What could make someone leave their job of over 20 years? More money somewhere else? Relocating to a place with beautiful weather? For Norma Norris, the answer was simple: passion. She felt a calling to address the problem of drug use within her community. While having lunch with Norma she explained to me how she has always been driven by passion. Unafraid to speak her mind, she has always stood up for what was right, even if she was met with resistance.

Norma has never been afraid of the challenge, especially when it means creating a better community for her children, and now her grandchildren. Passion is what built the nonprofit CANDLE, Inc. and the parent/child Reality Tour, and passion is what continues to keep it alive

Cleveland

Just like Norma, people across the country have felt the calling to better their communities. In Cleveland Ohio, Sharron McPherson Foxx and Linnette Ellison saw the opportunity to make a positive change in their community. During an interview with Sharron and Linnette, Sharron explained that while Cleveland is among the poorest cities in Ohio, its residents are committed to making it a better place. All they need are for a few people to take charge.

Sharron and Linnette both stepped up to the challenge and dedicated their time to improving the quality of the community. Reality Tour first appeared in Cleveland in 2010 and ran for two years. An officer of the East Cleveland Police Department discovered and advocated for hosting a Reality Tour in the community. He could see his son’s struggles being addressed within the program and he knew other people in the community could benefit from the message of Reality Tour. Sharron and Linnette could not agree more and quickly became involved.

Linnette was so passionate about Reality Tour that she had her whole family involved in the program. Her children volunteered to act out the dramatic scenes while Linnette, her husband, and her mother assisted in other ways. “There was a place for everybody,” Linnette said.

Linnette believes her family’s joint attendance showed others that Reality Tour is a program families should be doing together. Soon enough, more families were attending together as a group.

When I asked Linnette to reflect on the impact Reality Tour had on families she recalls a particular mother and son. The mother learned more about who her son was becoming and what type of people he would hang out with. On the other hand, the son learned more about his mom. Reality Tour “creates this openness so parents and their children can talk honestly with each other,” Linnette said.

While Reality Tour has not been active in Cleveland the last few years due to unforeseen circumstances, Sharron and Linnette plan to see the program back up and running soon. In the years without Reality Tour, Sharron continued to work in the community as the Executive Assistant for the East Cleveland Bridges of Hope Coalition. This coalition is part of the Northern Ohio Recovery Association (NORA).

Sharron and Linnette were and still are, clearly instrumental in the changes occurring in Cleveland. However, Sharron would not take all the credit. “Greg Bell and his passion is what drives our organization.” Greg Bell is the Drug-Free Coalition Coordinator at NORA. Greg grew up in East Cleveland, so he is well known in the community. “Greg’s work is unparalleled and he creates the vision and the drive that keeps us all going with this work,” Sharron said.  This dedication is designed to strengthen families as well as the community.

Both Sharron and Linnette are excited to bring Reality Tour once again to the community this year. If you would like to follow or support the work of Sharron, Linnette, and the East Cleveland Bridges of Hope Coalition, follow them here.

Las Vegas

Over on the West Coast in Las Vegas, Dr. Charlene Day feels Reality Tour is the perfect fit for the community. Charlene has a PhD in public health and a masters in public administration.

While Charlene loves her Las Vegas community, she knows it is a place where “sins” can be reinforced. Youth are being introduced to drugs and alcohol at a much earlier age, so preventive programming felt necessary to Charlene. A family strengthening program was on her radar.

While there had previously been prevention programming in the area, Charlene felt the programs were not as effective as they could be. As someone who loves evidence-based programming, Charlene spends about one day a week looking for innovations in public health. That is when she discovered Reality Tour.

“Reality Tour is just like Vegas, the participants never know what is going to happen next,” Charlene said. “We made it an attraction and it was something new and exciting no one has done before.”

Reality Tour has now been running in Las Vegas for three years and Charlene plans to keep the program running for years to come. Charlene has even expanded on the Reality Tour model and focuses on peer leadership. Charlene explained how drug prevention is what brings people in to attend Reality Tour, but the messages participants leave with are much broader.

“We want to open the communication between parent and child,” Charlene said. “We also teach healthy behaviors and truly create a community with our participants.”

This community often grows through its peer leaders. When I asked Charlene how she thinks Reality Tour has impacted her community she immediately mentioned the passion of Reality Tour’s peer leaders. To become a peer leader, you must first attend the program as a participant. The Las Vegas Reality Tour’s newest peer leader is an example of how the passion brought to Reality Tour by its volunteers inspires others.

After attending Reality Tour this now peer leader immediately wanted to get involved. She had attended the program with her brother and his friend. The two boys seemed very uninterested at first by playing games with each other and trying to ignore the program. However, the boys soon found themselves enjoying Reality Tour. When it came to the question-and-answer portion of the program the boys could not stop raising their hands to join in the conversation. This peer leader could not believe the change she had just witnessed in her brother and she knew she wanted to help give other people this same experience.

Charlene could clearly see how effective the program was, and the community noticed too. A good problem to have, Charlene has a huge demand for people wanting to attend the program, but only so many volunteers. If you or someone you know is in the Las Vegas area and would like to get involved, click here to get in touch.

The Bronx

In Bronx, New York, Paloma Caimares hopes the launch of Reality Tour in her community will create an inclusive support network for residents. Paloma grew up in the Dominican Republic and moved to The United States when she was 17 years old. Paloma was raised by a single mother and understands the struggle of having to grow up without a support system.

This led to Paloma’s passion of building a safe community for kids to feel supported. Along with her husband, Paloma developed Beloved Sons and Daughters, a faith-based program that focuses on mentoring. Paloma serves as the executive director and remains extremely involved in the program.

“I want to show kids that what is around them does not define them,” Paloma said. “You always have the choice to be who you want to be.”

While Paloma is already doing the work to help create a strong support system for children in her community, she still felt there was something missing. While researching more ways to help her community, she discovered Reality Tour. Paloma explained she knew immediately Reality Tour was the perfect fit for her community as it was “creative and could reach the community in a way they would understand.”

Paloma faces a challenge the other Reality Tour locations do not. A lot of the parents in her community suffer from a language barrier. Current programming and resources are not accommodating to those who have English as a second language. Paloma will use Reality Tour to help bridge this gap and bring parent and child together to learn in a way they can both understand.

Paloma recognizes the importance of educating both parent and child together  with the objective to strengthen families. When I asked her why it was so important to her to have parents involved, she responded that parents need to be involved in their children’s lives because they are their biggest advocates. To best protect their children they need to know what is truly going on.

Paloma plans to bring Reality Tour to the Bronx this year and is excited to see how much interest the program has already gained. Paloma has a lot of volunteers interested and parents who are excited to attend. To connect with Paloma contact her here.

Follow their Journey

Sharron, Linnette, Charlene and Paloma all let their passion of helping others guide the way. In turn, their passion inspires others and ignites passion in them. All it takes is one dedicated person to start a change and begin a family strengthening program that the entire community can get behind. So the question is, what is your passion and what will you do about it?

For more information on Reality Tour visit CANDLE, Inc.’s website here.