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BY TERI R. WILLIAMS | PHOTOS PROVIDED BY TOOMBS COUNTY FAMILY CONNECTION Facing the consequences The Family Connection sponsored Teen Maze provides an eye-opening experience for young adults and sets the stage for open communication. Twenty-six years ago, the facts and figures didn’t look so good. Georgia ranked among the lowest in the nation when it came to the well-being of our children and families. It wasn’t that we didn’t care. It wasn’t even that needed services weren’t available. Both private and public organizations were doing everything possible to bring change. Everything, that is, except work together. The answer wasn’t for some politician or federal official behind a desk in Washington, D.C., to dictate a generic response. What we needed was a round table in our own communities where all the knights could meet and make a plan for what was best in our little kingdom of the world. The answer was Family Connection. According to their website, “Georgia Family Connection is the only statewide network in the country dedicated to the health and well-being of families and communities. We empower communities in 159 counties to craft local solutions based on local decisions.” Toombs County Family Connection and its collaborators identify and work to meet the specific needs of our community through its many services. Two of the services Family Connection has initiated and continues to support are the 21st Century Community Learning Grant, an incredible after school program that serves both Toombs and Vidalia schools, and the Backpack Buddies program, which provides food for 80 children from Lyons Primary, Lyons Upper Elementary, J.D. Dickerson, and Sally D. Meadows for meals during the weekend. “If kids are fed, they’ll do 116 Toombs County Magazine better in school, which is the overarching goal,” said Family Connection Director Paige Williamson. For Family Connection and its collaborators, statistics are a great tool to help identify the greatest needs in our community. “According to the most recent statistics, teen births were double the state average for ages 15-19. STD rates in teens ages 15- 19 were almost 8% higher than the rest of the state, and the percent of teens 16-19 not in school and not working in Toombs County is 9.5%,” said Paige. In order to address these specific issues, Family Connection brought together 70 volunteers from its partners and community members to create a Teen Maze to help educate and impact the teens and their families in our community. “The Teen Maze,” which was presented to 325 eighth graders from J. R. Trippe and Toombs County Middle School on May 5, 2017, “was about understanding that it only takes a second to change your life,” said Ambi Bess with the Department of Public Health (DPH), “and to make sure students get the right information from the right people.” “The Toombs County School system graciously allowed us to use the building that once served as the Primary School,” said Paige, “which enabled us to set up eight different stations. This allowed us the opportunity to spread out and use a classroom for each station. Students could really focus on the topic being discussed. Each scene presented different scenarios at a party that corresponded to a part of the maze they would visit.”


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