Whitehall’s Communities That Care (CTC) held its annual meeting Jan. 17 in the Zentz Community Center at Fellowship Community, Whitehall. The purpose of this meeting was to acknowledge those who helped to reach the lives of others and make a difference in our community, as well as informing others on important aspects relating to data-driven prevention, prevention programs, policies and the focus on major highlights from Lehigh County’s Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) report. This report helps CTC members take notice of issues that children are facing in our area.

Those who attended the CTC meeting included important community figures, like state Rep. Zach Mako, R-183rd.

The meeting began with an award ceremony, honoring three people who have made a big impact on the community.

The first person to receive a reward was Rich Gierula, a sixth-grade health and physical education teacher at Whitehall High School.

“Although I really appreciate this award, I do not deserve recognition because I solely do this as a duty for our children in order to guide them to ‘Say No!,’” Gierula said.

Whitehall Realtor Shari Noctor was the second person to receive an award. She stressed that many children in our community who filled out PAYS have hunger issues. In response, Noctor started a group to help prevent hunger. She is chair of Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative.

Throughout this upcoming summer, Noctor will be hosting a free breakfast, 8:30-10 a.m. Monday through Friday, in Fullerton to help ensure children are properly fed when school is not in session.

The third person to receive an award was Whitehall Township’s board of commissioners president, Phillips Armstrong. Although Armstrong was unable to attend the meeting and accept his award, those in attendance noted his achievements, some of which are Student Government Day and the Fall Festival.

Following the award ceremony, guest speaker Geoff Kolchin, with the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD), talked of using PAYS data to drive decision making.

“PAYS is a survey of how youth view all areas of their lives and the behaviors in which they engage,” Kolchin said.

As program manager and PAYS project leader, Kolchin said his goal is to make others productive members of society.

PAYS focuses on four main domains - community, school, family and peer/individual. It’s vital all four domains are focused on in order for a child to have an overall positive influence, Kolchin said.

“In order to approve the overall prevention planning, one must first address the underlying problems,” he said, which is exactly what PAYS data helps to achieve. For example, according to PAYS data, more than 40 percent of children feel sad and depressed, which often takes away from their academic achievements.

Using PAYS data to take action, one must first increase awareness on an issue and help to change the concept of what a child facing that issue views as normal behavior.

Strategic planning is the next step in order to set short- and long-term goals toward prevention. Once data has been reliably obtained, it is important to engage community stakeholders with this data to obtain funds from them.

PCCD funds money twice a year to help those in the community in need. Kolchin said he works with county reports and state data as well in order to figure out what types of funding need to be put out across the borders.

“Comparing schools that don’t do prevention to those that do allows this PAYS process to become a scientific model that works, and more people begin to recognize that,” Kolchin said.

Currently, 364 school districts participated in PAYS in 2015, an increase from 324 since 2013.

Ending on a positive note, Kolchin added, “One great aspect of PAYS is that we are discovering that kids are addressing issues that we may never would have thought of as issues before.”

For more information on PAYS, visit PAYS.pa.gov, which provides a step-by-step guide on how to prevent problems and how different people and organizations can use PAYS.