On Oct. 22, thousands of college students across the nation will participate in National GORDIEday in observance of National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week. The event seeks to raise awareness about the dangers of binge drinking and hazing and commemorate the lives of more than 1,700 students who die each year as a result of alcohol-related incidents. National GORDIEday is presented by The Gordie Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in memory of Lynn Gordon Bailey Jr., a freshman who died of alcohol poisoning following a fraternity hazing incident at the University of Colorado in 2004. The foundation’s mission is to provide young people with the skills to navigate the dangers of alcohol, binge drinking, peer pressure, and hazing.
Anyone interested in registering to participate in GORDIEday should visit www.gordie.org. The Web site also has a complete list of participating campuses.
As part of that mission, the organization created a peer-to-peer advocacy program on campuses across the country called the Circle of Trust. To date there are more than 100 Circle of Trust chapters on university and college campuses in the United States that have been invited to participate in National GORDIEday.
Students at participating campuses will distribute information on the signs of alcohol poisoning on National GORDIEday and hand out educational materials on alcohol and hazing. Each campus will also display an 8X10 foot banner, made especially for the event, featuring a photo of Gordie Bailey pieced together like a collage from photos of other students who have lost their lives to alcohol. Some colleges will also create displays in observance of National GORDIEday, planting 1,700 green Gordie flags on campus to represent the number of students who die each year due to alcohol misuse.
Participating campuses will receive a National GORDIEday Programming Package from The Gordie Foundation to help facilitate the event including a guide, awareness banner, GORDIEcheck cards with the signs of alcohol poisoning, and more.
For additional information, to register to participate in National GORDIEday, or to start a Circle of Trust Chapter on campus, call (214) 823-0235, e-mail contactus@gordie.org or visit www.gordie.org.