In the two years since Mountain View High School graduate Chase Rogers died from a cocaine overdose, locals have been using the memory of the 18-year-old to help keep other local teens away from drugs and alcohol.
After Rogers was found dead in a San Jose school yard in December 2006, his story served as an eye-opener for other Los Altos residents who wanted to reach out to teens with similar problems. They launched Community Hope and Sober Events (CHASE) in January 2007, just a month after Rogers died.
In the last two years, the nonprofit has grown, now also reaching out to Mountain View and Los Altos Hills with presentations for families and parents, weekend events for students and discussions in local schools.
Rogers’ story was especially touching for Leslie Lodestro, a Los Altos resident who never knew the overdose victim. Lodestro’s son also struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, and he attended the same wilderness programs and went to the same rehabilitation centers that Rogers did.
“Both of our boys were out of control,” Lodestro said. “But I still have my boy.”
Lodestro said her son has now recovered, but she wanted to help other local families and teens struggling with substance abuse. With the help of the Rogers family, she asked the Los Altos City Council for a $5,000 grant to launch CHASE. The nonprofit was up and running just months after Rogers died.
“No one should have to go through what Chase’s family went through,” Lodestro told a group of community leaders last week. “We need some positive changes.”
The nonprofit started small in 2007, but now has a $200,000 county grant over three years, one full-time employee and runs counseling programs in six local schools. After receiving the county money, CHASE hired Alicia Crank, a former Mountain View Human Relations Commissioner, as the nonprofit’s program director. She has been instrumental in bringing the programs to Mountain View.
CHASE members hope to decrease teen drug and alcohol use partially through “social norming,” a psychological approach based on the theory that people set their own behavior based on what they think others are doing. Often teenagers have the false perception that many of their peers are drinking and doing drugs, when in fact the percentage is relatively small, Lodestro said.
Crank said the nonprofit is modeling its programs on an experiment in Fort Collins, Colo. after that city saw a rise in drunk driving accidents. Students started putting signs up around their campus, saying that 84 percent of teenagers in the city did not drink and drive.
“It was suddenly cool to say you don’t do that,” Crank said.
The nonprofit held a seminar about social norming for parents and families last month, but staffers also hope to give students an alternative to drinking and drugs through weekend activities and campus groups.
For example: On many Friday nights CHASE holds a knitting group with local teens.
“It’s very grassroots,” Crank said of the program. “But they do this on a Friday night instead of going out and partying.”
Crank said the group attracts all type of students, from “nerds” to “jocks,” many of whom have already experimented with drugs and alcohol. The group went to San Francisco earlier this year to hand out knitted clothes and garments to homeless people in the Tenderloin.
As part of its outreach, CHASE also sponsors Teen Talk!, a program at six local middle school and high school campuses where students meet with counselors from the Community Health Awareness Council to discuss peer pressure, drugs, alcohol and other issues.
“It’s a secure area for them to talk about drugs and alcohol,” Crank said of Teen Talk!
The nonprofit intends to continue offering community events, and is planning a party at the Los Altos Plaza on June 14, Rogers’ birthday, in memory of the teenager.
For more information visit www.chasespace.org.
E-mail Casey Weiss at cweiss@mv-voice.com
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