilities for Scientologists on their ascent to higher states of spiritual freedom and to serve as a home for the entire community — a meeting ground of cooperative effort to uplift people of all denominations. The Church was dedicated by Scientology ecclesiastical leader\u00a0Mr. David Miscavige in 2010<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Church of Scientology Los Angeles is featured in an episode of\u00a0Inside Scientology<\/a>\u00a0on the Scientology Network, available on DIRECTV channel 320 and streaming at Scientology.tv, through\u00a0mobile apps<\/a>\u00a0and via the Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV platforms.<\/p>\n For more information, visit the website of the\u00a0Church of Scientology Los Angeles<\/a>\u00a0or the new interactive timeline at\u00a0Scientology.org\/our-help-is-yours\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n LEARN MORE:<\/strong><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.scientology.org\/our-help-is-yours\/<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.scientology-losangeles.org<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.drugfreeworld.org<\/a><\/p>\n MULTIMEDIA:<\/strong><\/p>\n
![https:\/\/www.Send2Press.com\/300dpi\/22-1109-s2p-cosheroes-300dpi.jpg<\/a><\/p>\nCAPTION: Church of Scientology Los Angeles hosted the Second Annual Drug-Free Heroes Awards Gala to honor those making a difference and helping save lives from drug overdose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES, Calif., Nov. 9, 2022 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Church of Scientology Los Angeles hosts the second annual National Red Ribbon Week Drug-Free Heroes Awards to help end the deadly crisis that is threatening the lives of L.A. kids. Event keynote speaker and awardee Mr. Henry Lozano is an example of what one man or woman can do to reverse this catastrophe. For decades, countless children’s lives have been saved because of his work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8949,"featured_media":86574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[608,12804,10,187],"tags":[18743,17443],"class_list":["post-86577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion-news","category-ap","category-california-news","category-los-angeles-news","tag-drug-free-heroes-award","tag-scientology-los-angeles","has-post-title","has-post-date","no-post-category","no-post-tag","no-post-comment","has-post-author"],"acf":[],"views":3039,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8949"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/www.Send2Press.com\/300dpi\/22-1109-s2p-cosheroes-300dpi.jpg\"){kind=link}