UD Goes Purple event to focus on substance abuse, addiction

8:41 a.m., April 13, 2015--UD Goes Purple, a two-day event designed to raise awareness of substance abuse and addiction, will be held Thursday and Friday, April 16 and 17, and will feature a special presentation by former NBA player Chris Herren.

UD Goes Purple is sponsored by Student Wellness and Health Promotion, the Collegiate Recovery Community at UD and the Student Centers Programming Advisory Board.

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June 5: Blue Hen 5K

University of Delaware graduates planning to attend Alumni Weekend are encouraged to register for the annual Blue Hen 5K walk and run, which will be held Sunday morning, June 5.

June 6-9: Food and culture series

The 20th annual June Lecture Series at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UD in Wilmington will be held June 6-9. Titled 'June a la Carte,' this year's program focuses on great political documents, feminism, world politics and a Newark cuisine sampler.

• June 6-9: Food and culture series
• Through June 30: 'Saving White Clay Creek'
• July 22: WWE Heatwave Tour
• Through Sept. 16: Women of color in academia

Activities will open Thursday evening, April 16, with a screening of the film The Anonymous People at 7 p.m. in the Rodney Room of the Perkins Student Center.

The film will be followed by a panel discussion. Doors will at 6:15 and the event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Herren will discuss his story of recovery at 8 p.m., Friday, April 17, in the Multipurpose Room of the Trabant University Center. Tickets are free and are available at the Trabant box office. Doors will open at 7:30.

Project Purple is an initiative of the The Herren Project, which was founded to bring awareness to the dangers of substance abuse, to help people make good choices and to break the stigma of addiction. 

The Herren Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing treatment navigation, educational and mentoring programs to those touched by addiction and to educate people of all ages on the dangers of substance abuse one person, one family at a time.

Siobhan Thompson, a senior in the School of Nursing, said it is hoped students and the campus community will get “involved in helping us paint the town purple to raise awareness to stand up to substance abuse and addiction. By doing so, we hope to diminish the stigma of an addict and to educate on what this illness called 'addiction' really is.”

Thompson said substance abuse and addiction is on the rise in the U.S. “at an exponential rate,” with someone dying from a drug overdose every 19 minutes. 

“Our whispers are killing thousands, every single year,” she said. “Without breaking the stigma of substance abuse, those who need love, attention and help may never receive it. ‘It will never happen to me’ is what our friends, family members, classmates, and peers say -- until one day it does.”

Photo by Evan Krape