AUBURN — Members of the Auburn Composite Squadron will promote a healthy, drug-free lifestyle during a Red Ribbon Week open house at the Auburn-Lewiston Airport terminal from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29.

Red Ribbon Week will be observed nationwide from Oct. 24-30 with the campaign theme “I Am Drug-Free.” Nationwide, Civil Air Patrol wings will distribute red ribbons and conduct educational programs as a way to show support for a drug-free lifestyle.

CAP cadets will also visit area schools to speak out against drug use and share tactics for saying no to illegal drugs in social settings.

The U.S. Air Force and Civil Air Patrol became involved with Red Ribbon Week in 1994 as a way to improve the lives of service members’ families and children. CAP has since expanded its role to include a year-round Drug Demand Reduction program with three major elements — education, training and community outreach. Each element is designed to bring an anti-drug message to the community, students throughout the nation and CAP members.

The origins of Red Ribbon Week date back 25 years to a local effort in Imperial Valley, Calif., to honor the memory of former resident Enrique Camarena, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent slain in March 1985 in Mexico. Members of Camarena Clubs began wearing red ribbons in the slain agent’s memory. In 1988, Congress proclaimed the final week of October as “Red Ribbon Week for a Drug-Free America.”

The public is invited to attend.

FMI: Jerry DeWitt, 207-783-4663, ext. 228, 207-576-0376, [email protected]